United in opposition, deviating in vision: the diverse response to the Islamic State’s caliphate

At the start of Ramadan 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) declared the restoration of the caliphate, and thereby became the Islamic State (IS). At its helm stood the new caliph, whose chosen name, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, symbolically reflected that of the Prophet's first successor. Refutation of IS's claim to have re-established the caliphate hailed from across the Islamic political and religious spectrum in the Middle East, from Islamist actors such as Jihadi-Salafists and the Muslim Brotherhood, to establishment figures associated with Egypt's al-Azhar and the Saudi Kingdom's clerical institutions. Despite this common ground, the various groups also offered different approaches in their responses, both to IS's caliphal pronouncement, and to the notion of restoring the caliphate in general. It will be shown how underneath the unanimity in condemning IS and distancing themselves from re-establishing the caliphate one detects competing agendas and visions of the institution.