Islam: the Caliphate debate - Interview with Reza Pankhurst Mahan Abedin - Religioscope 29 Jul 2014 Following its lightening offensive in northern Iraq in early June, resulting in the capture of Iraq's second city Mosul, the group styling itself as the “Islamic State” declared the establishment of a Caliphate in areas it controls in Iraq and Syria. Despite the unpopularity of the group, and the near-universal dismissal of their declaration as empty and bogus, the nominal re-establishment of the Caliphate after a century-long hiatus has touched off a flurry of intense media interest on the subject. To gain an in-depth understanding on the circumstances surrounding the “Islamic State's” declaration of a Caliphate and the extent to which the declaration can be considered as valid and legitimate, Religioscope talks to Dr Reza Pankhurst, a leading scholar on the Caliphate and a well-known Islamic ideologue. Reza Pankhurst is an academic and author. His