ON Monday our page 1 banner was “Islamic Caliphate now in PH.” Some readers complained, disappointed that the story was not about the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has declared its organizing principle to be that of an Islamic Caliphate and its highest leader to be a caliph or successor to the Prophet Mohammed, sending its commanders to the Philippines and establishing a branch of the ISIS here. The ISIS Caliphate does not control the larger part of either Iraq or Syria but only some areas of these two Arab countries. These are the areas that are being bombed by a US-led coalition of Western countries and Muslim countries whose rulers and governments agree that the ISIS Caliphate’s leaders, commanders and soldiers are terrorists and murderers whose program and ideology oppose the peaceable, compassionate and divine religion the Prophet Mohammed founded and his successors nurtured and spread.
Our correspondent Moh I. Saaduddin’s story was about members of the jihadist group Ghuraba (Arabic for strangers or foreigners) in Lanao del Sur declaring that they have formed an Islamic Caliphate or Khilafah Islamiyah. Sources told Saadudin that Ghuraba’s Lanao-based Islamic Caliphate is headed by a Humam Abdul Najid, who is known to be the leader of the newly identified Khilafah Islamiyah Mindanao-Black Flag Movement (KIM-BFM).
Continue reading with one of these options:
Ad-free access
P 80 per month
(billed annually at P 960)
- Unlimited ad-free access to website articles
- Limited offer: Subscribe today and get digital edition access for free (accessible with up to 3 devices)