The Islamic State finds that politics is much harder than power grabs

Islamic State leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, also known as Caliph Ibrahim. Al Furqan / AFP

In the weeks since its announcement of a caliphate, the Islamic State’s greatest battle has been waged behind closed doors as a power struggle threatens to puncture its unity.

As it made rapid gains across Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State remained united, maintaining a broad coalition linked by the powerful, if vague, dream of restoring the Islamic caliphate.

Yet cracks have begun to show within the Islamic State as its followers are learning that the dream is often far simpler than the reality.

The growing divisions within the Islamic State begin at the top.

The group’s ranks are divided over the choice of Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi to lead the fledgling group.

Over half of the Islamic State’s shurah council reportedly had misgivings, with many pushing for a more unifying cleric who could rally those outside the movement.

Although the council members eventually backed their leader, the struggle has reportedly shifted to the question of succession.

While the selection of caliph posed a challenge, the appointment of lower leadership posts may still spark a crisis. As Al Baghdadi fills administrative posts ranging from state governors to municipal council members, competition has heated up as rank-and-file members jockey for patronage.

According to insiders, the competition has sparked a series of whisper campaigns with emirs and ground generals questioning each other’s aspirations.

The mudslinging campaign has resulted in a flood of news reports and posts on social networking websites allegedly “outing” various loyal commanders as agents for enemy states.

Al Baghdadi has appointed dozens of allies from his inner circle to senior positions – raising concern that the caliphate would soon become a personality cult rather than the long-awaited greater Islamic state.

The move has reportedly alienated Islamic State supporters in Syria and elsewhere who are finding themselves on the outside of an increasingly-Iraq centric state.

As Al Baghdadi delivered his first sermon as caliph earlier this month, Islamic State leaders failed to reach a consensus on where the caliphate’s boundaries extended to.

Perhaps the greatest source of dissent within the Islamic State lies not in Mosul or on the edge of Damascus, but hundreds of kilometres away from the nascent state.

Jihadist websites and message boards have been flooded with criticism over the Islamic State’s silence and inaction over the crisis in Gaza, questioning the self-described leader for failing to act on what many believe to be the “central cause” for Muslims.

“What kind of caliphate is unable to defend Muslims or holy sites or even show its strength at the doors of crusaders and Zionists?” writes one jihadist.

“Where are the differences between our new ‘caliph’ and the Arab regimes of old?”

Insiders say such criticism has risen to the levels of the Islamic State’s leadership, many of whom have pushed Al Baghdadi to act on Gaza so as not to appear weak.

While silence was acceptable for a man of jihad, Al Baghdadi is learning that politicians are rarely given a free pass.

Fending off opposition both within the Islamic State and outside, Al Baghdadi has preached patience.

However, the Gaza crisis will be the first of several polarising political issues to be put before the self-anointed caliph, who could now have to steer a foreign policy platform that has to find responses to issues ranging from the rights of Muslims in Myanmar to the ban of headscarves in France.

With each and every decision, Al Baghdadi will inevitably alienate followers and fail to live up to the expectations of others, in the process unveiling the group as the flawed political machine it is.

The Islamic State has already learnt that campaigning is much simpler than governing, and that jihadists are much easier united behind the bayonet than the ballot box.

Time will soon tell whether the Islamic State can truly survive these complex political battles.

Taylor Luck is an Amman-based political analyst and journalist