Notes of a word-watcher, Hanching Chung. A first port of call for English learning.
2015年11月24日 星期二
informality, caliphate, bacon lube, worse off
Civil wars are devouring Syria, Iraq and Libya. Black-robed jihadists from Islamic State have carved out a caliphate. Peace may not return to the Middle East for a generation. The idea has taken root that America no longer has what it takes to run the Middle East. That it ever could was an illusion. But America still has a vital part to play. If it continues to stand back, everyone will be worse off—including Americans http://econ.st/1dSfeCN
IN THE mid-1990s a celebrated Syrian playwright captured the anguish of living under an Arab autocrat with the lament, “We are condemned to hope.” Almost 20...
ECON.ST
It is thought that around 10-15% of the Westerners who have gone to Syria and Iraq to join Islamic State (IS) are women. As in the past, most are following their men, but many are single—a new trend. By establishing a caliphate, IS, unlike previous jihadist groups, is attempting to build a state, which has opened up roles for women. Fighting, though, is off-limits. If women cannot fight in Syria, why do they choose to go? http://econ.st/1AvyCIN
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is using every contemporary mode of messaging to recruit fighters, intimidate enemies and promote its claim to have established a caliphate.
Western pundits and nostalgic Muslim thinkers alike have built up a narrative of the caliphate as an enduring institution. But the caliphate is better described as a political fantasy that contemporary Islamists are largely making up as they go along: http://ow.ly/UZjPy
The chief Muslim civil and religious ruler, regarded as the successor of Muhammad. The caliph ruled in Baghdad until 1258 and then in Egypt until the Ottoman conquest of 1517; the title was then held by the Ottoman sultans until it was abolished in 1924 by Atatürk.
Origin
late Middle English: from Old French caliphe, from Arabic ḵalīfa meaning 'deputy (of God') (from the titleḵalīfat Allāh), or meaning 'successor (of Muhammad)' (from the title ḵalīfat rasūl Allāh 'of the Messenger of God)', from ḵalafa 'succeed'.
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