IS Nostalgia for EU Muslim Youth
Sam Ghandchi

http://www.ghandchi.com/1149-nostalgia-daesh-english.htm

نوستالژی خلافت برای جوانان مسلمان اروپا
http://www.ghandchi.com/1149-nostalgia-daesh.htm

It is asked why the youth from Muslim families who have been raised in Europe are attracted to Daesh. The answer is very simple. Nostalgia of Islamic Caliphate works for unhappy Muslim youth in Europe even more than the Middle East, because European governments do not claim to be Islamic or even religious states.

This nostalgia also works better for Sunni Muslims in comparison to the Shiites. Ayatollah Khomeini in his book entitled "Velayat-e faghih" even describes his desired state by using the examples of Vatican and Ottomans, because Safavids were not theocratic and also Shiite youth at that time, resembled the mollahs who cooperated with Shah's regime to the situation in Safavid era and this is why Ali Shariati talked of separation of Safavid Shi'a and Alavi Shi'a.

At any rate, the nostalgia of Ottoman Caliphate is even reflected in the name "IS" that Daesh has chosen  by which it refers to itself as Khilafat of Islam for the whole world. Now how can such nostalgia be destroyed by bullets or it is necessary to explain the Utopianism of it for the youth, whether in Europe or in the Middle East.

In history, there have been many reactionary movements, religious and not religious, that were formed based on a nostalgia and resisting progress. One prominent example of such movements, was the Ku Klux Klan in North America who were yearning to restore the "glory" days of black slavery and the Confederate States of the South, and still to this day, their remnants are active in the Southern states of the U.S. although they have abandoned the use of violence to express their demands and ideas (2).

Hoping for a democratic and secular futurist republic in Iran,

Sam Ghandchi, Editor/Publisher
IRANSCOPE
http://www.ghandchi.com
http://www.iranscope.com
March 30, 2016

Footnotes:

1. Middle East Trapped in Utopianism
http://www.ghandchi.com/821-middle-east-utopianism-english.htm

خاورمیانه در دام اتوپیسم
http://www.ghandchi.com/821-middle-east-utopianism.htm  

2. From KKK to Daesh
http://www.ghandchi.com/1136-daesh-kkk-english.htm

از کو کلاکس کلان تا داعش
http://www.ghandchi.com/1136-daesh-kkk.htm

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http://www.ghandchi.com/1138-anti-secular-muslims.htm

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