| Islam's original enemies were Byzantines and Zoroastrian Persians, but unlike in the Old Testament (God commanded the Hebrews to kill Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites), the Quran rarely singles them out by their proper names. Instead, Muslims are commanded to fight the people of the book - 'until they pay the tribute out of hand and have been humbled' and to 'slay the idolaters wherever you find them.' The two Arabic conjunctions 'until' (hata) and 'wherever' (haythu) demonstrate the perpetual nature of these commandments: There are still 'people of the book' who have yet to be 'utterly humbled' (especially in the Americas, Europe, and Israel) and 'idolaters' to be slain 'wherever' one looks (especially Asia and sub-Saharan Africa). In fact, the salient feature of almost all of the violent commandments in Islamic scriptures is their open-ended and generic nature: 'Fight them [non-Muslims] until there is no persecution and the religion is God's entirely. Also, in a tradition that appears in the hadith collections, Muhammad proclaims: I have been commanded to wage war against mankind until they testify that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God; and that they establish prostration prayer, and pay the alms-tax [i.e., convert to Islam]. If they do so, their blood and property are protected. Neither Jewish nor Christian scriptures employ such perpetual, open-ended commandments. Islam spread through conquest, as evinced by the fact that the majority of what is now known as the Islamic world, or dar al-Islam, was conquered by the sword of Islam. This is a historic fact, attested to by the most authoritative Islamic historians. Even the Arabian peninsula, the 'home' of Islam, was subdued by great force and bloodshed, as evidenced by the Ridda Wars when tens of thousands of Arabs were put to the sword by the first caliph Abu Bakr for abandoning Islam after Muhammad's death. Abu Bakr, the father of Muhammad's most beloved wife Aisha assumed leadership of the Muslim community from 632-34. This is still a matter of contention among Muslims; the largest sect of Islam, the Sunnis, and the various Shia sects, disagree radically as to the history and significance of Abu Bakr's succession to what was later called the caliphate - 'he who follows behind' or the 'successor'. The history as recorded by the Muhammadans themselves prove that most of the Bedouin Arabs who had rallied out of fear to the banner of 'Islam' under Muhammad, changed their mind after his death. It took almost two years of bloody fighting and slaughter under the first Khalifa, Abu Bakr and under general Khalid Ibn al Walid, the mass murderer called (The Sword of Allah), to subdue, subjugate and force those secessionists and apostates to return to the fold of peaceful 'Islam'; but of course, not through dialogue and conviction, but at the point and edge of swords. By the time the Ridda Wars were over in June 633, the Muslim umma had suffered appalling casualties, and the Islamic state had acquired a highly experienced, battle-proven army, which was capable of overcoming enemies far stronger than itself. Under its new rulers and new religion, it was ready to burst onto the world stage shedding the blood and plundering peoples on three continents. Muhammadan Muslim bloodshed by bombs, guns and swords continues to this day, not only against so called 'unbelievers' but also against believers as we see daily in the news media, all over the planet. There will never ever be peace with so called people like this. It does not make one evil to see evil in this world. Rancid goat cheese be upon them. |
| The president's strategy is absolutely clear about the threat we face. Our enemy is not terrorism because terrorism is but a tactic. Our enemy is not terror because terror is a state of mind and, as Americans, we refuse to live in fear. Nor do we describe our enemy as jihadists or Islamists because jihad is holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam meaning to purify oneself or one's community." -- May 26, 2010, John Brennan, Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security
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