It’s now nearly a month since the Islamic State group announced that it had declared a caliphate, proclaiming that its shadowy leader, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, was henceforth to be known as Caliph Ibrahim.
There’s been little evidence since of it engaging in much effort to extend its area of control in Iraq, although that could change. But it has begun making use of the weaponry captured in Iraq to launch a new offensive in Syria. One of the three Kurdish-controlled enclaves is under a fierce assault while fighting between the Islamic State group and another extremist body, the Al Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat Al Nusra, has led to severe losses for the latter. There will no doubt be further developments, in which I hope the Islamic State will receive a bloody nose.
I am more concerned in this column, however, to compare the new “caliph” with those of old. What they offer, and offered, to the people within the domains they controlled is markedly different.
There is little evidence of other extremist groups rushing to declare their loyalty to the caliph, despite the exhortation in his initial public address that all should do so – and all Muslims as well.
Some other groups in Syria and Iraq appear to have done so, out of their own weakness, and perhaps as a result of fear about the well-documented practice of the Islamic State slaughtering its opponents in cold blood. There is not much sign that scholars, lawyers and others are rushing to join the new caliph.
Instead, the claim of Al Baghdadi to be the new caliph, the worthy successor of the caliphs of old, appears to have been met, for the most part, with derision among those far beyond his reach and with well-justified fear among those closer to hand.
In his public address, Caliph Ibrahim wore the traditional black robes of the Abbasid caliphs of early Islam. Perhaps, then, since he has encouraged the comparison, it’s worth comparing the state of the first and greatest Abbasid caliphs to the murderous mockery of their would-be successor.
The first Abbasid Caliph, Mansour, founded the city of Baghdad – the Medinat Al Salam, or City of Peace – in 762. It rapidly became, historians tell us, a magnificent new city where Arab and Persian Muslims, Jews, Christians and those of other faiths lived and worked together. During the reign of his grandson, Haroun Al Rashid, the palace was filled with musicians, scholars and philosophers. He sent envoys to bring back mathematical treatises from India and great books of ancient Greek learning from Byzantium the knowledge contained within them eventually making its way to Europe, where it sparked the Renaissance. He founded the legendary library, the Bayt Al Hikma (the House of Wisdom), and his realm flourished as a centre of science and culture as a spirit of religious tolerance pervaded the land. Those years marked the apogee of Arab-Islamic civilisation.
In contrast, what have we seen from Caliph Ibrahim and his black-clad, gun-toting followers? In Mosul, the largest city that the Islamic State group controls in Iraq, some mosques have been destroyed and shrines commemorating revered religious leaders, both Sunni and Shia, have been bulldozed. Crosses have been removed from churches, as thousands of members of the Christian minority, and of other ethnic and religious minorities, have fled to neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan.
Last weekend, faced with an order to pay the jizya tax or to convert, the last Christians left Mosul. Mass executions of unarmed captives have occurred, with the scenes of their killing being posted on social media to spread terror among those remaining within the reach of the Islamic State group.
I hold no brief for Iraq’s prime minister, Nouri Al Maliki, whose Shia sectarian policies have played a major role in deepening the divisions between the country’s Sunni and Shia communities, thereby creating the conditions that permitted the Islamic State group to sweep across much of the areas of Iraq with a Sunni Arab population. His intransigence has done much to allow the current situation to occur.
Caliph Ibrahim, however, in marked contrast to the enlightened caliphs of old, offers no solution to those who adhere to the essential principles of Islam and who look back with pride on the days when the Arab-Islamic civilisation was at its height. Instead, he offers a perversion of the faith and a promise of suffering and slaughter.
He is no religious leader, but a man whose name will go down in infamy.
Peter Hellyer is a consultant specialising in the UAE’s history and culture
UAE and Russia in numbers
UAE-Russia ties stretch back 48 years
Trade between the UAE and Russia reached Dh12.5 bn in 2018
More than 3,000 Russian companies are registered in the UAE
Around 40,000 Russians live in the UAE
The number of Russian tourists travelling to the UAE will increase to 12 percent to reach 1.6 million in 2023
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
