Military Review English Edition March-April 2016 | Page 20

Editor’s Sidebar: The Next Caliph?
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi borrows heavily from an ancient predecessor in his quest to be
considered the next caliph. Compare the speech excerpts of the two in the texts below.

Abu Bakr al-Siddiq

Editor’s note—Born in 573 AD, Abu Bakr, a
prosperous merchant, converted to Islam in approximately 621 AD. He
subsequently became
Mohammad’s closest friend,
described in the Muslim
hadith writings as serving
in the capacity of traveling
companion, advisor, sometime military lieutenant,
and intimate confidant.
Following Muhammad’s
death in 632, Abu Bakr
was selected by a group
of Mohammad’s leading
companions (though not all
(Image via Wikimedia Commons)
supported his selection) to
A sixteenth-cent ury depiction by an unnamed Turkish
be Mohammad’s successor
artist of Abu Bakr stopping
(caliph) and to lead the
an angry Meccan mob from
developing and expanding
stoning Mohammad.
Islamic state, which was
then embroiled in a series
of expansionist wars and internal rebellions. Upon
selection, Abu Bakr gave a short acceptance speech,
prominently recorded in the Muslim hadith (sayings),
excerpted below:
O people, I have been appointed over you,
though I am not the best among you. If I do
well, then help me; and if I act wrongly, then
correct me. Truthfulness is synonymous with
fulfilling the trust, and lying is equivalent to
treachery … No group of people abandons
military/armed struggle in the path of Allah,
except that Allah makes them suffer humiliation … Obey me so long as I obey Allah and
His Messenger. And if I disobey Allah and
His Messenger, then I have no right to your
obedience. Stand up now to pray, may Allah
have mercy on you.

From Hadith Al-Bidaayah wan-Nihaayah, vol. 6, 305–6, quoted in
Seyed Ibrahim, “Caliph Abu Bakr Siddeeq’s (RA) Inaugural Speech:
Text and Lessons,” Social, Political, Economic, Career weblog, accessed
4 February 2016, https://seyedibrahim.wordpress.com/2012/02/26/
abu-bakrs-inaugural-speech/.

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Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Editor’s note—”According to William McCants,
Later that month [ June 2014], the Islamic State’s
spokesman proclaimed the
return of God’s kingdom on
earth, the caliphate, and [Abu
Bakr] Baghdadi reverted to his
given name, [Ibrahim Awwad
Ibrahim al-Badri] preceded
now with the ultimate title:
Caliph Ibrahim. To justify this
outsized claim, his supporters
circulated the genealogy of his
(Photo via Wikimedia Commons)
tribe, which traced its lineage
Mug shot of Abu Bakr
back to Muhammad’s descenal-Baghdadi, taken while
dants. This was considered an
in detention, by U.S.
important qualification, for
armed forces at Camp
Bucca in the vicinity of
some Islamic prophecies of the
Umm Qasr, Iraq, in 2004.
End Times say a man descendAn Iraqi-born religious
ed from the Prophet will one
scholar, he rose to
day rule as caliph—an office
prominence as a leader
that hasn’t existed since the fall
of Iraqi Islamists following
of the Ottoman Empire after
the death of al-Qaida
World War I.
(Iraq) leader Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, 7 June 2006,
“The so-called caliph asoutmaneuvering leaders of
cended to the pulpit in Mosul
other organizations vying
days later to deliver the Friday
for control of opposition to
sermon, his first and only
the Shia-led, U.S.-supportpublic appearance since taking
ed government of Iraq.
the helm of the Islamic State
in 2010. He wore black robes to evoke the memory of
the Abbasid caliphs who had ruled from Baghdad; they,
too, had come to power by claiming descent from the
Prophet’s family and promising a return to pristine Islam.
‘I was appointed to rule you but I am not the
best among you,’ he proclaimed. ‘If you see
me acting truly, then follow me. If you see me
acting falsely, then advise and guide me…. If I
disobey God, then do not obey me.’
“This was a paraphrase of what the first caliph, Abu
Bakr, had said when he was elected by Muhammad’s
comrades.”
Excerpt from William McCants, “The Believer, How an Introvert with a Passion
for Religion and Soccer became Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Leader of the Islamic
State,” Brookings Essay 19-20, 1 September 2015, accessed 4 February 2016,
http://www.brookings.edu/research/essays/2015/thebeliever.

March-April 2016  MILITARY REVIEW