ABSTRACT
This chapter explains that the antecedents of the ISIS caliphate ideology lie not in classical Islamic history but in the first mass Islamist movement, the Indian Khilafat movement. ISIS today draws on this legacy as it attempts to legitimize genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes as sacred acts of jihad sanctioned by the caliph. The chapter argues that this is a modernist version of Islamic memory that is at odds with history and jurisprudence. The British pledged that there would be no threats to the sultan as caliph. The conflict was portrayed as one between the British Empire and Turkish nationalist politicians, not between the British and the sultan. The conjunction of ISIS action and the Khilafat movement's propaganda on the Armenian genocide is an unsettling moment in the formation of modern Islamic memory. Unrestrained violence in the name of Islam sanctioned by the 'caliph' becomes the motif of ISIS.
