"Surrounded by Extremism"

"The Muslim clerics said the caliphate shouldn't be declared at the moment for many reasons, because this declaration will create division among jihadi groups in the world."

"For example in Chechnya, in the Caucuses, in Afghanistan and Somalia, there are groups that announced that they belong to al-Qaida. These groups will be divided, one hundred percent these groups will be divided between a supporter to the caliphate and a reluctant." 
Jordanian Salafi leader Mohammed al-Shalabi

 
Senior Jordanian Salafi movement leader Mohammed al-Shalabi pauses during an interview with The Associated Press in the backyard of his house in Maan, 218 kilometers (135.5 miles) southwest of Amman, Jordan, Friday, July 4, 2014. Al-Shalabi, a Jordanian militant leader linked to al-Qaida, said Friday that the kingdom "is not immune" to the chaos befalling neighboring countries, urging the government to implement more balanced economic and social policies to avoid a fate similar to Iraq and Syria. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)

A week ago, filing out of Friday prayers at a mosque in Ma'an, supporters of the Islamic State raised its black flag and expressed their solidarity with the Islamist fanatics formerly calling themselves the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. With that presence in Jordan just over the border from Iraq, in a town that has long been known for its Salafist leanings, Jordan is brought closer to a conflict it wants to be closed off from.

But the very real dangers that threaten the Hashemite Kingdom has resulted in Jordan's military's response in sending tanks, troops and rocket launchers to the border, as precautionary measures should they be required. And they may be required, since the Iraqi military abandoned its border posts, leaving them to the followers of the Islamic State. Even so, Jordanian officials insist that the IS doesn't pose a threat to their country.

They point out that Iraqi Sunni tribesmen who have amicable relations with Jordan, have shifted into the Turaibil border area in the wake of Iraqi troop withdrawal. There is also the point that Iraqi Sunnis have made, for the time being, a common pact with the Islamic State for the very particular purpose of removing Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki from power, and with him, the power of the Shiite-specific state.


And while Iraqi Sunnis, once they achieve their goal, may not be satisfied to have to claim fealty to the Islamic State, and they will not be comfortable with the presence of the Islamic State within Iraq, making it quite likely that there will result a violent clash between the fanatical Sunni Islamists and the Iraqi Sunnis, while for the time being they are cojoined, each using the other. Iraqi Sunnis content for now to aid IS in capturing Iraqi cities and towns; Islamic State finding the Iraqi Sunnis useful in holding them while they march on to other conquests.

Mindful, however, that within the country there is that grassroots risk of Islamist Salafists' alliance with the Islamic State, and the worrying fact that thousands of Jordanian jihadists have joined the Islamic State, Jordan is anxious not to leave matters to chance. Its lower house of parliament passed amendments recently to its 2006 anti-terror bill, giving the state the legal power to detain and try any citizens suspected of affiliation with terrorist groups in the hopes of promoting regional stability.


They might want to start with Mohammed al-Shabi who warned that Jordan is "not immune" to the anarchic chaos visiting its neighbours. Even while acknowledging that the extremists' declaration of a caliphate threatens to divide the jihadi movement, he asserts as an example that the fighting between rival militia factions has already succeeded in undermining the Sunni struggle against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom the kingdom of Jordan does not support.

Jordanian Salafis have discontinued sending their supporters to join rebels in Syria in fear they will begin fighting other Muslims. The southern impoverished city of Ma'an has seen the black flag raised amid protests by supporters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, now IS. The announcement of the creation of the Islamic State while welcomed by many was also derided and rejected by many rival Islamic rebel factions in combat in Syria.

Mohammed al-Shalabi, as an Salafi leader, has urged Jordan to adopt Islamic Shariah laws and with them more 'balanced' economic and social policies; warning that if this does not become a reality what has occurred in Iraq and Syria may well be repeated in Jordan. King Abdullah has promised to speed up reforms begun with his ascent to the throne in 1999. His single-party rule ended in 1991 but no opposition parties have yet gained a balance of power.

Jordan, though not envisioning an invasion from the Islamic State, is decidedly nervous about the situation that could yet develop with just such an invasion. Its 180-kilometre border with Iraq has been reinforced to boost security, but as Interior Minister Hussein al-Majali informed Jordanian lawmakers last month, the kingdom is "surrounded by extremism".