History YMMV / Caliphate

* HilariousInHindsight:
** In ''Caliphate'''s dystopian future, the militaristic USA becomes the Imperial States of America, or ISA. This acronym has since also been used for [[UnitedSpaceOfAmerica a similar polity]] in [[VideoGame/{{Killzone}} another franchise]].

** Muslims being placed in interment camps in response to terrorism with Islam being declared an "dangerous political movement that is only dishonestly a religion". While this didn't happen in America like in the book, something close happened in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang_re-education_camps China in 2018]] when they imprisoned one million Muslims in re-education camps and declared Islam a "contagious disease".

** The new Islamic Caliphate was indeed established by terrorists, and a large portion of its militants were recruited in Europe. Fortunately, the majority of the Muslims condemned them, both in Europe and in the Islamic world, so the "Eurabian" dystopia of ''Caliphate'' has not come to pass.

** Kratman predicted that by 2015 the Democrat-led government would have called off the search for Bin Laden out of a spineless attempt to pander to the Muslim world after a nuclear attack. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Osama_bin_Laden Come 2011]]...

* SpiritualAntithesis: It could be considered this to ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale'': it focus on a fundamentalist Islamic regime taking over a Western society and imposing a NoWomansLand with much of it viewed through an female perspective. Interestingly, the United States also turns into a fascist empire in response to an ambiguous terrorist attack, somewhat similarly to the genesis of ''Handmaid'''s Gilead. Though the Imperial States of America stands in opposition against the titular Caliphate and is not as misogynistic or fanatically religious, it still isn't all that much better due to it brutal policies against other countries that don't play along with them.

* SpiritualAntithesis: It could be considered this to ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale'': it focus on a fundamentalist Islamic regime taking over a Western society and imposing a NoWomansLand with much of it viewed through an female perspective. Interestingly, the United States also turns into a fascist empire in response to an ambiguous terrorist attack, somewhat similarly to the genesis ''Handmaid'''s Gilead. Though the Imperial States of America stands in opposition against the titular Caliphate and is not as misogynistic or fanatically religious, it still isn't all that much better due to it brutal policies against other countries that don't play along with them.

** Islam as well as its apologists are held in contempt, so much so that several chapters open with controversial statements by real-life figures portraying it in a negative light. Though it should be noted that a few Muslims are portrayed as sympathetic such as Besma, Ishmael and Mahmoud, if not indeed victims of the circumstances they find themselves in.

** Islam as well as its apologists are held in contempt, so much so that several chapters open with controversial statements by real-life figures portraying it in a negative light. Though it should be noted that a few Muslims are portrayed as sympathetic such as Besma, Ishmael and Mahmoud, if not victims of the circumstances they find themselves in.

* SpiritualAntithesis: It could be considered this to ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale'': it focus on a fundamentalist Islamic regime taking over a Western society and imposing a NoWomansLand with much of it viewed through an female perspective. Interestingly, the United States also turns into a fascist empire in response to an ambiguous terrorist attack, somewhat similarly to the genesis ''Handmaid'''s Gilead. Though it stands in opposition against the titular Caliphate and is not as misogynistic or fanatically religious, it still isn't all that much better due to it brutal policies against other countries that don't play along with them.

* SpiritualAntithesis: It could be considered this to ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale'': it focus on a fundamentalist Islamic regime taking over a Western society and imposing a NoWomansLand with much of it viewed through an female perspective. Interestingly, the United States also turns into a fascist empire not unlike Gilead specially considering they become like this in response to an ambiguous terrorist attack. Though it stands in opposition against the titular Caliphate, it isn't that much better due to bullying other countries that don't play along with them.

** In ''Caliphate'''s dystopian future, the militaristic USA becomes the Imperial States of America, or ISA. This acronym has since also been used for [[UnitedSpaceOfAmerica a similar polity]] in [[Franchise/{{Killzone}} another franchise]].

* HilariousInHindsight: Kratman predicted that by 2015 the Democrat-led government would have called off the search for Bin Laden out of a spineless attempt to pander to the Muslim world after a nuclear attack. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Osama_bin_Laden Come 2011]]...

** In the book, frequent purges of Muslims by the US have become extremely common, with soldiers going as far as to kill those who are related to them, and taking joy in the deeds. With the recent surge in anti-Islamist attacks in the 2010s occurring in much of the world, with the most infamous being the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christchurch_mosque_shootings Christchurch mosque massacres in New Zealand]], where the perpetrator Brenton Tarrant killed 50 worshipers all while listening to "God is a Serb", these passages go from disconcerting to outright prophetic and horrifying.

* AcceptableTargets: Islam as well as its apologists are held in contempt, so much so that several chapters open with controversial statements by real-life figures portraying it in a negative light. Though it should be noted that a few Muslims are portrayed as sympathetic such as Besma, Ishmael and Mahmoud, if not victims of the circumstances they find themselves in.

* {{Anvilicious}}: The book is, shall we say, ''not very subtle''. Muslims bad, freedom good, m'kay?
** Having said that not all Muslims are bad, since Besma is a genuinely good person and Abdul being at least a NobleBigot.

** He could always self-publish it, if he wanted.

** More hilarity: This same timeline has a right-wing populist elected as President in 2016, and the whole media in a panic that he'll impose a fascist dictatorship on America, and/or start World War III. [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Sounds familiar?]] In fact, he doesn't ... [[ILied Until about halfway through his first term.]] Let's keep our fingers crossed that doesn't also happen according to schedule in real life.

* SpiritualAntithesis: It could be considered this to ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale''; it focus on a fundamentalist Islamic regime taking over a Western society and imposing a NoWomansLand with much of it viewed through an female perspective. Interestingly, the United States also turns into a fascist empire not unlike Gilead specially considering they become like this in response to an ambiguous terrorist attack. Though it stands in opposition against the titular Caliphate, it isn't that much better due to bullying other countries that don't play along with them.

* AcceptableReligiousTargets: Islam as well as its apologists are held in contempt, so much so that several chapters open with controversial statements by real-life figures portraying it in a negative light. Though it should be noted that a few Muslims are portrayed as sympathetic such as Besma, Ishmael and Mahmoud, if not victims of the circumstances they find themselves in.

** Muslims being placed in interment camps in response to terrorism with Islam being declared an "dangerous political movement that is only dishonestly a religion". While this didn't happen in America like in the book, something close happened in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang_re-education_camps China in 2018]].

* AcceptableReligiousTargets: Islam as well as its apologists are held in a contemptuous way, so much so that several chapters open with controversial statements by real-life figures portraying it in a negative light. Though it should be noted that a few Muslims are portrayed as sympathetic such as Besma, Ishmael and Mahmoud, if not victims of the circumstances they find themselves in.

* AcceptableReligiousTargets: Islam as well as its apologists are held in a contemptuous way, so much so that several chapters open with controversial statements by real-life figures portraying it in a negative light. Though it should be noted that a few Muslims are portrayed as sympathetic such as Besma, Ishmael and Mahmoud if not victims of circumstances themselves, if not victims of the circumstances they find themselves in.

** Petra's sexual abuse is bad enough. It becomes worse when reading about the Yazidi Genocide by ISIS and the systematic exploitation of 7,000 Yazidi women and girls by the terrorist group in part because they were non-Muslim [[note]]the Yazidis were targeted mostly because their religious beliefs were deemed "demon worship" since Satan repented in their belief[[/labelnote]], the same reason why Petra is exploited.

* SpiritualAntithesis: It could be considered this to ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale''; it focus on a fundamentalist Islamic regime taking over a Western society and imposing a NoWomansLand with much of it saw through an female perspective. Interestingly, the United States also turns into a fascist empire not unlike Gilead specially considering they become like this in response to an ambiguous terrorist attack. Though it stands in opposition against the titular Caliphate, it isn't that much better due to bullying other countries that don't play along with them.

** The new Islamic Caliphate was indeed estabilished by terrorists, and a large portion of its militants were recruited in Europe. Fortunately, the majority of the Muslims condemned them, both in Europe and in the Islamic world, so the "Eurabian" dystopia of ''Caliphate'' has not come to pass.
** Petra's sexual abuse becomes much worse in the aftermath of the Yazidi Genocide by ISIS which saw over 7,000 women and girls enslaved by the terrorist group because they were non-Muslim - the same reason why Petra is exploited.

* HarsherInHindsight: The new Islamic Caliphate was indeed estabilished by terrorists, and a large portion of its militants were recruited in Europe. Fortunately, the majority of the Muslims condemned them, both in Europe and in the Islamic world, so the "Eurabian" dystopia of ''Caliphate'' has not come to pass.

** More hilarity: This same timeline has a right-wing populist elected as President in 2016, and the whole media in a panic that he'll impose a fascist dictatorship on America, and/or start World War III. [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Sounds familiar?]] In fact, he doesn't ... [[ILied Until about halfway through his first period.]] Let's keep our fingers crossed that doesn't also happen according to schedule in real life.

** Only if you look at it that way. A lot of Muslim characters have very human values, and Abdul Mohsem is seen as a Noble Bigot. The book criticizes the Fatalist view of Islamic world and the decay it brings.

** Wait until you see Muslim percentage hits through the ceiling in Europe.