. . . "This applies to the Arab Conquest, says al-Rawandi, because for some two hundred years the Arab conquerors were a minority amongst a non-Moslem majority. For al-Rawandi, Islam is an invention for the purpose of providing a religious justification for Arab Imperialism. The Conquest is the reason and explanation for Islam, not the other way around." . . .
Fiction and Fact from gatorman's Almanac:
1) Islam in Arabic means to "submit". After Mohammed's death began the conquest of what was left of the old Byzantine Christian Empire. The vanquished had to submit to Islam or were put to the sword. Mosques were built upon the destroyed ruins of Christian churches and places of worship to eradicate that culture.
2) Muslims believe that Mohammed was the prophet of God (Allah) as Christ was the prophet of God to the Christians and Abraham the prophet of God to the Jews. However, at the time of Mohammed . . . Islam was a heresy of both religions (what)? ? ?
What If:
There suddenly was an American terrorist group by, let's say, the name of "The Minutemen". And, these Minutemen terrorists threatened any Islamic country by blowing up Mecca or the Temple Mount if any more acts of war were waged on Americans anywhere in the world? Would that get anyone's attention? Just daydreaming, again.
Muslims believe that Mohammed was the prophet of God (Allah) as Christ was the prophet of God to the Christians and Abraham the prophet of God to the Jews. Muslims believe Mohammed, Christ, and Abraham (as well as Moses, Noah, and many others) were all prophets of God.
What If: There suddenly was an American terrorist group by, let's say, the name of "The Minutemen". And, these Minutemen terrorists threatened any Islamic country by blowing up Mecca or the Temple Mount if any more acts of war were waged on Americans anywhere in the world? Would that get anyone's attention?
That's the road I think we should take, except that we need not create a terrorist group ourselves. We should just point a nuclear missile at Mecca, announce to the Arab world that Islamic terrorists of all stripes are now their problem and their problem alone to deal with if they wish for Mecca not to become a smoldering crater of glass. We will provide them with every aid and incentive that they might desire to save their most holy city and root out the terrorists once and for all, but if the terrorism begins anew, they have no one but themselves to blame for what happens to Mecca if they allow their madmen to get out of control one more time.
We've been reasonable through the bombings of embassies, the bombing of the USS Cole, the numerous suicide bombings of Palestinian nutcases in Israel, but it is clear that being "reasonable" hasn't gotten us anywhere. It's now time to become unreasonable.