“All pious Muslims well-read in the Hadith (the compiled sayings of the Prophet) firmly believe in the need to establish an Islamic State headed by a Muslim Caliph. This is mentioned twice in the Holy Quran and it’s central to the Islamic faith. No Muslim scholar would debate an Islamic state and the caliphate. Muslim Sunnis claim that the caliph should hail from Meccan notability. Shiite Muslims add that he must be from Ahl al-Bayt; a member of the prophet’s family.” (Sami Moubayed, Daily Telegraph, 23 Sep 2015)

Sami Moubayed is a Syrian historian and former Carnegie scholar. He is the author of Under the Black Flag: At the frontier of the New Jihad