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Holy War: The Year the Muslims Took Rome
Chiesa.com ^ | January 5, 2005 | Sandro Magister

Posted on 01/05/2006 6:25:09 AM PST by NYer

ROMA, January 5, 2006 – A book published recently in the United States lifts the veil on a crucial aspect of Islam, one which too many understand poorly and know too little about: jihad, the holy war.

It is an aspect that meets with widespread silence, as if it were a taboo. Even among Christians, there are wide gaps on this topic in the general awareness of Church history.

An example? Many recall what happened in Rome, at St. Peter’s Basilica, the night of Christmas Day of the year 800. After the Mass, pope Leo III solemnly placed upon the head of Charlemagne the crown of the Holy Roman Empire.

That night, the basilica of St. Peter gleamed with breathtaking brilliance. A few years earlier, Leo III’s predecessor, pope Hadrian I, had covered the entire floor of the sanctuary with plates of silver; he had covered the walls with gold plates and enclosed it all with a balustrade of gold weighing 1,328 pounds. He had remade the sanctuary gates with silver, and had placed on the iconostasis six images also made of silver, representing Christ, Mary, the archangels Gabriel and Michael, and saints Andrew and John. Finally, in order to make this splendor visible to all, he had ordered the assembly of a candelabrum in the form of a huge cross, on which 1,365 candles burned.

But less than half a century later, none of this remained. And what happened remains generally unknown among Christians today.

What happened is that in 846 some Muslim Arabs arrived in a fleet at the mouth of the Tiber, made their way to Rome, sacked the city, and carried away from the basilica of St. Peter all of the gold and silver it contained.

And this was not just an incidental attack. In 827 the Arabs had conquered Sicily, which they kept under their dominion for two and a half centuries. Rome was under serious threat from nearby. In 847, the year after the assault, the newly elected pope Leo IV began the construction of walls around the entire perimeter of the Vatican, 12 meters high and equipped with 44 towers. He completed the project in six years. These are the “Leonine” walls, and significant traces of them still remain. But very few today know that these walls were erected to defend the see of Peter from an Islamic jihad. And many of those who do know this remain silent out of discretion. “Bridges, not walls” is the fashionable slogan today.

* * *

The book that lifts the veil on the Islamic holy war is entitled “The Legacy of Jihad,” and is edited by Andrew G. Bostom.

The book is essentially made up of documents, many of which have been translated for the first time from Arabic or Farsi, or have been reproduced from books of oriental studies that would be difficult for the general public to find.

The documents range from Mohammed in the seventh century, to the twentieth century. And they include the classic texts on the topic of jihad by Muslim theologians and jurists, accounts of war from ancient and modern witnesses, and analyses of jihad by scholars of varying outlooks.

The book also contains islamic miniatures depicting moments of jihad throughout history, and maps that document the military expansion of Islam century after century, from the seventh to the eleventh century. Each map is accompanied by a summary listing the acts of war in each region.

For example, in the ninth century, during which Rome was assaulted and Sicily was conquered, the Muslim armies occupied Bari and Brindisi in Italy for thirty years; Taranto for forty; Benevento for ten; they attacked Naples, Capua, Calabria, and Sardinia several times; they put the abbey of Montecassino to fire and the sword; they even made skirmishes in northern Italy, arriving from Spain and crossing over the Alps.

One fact emerges clearly from the documentation compiled by Bostom: jihad is not just one of the forms by which the expansion of Islam took place in particular places and times, but it is an institution inherent to the Islamic system itself; it is a permanent religious obligation.

One astonishing thing is that it was not a specialist who published this documentation in the West. Bostom is an epidemiologist living in Providence, Rhode Island. But perhaps this very distance from the academic world of the oriental and Islamic studies scholars leaves him more free from the taboos that gag many of these.

Biting criticisms of the pro-Islamic sentiment of much of Western culture have been written by, among others, Jacques Ellul, Oriana Fallaci, and Bat Ye’or. The latter of these is a leading specialist in the condition of subordination systematically imposed by Islam upon the non-Muslim subjects of conquered countries. She is also the author of an essay published in 2005, carrying the eloquent title “Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis.”

One of the central theses of the three authors cited is that Islam is an organic whole and cannot be reformed in its essential elements, and that personal freedom and rights cannot be incorporated into it.

But even another author who does not share this thesis, and is indeed one of the most decisive proponents of the idea that Islam and democracy are compatible – Bernard Lewis, one of the most authoritative Islamic studies experts alive, professor at Princeton University – has severely criticized the pro-Islamic tendencies in vogue among Western intellectuals and politicians, even among Jewish ones.

In an essay entitled “The Pro-Islamic Jews,” Lewis explains how the idea of an early Islamic Spain tolerant of Christians and Jews – evoked by many today as a golden age – is a romantic myth of the nineteenth century, created by Jews themselves in their intellectual conflict with Christians.

And modern Turkey’s aligning itself with the Western world and its support for the state of Israel have also induced a widespread unwillingness to speak about the massacres it carried out last century against the Armenian Christians.

Other factors encouraging the general silence over the holy wars of yesterday and today – and also over slavery, which is still practiced by Muslims in some regions, over assaults on churches and the killing of Christians – are the effort to establish a good relationship with the increasing numbers of Muslim immigrants in Europe, fear of terrorist attacks, and the desire to create distance from the outlook of the “clash of civilizations.”

But the Muslim victims of this reticence and silence on the part of the West are precisely those who are courageously fighting to reform the Islamic faith and reconcile it with democracy and modernity.

It’s a good thing that, with books like the one by Andrew G. Bostom, they aren’t being left entirely alone.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: battleoflepanto; christian; islam; jew; jihad; lepanto; muslim; nukeyerjihad; pope; vatican
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The book:

”The Legacy of Jihad. Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims,” edited by Andrew G. Bostom, foreword by Ibn Warraq, Prometheus Books, New York, 2005, pp. 762.

__________


On this topic, on this website:

> From Lepanto to Baghdad, There’s a Road that Leads through Rome (19.12.2005)

> Is Europe a Province of Islam? The Danger is Called Dhimmitude (17.3.2003)

Other articles:

> Focus on ISLAM
1 posted on 01/05/2006 6:25:11 AM PST by NYer
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To: american colleen; Lady In Blue; Salvation; narses; SMEDLEYBUTLER; redhead; Notwithstanding; ...
Catholic Ping - Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list


2 posted on 01/05/2006 6:25:42 AM PST by NYer (Discover the beauty of the Eastern Catholic Churches - freepmail me for more information.)
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To: SJackson

Ping!


3 posted on 01/05/2006 6:26:28 AM PST by NYer (Discover the beauty of the Eastern Catholic Churches - freepmail me for more information.)
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To: kjenerette

...reading list.


4 posted on 01/05/2006 6:32:00 AM PST by Van Jenerette (Our Republic...If We Can Keep It!)
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To: NYer; Tolik
the newly elected pope Leo IV began the construction of walls around the entire perimeter of the Vatican, 12 meters high and equipped with 44 towers.

Today, most of Italians, with great support from their European brothers and one half of America, would declare this wall insensitive to the needs of the immigrant population. Shouldn't borders be open at all times, both to friend and foe?

5 posted on 01/05/2006 6:41:30 AM PST by TopQuark
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking the keyword Israel.

..................

6 posted on 01/05/2006 6:50:38 AM PST by SJackson (There's no such thing as too late, that's why they invented death. Walter Matthau)
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To: NYer


Huge new Mosque in Rome across the river from the Vatican --->>

NICHOLSON: This experience could be indispensable in coming years as the Catholic Church competes with the rise of Islam. The faithful who worship in this giant mosque in Rome, almost on the doorstep of the Vatican are a powerful reminder of the competition the Catholic Church faces for followers in both the developed and developing world.

JOHN ALLEN: So that mosque in Rome tends to be a tremendous symbol if you like of what sticks in the craw of a lot of Christians thinking about the relationship with Islam.

NICHOLSON: Mario Scialoja is a rare Italian. He converted from Catholicism to Islam, a former Italian Ambassador to the United Nations, he’s now the director of Italy’s World Muslim League.

MARIO SCIALOJA: I don’t expect there to be happy to see such a fast growth of the Muslim faith in Italy, but I mean they didn’t show any, any resentment for that.

NICHOLSON: Islam is making inroads into traditional Christian areas with a zeal and energy that cannot be ignored. Vatican watcher journalist John Allen has no doubt the Catholic Church is afraid.

JOHN ALLEN: Tremendously afraid. I think the reality is that if you look at the world situation, Islam has about 1.1 billion members, so does Roman Catholicism. Islam is expanding rapidly in a lot of boarder zones where Christianity has traditionally found itself.

NICHOLSON: Arinze is prepared to tackle the contest head on. His approach to interfaith dialogue is straightforward. The aim of the game is more Catholics


7 posted on 01/05/2006 6:58:45 AM PST by dennisw ("What one man can do another can do" - The Edge)
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To: NYer
There was a Muslim mini-state in southern Europe during the post-Carolingian period, centered on Fraxinetum. To this day there are towns in southern Provence with Muslim names. They raided as far as southern Germany (Swabia - modern-day Baden-Württemberg) and were only beaten back after they kidnapped (hmm, some things never change) St Maiolus, the abbot of the great Abbey of Cluny.

You have to hunt around to find much about it. Older history texts are best. The newer ones are too PC to admit to the notion that Muslims tried to pillage and conquer Europe other than Spain.

8 posted on 01/05/2006 6:59:57 AM PST by Heatseeker (Never underestimate the left's tendency to underestimate us.)
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To: Heatseeker

"The newer ones are too PC to admit to the notion that Muslims tried to pillage and conquer Europe other than Spain."


And they completely fail to mention the success of the Khan's Golden Horde invasion of the 1300s that had the Khan knocking on the gates of Vienna after thoroughly whipping the butts of the European Christian armies.


9 posted on 01/05/2006 7:05:45 AM PST by Blzbba (Sub sole nihil novi est)
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To: backhoe

Ping. This needs to be in your metalink post(s).


10 posted on 01/05/2006 7:22:06 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Guns themselves are fairly robust; their chief enemies are rust and politicians) (NRA)
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To: TopQuark

bttt with a little history.


11 posted on 01/05/2006 7:24:24 AM PST by justshutupandtakeit (Public Enemy #1, the RATmedia.)
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To: TopQuark

The Muslim forays against Italy and the South of France are not Äncient History". As late as the middle of the 19th century, raiders from Algeria and Tunisia (The Barbarbary Coast) would snatch and enslave people fropm seaside towns, and in some cases, who were walking along the beach, often fighting pitched battles with the fleet and army of the Kingdom of Naples.


12 posted on 01/05/2006 7:25:06 AM PST by Kenny Bunk (Democrat vote fraud must be stopped. Hello? RNC?)
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To: NYer
This is all undoubtedly true, but Christianity is on the wane in most parts of the world and Islam is on the rise.

More catholics means when the crunch comes, they will be sacrificial lambs. I don't believe Christianity will prevail over Islam until the return of Christ.

What really complicates the issue, is that for the first time in history, there are a significant number of people who are weary of religion, all religion. I think irreligious people are siding with Islam because they want to see it used as a force in their war against Christianity.

For some bizarre, inscructable reason, they see Islam as less threatening than Christianity. Christianity has become so divided and fragmented, it fails to provided a united front and has its bizarre elements and sects. They want to be rid of Christianity in any form because it is their perception that Christians block scientific and their version of social progress. They have blinders on. All their social experimentation will come to a screeching halt once Islam suceeds in reaching critical mass in various countries. It does not require a majority to cause mayhem. A majority will cause worse than mayhem.

There are none so blind as those who will not see. This has been snowballing for centuries, and there is no way Islam will ever accommodate itself to western ideals universally which I think the movers and shakers at the head of social change are banking on. There are some who will become more enlightened and tolerant, but I fear they will be the minority.

There is an energy driving Islam which tends toward violence and bloodshed. To some extent that was true with Christianity in the past, but much of that was in self-defense.

13 posted on 01/05/2006 7:32:19 AM PST by Aliska
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To: Kenny Bunk

Very true, especially in Calabria.


14 posted on 01/05/2006 7:35:18 AM PST by Heatseeker (Never underestimate the left's tendency to underestimate us.)
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To: dennisw
Huge new Mosque in Rome across the river from the Vatican


It is the first and the only Mosque in Rome, located at the foot of the hill. It was erected in 1984-93, and designed by Paolo Portoghesi, Vittorio Gigliotti and Sami Monsawi. The mosque, that can hold up to 3000 people and is the largest in Europe, was financed by some 24 Arab countries. There is also a cultural center and library here.

From what I understand, they petitioned the City of Rome to erect a crescent moon over the Mosque that rises higher than the cross over the Vatican. The request was granted. Also, the previous Imam was a radical extremist who called for a jihad.

Do you have a link to the John Allen article?

15 posted on 01/05/2006 7:38:51 AM PST by NYer (Discover the beauty of the Eastern Catholic Churches - freepmail me for more information.)
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To: NYer
Bostom is an epidemiologist living in Providence, Rhode Island. But perhaps this very distance from the academic world of the oriental and Islamic studies scholars leaves him more free from the taboos that gag many of these.

So the work will be completely ignored since it did not come from one of the anointed elite. That is why if you want to seriously study history, you have a much better time if you focus on old books.

Harold Lamb's books on the Crusade are great.

16 posted on 01/05/2006 7:41:02 AM PST by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: NYer

That is one u-g-l-y building!


17 posted on 01/05/2006 7:42:07 AM PST by Convert from ECUSA (Not a nickel, not a dime, stop sending my tax money to Hamastine!)
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To: NYer

Do you have a link to the John Allen article?.....

No.
And I think the Rome mosque was Saudi funded.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110003943
In 1995, incidentally, Saudi money funded the building of an enormous, $50 million mosque in Rome, just a stone's throw from St. Peter's Square.


18 posted on 01/05/2006 7:42:55 AM PST by dennisw ("What one man can do another can do" - The Edge)
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To: Heatseeker
There was a Muslim mini-state in southern Europe during the post-Carolingian period, centered on Fraxinetum. To this day there are towns in southern Provence with Muslim names.

Fascinating! I had no idea. Thank you for the information.

19 posted on 01/05/2006 7:44:45 AM PST by NYer (Discover the beauty of the Eastern Catholic Churches - freepmail me for more information.)
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To: dennisw

I am so sick of Interreligious Dialogue. Its long since time for a new Crusade.

If we are going to be accused of being crusaders for pumping mideast oil and not carpet bombing Israel or not funnelling foreign aid to Hammas, we might as well live up to the accusation and actually be Crusaders.


20 posted on 01/05/2006 7:45:59 AM PST by Hermann the Cherusker
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