Posted on 10/27/2001 6:33:03 AM PDT by ml/nj
From Chapter 1, Historical Outline:
In the year 622, on the invitation of the Ansar - a group of pagans converted to Islam - Muhammad and his small band of followers left Mecca for Yathrib (Medina). The population then consisted of polytheistic clans, of Jewish tribes that had long been established in Arabia, and Arabs converted to Judaism. ...
The arrival of Muhammad and his followers provoked no opposition from the Jews. ...
In 624 Muhammad, joined by more followers, called upon the Qaynuqa, one of the Jewish tribes of Medina, to recognize his prophetic mission. When they refused, he besieged and overcame them. On the intercession of one of their protectors - a recent convert to Islam - their lives were spared, but they were expelled from the city, their lands and a part of their possessions being confiscated by the Muslims. The following year the Jewish Nadir tribe suffered a similar fate: Muhammad burned down their palm groves and divided all their fields and houses among the community of Believers. [footnote]
In 627 the Meccans sent a united force to lay siege to the Muslims in Medina, but they withdrew suddenly on a stormy night without fighting. However, guided by the angel Gabriel, Muhammad then turned his host against the Jewish tribe of the Qurayza who had been neutral during the seige. Because the Jews refused conversion, Muhammad attacked and overwhelmed them. Trenches were then dug in the marketplace of Medina, and the Jews - six to nine hundred of them, according to traditional Muslim sources - were led forth in batches and decapitated. All the menfolk perished in this way, with the exception of one convert to Islam. The Prophet then divided the women, children, houses, and chattels among the Muslims.[footnote]
... In 628, taking advantage of a treaty of nonbelligerency (Hudaybiya) with the Meccans[footnote], he attacked the oasis of Khaybar, one hundred and forty kilometers northwest of Medina, cultivated by another Jewish tribe. The assailants came to the oasis at night and in the morning attacked the peasants as they were coming out to work in the fields, carrying spades and baskets.[footnote] Their palm groves were burned down. After a siege lasting month and a half, the inhabitants surrendered under the terms of a treaty known as the dhimma. According to the agreement Muhammad allowed the Jews to continue cultivating their oasis, on the condition that they ceded to him half of their produce; he also reserved the right to break the agreement and expel them whenever he wished.[footnote] Subsequently, all the Jewish and Christian communities of Arabia submitted to the Muslims under the terms of a dhimma similar to that granted at Khaybar. ...
Anti-Semitic since who knows when. |
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Islam has a history of wars, insurrections, massacres, tortures, treachery, kidnappings, slave-trading, tyrants, dictators, bombings, riots, hatred, unrivaled fanaticism, attempted genocide, religious persecution, hijackings, and terrorism that goes clear back to Mohammed.
Everyone else pales in comparison, both in longevity and relentless brutality. You need to loosen your turban a bit.
...and that's just in the last year.
To clear up any confusion, what you wrote above is not your opinion, but is a quote from C. Rice. Right?
Stop beating around the bush. Why don't you just admit that you are an enemy of the U.S. and and that you support those who directed suicidal, mass murder missions on our soil?
But I'll humor you, and find a few references. Back in a bit ...
Muhammad's strategy in the developing conflict with Mecca was to attack Meccan trade caravans returning from Syria and thus economically weaken the city.
"Medina lies on the caravan route N of Mecca, and the Kuraishites of Mecca could not endure the thought of their outlawed relative taking vengeance on his native city by plundering their caravans."
So now that I've supported my point, you're saying that I can only be correct if I've devoted my life to the study of Islamic history. Citing an authority was only good enough when you thought I couldn't do it?
Those "snippets", as you call them, were intentionally taken out of as unbiased a source as possible, checked out by a competent, educated, editorial committee.
But you can stick your head in the sand if it makes you feel more tolerant, open-minded, and multicultural.
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