[knighthawk]

It's called the Khilafah. The Ottoman empire was also viewed as a Khilafah.

[VOA]

It's called the Khilafah.

Thanks very much for saving me future embarassment.
I should learn to never try to "wing it" phonetically when typing something I hear
on TV or radio!

[a_Turk]

In Turkish it's spelled Halife, in English the Caliphate or the Caliph as the Pope..

When faced with a crazed enemy like Usame bin Laden, we fight him in the name of God, whether we're Christians, Jews, or Muslims.

You've been posting articles which portray me as violent. I am violent when I am attacked. So is the USA violent when attacked. Others are conformist in the face of attack, and just bend over.. Not me.

Mohammed was attacked by the rulers of Mecca for preaching the old testament and promoting the God of Abraham. He escaped to Medina and later came back to route the Meccans. So has he routed all high priests of idol worship who opposed him for fear of losing their tax base. More power to him, he did great for 620 anno domini.

Nobody preach to me about conquest and cruelty 1300 years ago, that was the norm then, and only addressed early in the 20th century with the Geneva convention.. I don't constantly bring up how the crusaders ate the inhabitants of "Ma'arret an Numan" do I?

Anyway..

The directions given by the Prophet Mohammad were that leadership of the Muslims should pass from one Caliph (pope) to the next upon the death of the current Caliph to the person closest to him. Closest friend? Closest relative? The following was split right after his death into Shiite and Sunni.

Absolute powr corrupts absolutely. If you think that child rape by catholic priests is sensational news, maybe it is, but it's nothing compared to what used to be done centuries ago. Priests of all religions excercise a sort of absolute power over believers. Centuries ago even more adults were the equivalent of todays children. The level of maturity among adults has increased over the past centuries, more so in the European countries and in their colonies where the natives did not prevail, all thanks to protestant Christianity and the resultant competition in education/ communication. This never happened in that scale in the realm of Islam.

The level of maturity among adults in the lands of Islam is generally low, with very few exceptions. Turkish people, for example, have a much much higher level of education than the overall average.. That's why we have seperated church from state, and that's why our laws are refined versions of God's basic commandments.

Usame and the like are raping the ignorant public around them, just like some corrupt priests rape little kids elsewhere in the world, where they can't get their way with adults any longer.. That's it.