Islam and Politics: Crash Course World History #216

In which John Green teaches you about how Islam has interacted with politics during its history, and how it continues to do so today. Islamist movements are in the news a lot lately, but how did that happen? John will point out that Islam has always been tied to political movements. Mohammed was not only a religious leader, he led an empire. So how did this lead to modern movements like ISIS? Islam has traditionally been a pretty egalitarian religion, and its scriptures value peace, so it is surprising in a lot of ways that such a violent fundamentalist movement would come out of it. What is a caliphate? What is a Caliph? John will teach you all about it.