[Enchante]

jveritas, I wonder if our resident Arabic expert can throw any light on this - it certainly sounds ominous in light of the tradition cited, but I have no way of knowing whether the author is correct. It makes sense to me........

The key sentence in the letter is the closing salutation. In an eight-page text of the letter being circulated by the Council on Foreign Relations, it is left untranslated and rendered as "Vasalam Ala Man Ataba'al hoda." What this means is "Peace only unto those who follow the true path." It is a phrase with historical significance in Islam, for, according to Islamic tradition, in year six of the Hejira - the late 620s - the prophet Mohammad sent letters to the Byzantine emperor and the Sassanid emperor telling them to convert to the true faith of Islam or be conquered. The letters included the same phrase that President Ahmadinejad used to conclude his letter to Mr. Bush. For Mohammad, the letters were a prelude to a Muslim offensive, a war launched for the purpose of imposing Islamic rule over infidels.

[jveritas]

Correct, this phrase has been used sometimes in the past to ask people to follow Islam or the Muslims will declare a war against them.