.... In any event, modernity has sent the institution into permanent obsolescence. Serious Muslim scholars understand that irreversible forces of nationalism and globalization have transformed subjects into citizens.
By the time of its abolition by the Turkish Republic, the institution had long lost any effective power, its theocratic underpinnings having collapsed. Mr. Baghdadi’s dystopian vision may have some appeal to those brutalized by war and radicalized by sectarian strife, but it has no legs. [NYTimes.com] Read more
