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Many Muslims in
America are promoting the idea that Islam is a religion of peace, and that
Islamic terrorists are an aberration of true Islam. To get the best view of
Islam we must study its history. Mohammed and his successors carried on a jihad for many years until all other political regimes in a wide geographic area surrounding the "cradle of Islam" on the Arabian peninsula had succumbed to Muslim rule. (Dennis, The Rise of the Islamic Empire, p.21)Islam believes that there are two states of existence in the world, the place where Islam rules is called the area of peace, and the place where Islam does not rule is the area of war. In other words, war is to be used to make Islam the ruling religion in areas that are predominately Christian. From the very beginning, any nation that did not allow for the free practice of Islam was seen as hostile to Islam, so warfare was seen as justified; that nation was invaded and conquered to allow the practice of Islam. Such conquests were "opening" up that nation to Islam. After unifying Arabia under the banner of Islam, his followers attacked and waged war against the Christian Byzantine Empire and the Persians. They also attacked Persian and Christian caravans and plundered trade goods by both land and sea Pirate raids at sea, as well as along the shore, preceded the Moslem conquest of North Africa and the islands of the Mediterranean. In 649 Cyprus was taken, and Rhodes ravaged by Moslem pirates. (Ward, Pirates in History, page 59)Plundering one's enemies, namely Christians, became a way of life for the Muslims resulting in fleets of Muslim pirates in the Mediterranean between 700 and the early 1800s. Once Islam conquers a region it allows Christians to exist as long as they pay heavy taxes and do not try to convert a Muslim. Any Christians who tries to convert Muslims are automatically under a death sentence as are any converts to Christianity; or just because a person is a Christian. The Byzantine Empire was what was left of the Eastern Roman Empire, and was officially Christian. It maintained the Justinian laws, which became the basis for the laws of most European nations. The state "supervised education and maintained hospitals and asylums for the old, the orphaned, the sick, and the destitute, and imperial legislation as a whole reflected the constant concern of the emperor for the welfare of his subjects" (Funk & Wagnalls New Ency., V.4, p.421). The capital of Byzantium was Constantinople which was the largest and richest city during the Middle Ages, with a million inhabitants, and was a center of trade. At its greatest extent, Constantinople ruled the regions of Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Italy, the islands of the Mediterranean, and Asia Minor (which is Turkey), North Africa, and even part of Spain. Since the Byzantine Empire and was officially Christian, all other religions were forbidden. That was all the reason the Muslims needed and they invaded Byzantine lands and waged war with it for 800 years until all that was left was Constantinople which they finally conquered in 1453. Constantinople is today called Istanbul. (This is the root of the conflict in Bosnia.) So you can just image the large numbers of Christians that died or were enslaved as a result of 800 years of warfare with the Muslims. This was the reason for the Crusades, though the Crusaders murdered many innocent people, the reason for the Crusades was to take land which had been taken by Muslims, particularly the Holy Land and city of Jerusalem. If Muslims had never invaded Christian Palestine there would not have been any Crusades. The first Islamic empire began by invading Persia, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt between 633-642. Cyprus was taken in 649, North Africa between 670-698. Spain fell in 711. The Muslim advance in Europe was stopped by the French, but it continued eastward into India. Muslims invaded Jerusalem in 637 A.D. and later built the Dome of the Rock about 687 A.D. When the Caliph arrived in Jerusalem in 637 to see the city he had conquered, the Patriarch of Jerusalem (Sophronius), said to a fellow priests, "So this is the abomination of desolation spoken by Daniel the Prophet as standing in the Holy Place!" (Payne, The History of Islam, p98). When the Arabs invaded Morocco they slaughtered 35,000 Christians and their blood was literally flowing through the streets. The Arabs then removed their white hats and dipped them in the blood of the Christians, which is why many Muslims wear red felt hats today, call Fez; the slaughter took place in a city called Fez (Fes). These hats are a testimony to the blood of innocent people. So now we know why there are so many Muslims from Africa to Bangladesh, the sword of Islam. Even though the nations conquered by the Arabs eventually began to rule themselves, the Islamic religion remained dominate. Later another Islamic empire ruled most of that part of the world, the Ottoman Empire which ruled from about 1300 to 1921 when it was defeated by the British in World War I. It lost all its domains except for what is now its home country of Turkey. Return to top One Islamic ruler named Hajjai was written about, Masudi says his [Hajjai's] whole life was like a trail of blood, and among his victims, not counting the innumerable soldiers who died in his wars, were 120,000 innocent men and women. At his death his prisons were choked with 80,000 prisoners, and Masudi notes as a sign of his especial inhumanity that "six thousand of these prisoners were completely naked and made to shift for themselves." (Payne, The History of Islam, p. 130)Throughout the existence of Islamic rule, Christians paid heavy taxes and were kept in the lower economic level. In fact, Christians were formally reduced to a ghetto existence: they were the Rum millet, or the "Roman nation" conquered by Islam . . .The Ottoman Empire continued the assault upon Christian nations and took the territory on each side of Constantinople and eventually defeated it in 1453, ending 1100 years of Christian life and culture. It was the massive walls of Constantinople which held back invaders for a thousand years. The residents believed that if the walls were ever penetrated by an enemy, it would signal the end of the world. Perhaps it is no coincidence that Islam breached the walls of Constantinople and will be responsible for World War III. The Muslims entered Constantinople, pillaging and plundering. The magnificent church called Hagia Sophia (Church of Divine Wisdom), was built by Justinian, the grandson of Constantine. When it was completed, Justinian said, "Solomon, I have outdone you." The Muslims turned it into a mosque, today it is a museum and tourist attraction. The Turks also ruled what is today, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Crimea, regions north of the Black Sea, and part of Iran. Vienna had to repel the Turks on several occasions. The history of the Ottoman Empire is one of almost constant warfare. The Turks would capture Christian male children who were then raised as Muslims and trained to be a highly skilled army, called Janizaries, to fight Christians! The Muslim pirates of the Barbary Coast were some of the most feared in the world. They were not just pirates, however, because they were sponsored by the governments of North African nations, and their purpose was to attack Christian shipping. The ships were looted and the crews and passengers were sold into slavery. There are several published accounts of passengers or crew of ships who were captured and were slaves until a ransom was paid for their release. The new captives would be paraded through the streets of a city like Algiers and the people would yell at them calling them "Christian dogs." When a new ship of captives would arrive the locals would say, "The Christian dogs are very cheap today" (Holmes, Burton Holmes Travelogues, page 33). Doctors, lawyers, and well known people would be free noble men one day and find themselves sold into slavery the next, quite often they were galley slaves, used to row the pirate ships or were used to cut and move stone for the construction of Mosques and palaces. Even the famous Cervantes, author of "Don Quixote," was sold at auction in 1575. He gained his freedom after five years and wrote about the ruler of Algiers, "Every day he hanged a slave, impaled one, cut off the ears of another, and this upon so little animus or so entirely without cause that the Turks would own that he did it for the sake of doing it and because it was his nature." (Ibid, page 33)Muslim piracy in the Mediterranean was a problem until well into the early 1800s when America and European nations finally decided to do something about it and sent in their warships and even conquered some nations, thus ending Muslim piracy. The army of the Ottoman Empire was greatly feared. Many nations of Europe had to fight off the Turks, and Russia has fought 8-12 wars with them. Turkey has committed numerous massacres of Christians during its history, and the violence continued even into this century. Armenia became officially Christian in the last part of the 3rd century and has suffered enormously over the course of its long history as it was invaded by several different empires and nations, including the Arabs and later the Turks which ruled it until well into the 20th century. Turkey committed, . . . atrocities that shocked the world, including massacres estimated to have caused the death of 200,000 Armenians in 1896 alone. . . . Armenia became the battleground for Russian and Turkish armies during World War I . . . As World War I continued, Turkish atrocities against Armenians increased, and the reports of the atrocities finally led the government of the United States to send a formal note of protest to Turkey on Feb. 17, 1916. The massacres continued, however, and privations and famine added to the death list, which reached an estimated total of 800,000 Armenians during the war period.Many refugees fled to America, which is the reason there are millions of Armenians in America today. Part of Armenia is now in Turkey and part in Iran. As a result of the massacre in 1896, the Christians on the Turkish controlled island of Crete rose up against the Muslims and "was the signal for the outbreak of long-repressed anti-Muslim hostilities in Greece;" Greece then declared war in April, 1897 (F&W, V.23, p.359). Conflict has continued between Greece and Turkey. During World War I Turkey was allied with Germany and was defeated by the British so it lost control of its Middle East and African dominions. Several nations were created as a result of the British victory over Turkey such as Jordan, Iraq, and Israel. This is the reason the Palestinians claim that Israel (and Britain) stole Arab land! Islamic Violence Today The history of Muslim violence is not limited to the two Islamic empires, all Islamic nations have persecuted and killed Christians, and the killing continues to this day. Many Asians work in Saudi Arabia doing domestic and other manual labor and face imprisonment, torture, and death for practicing their Christian faith. "Two Filipino Christians involved in Bible studies and Christian prayers in the Saudi prison where they were jailed were beheaded by the sword on May 4, 1997 in Riyadh. The New Foxe's Book of Martyrs provides examples of the type persecution and murder that Christians in Muslim countries must endure: [1991] Mary Khoury was 17 when Damour, her village in Lebanon, was raided by Muslim fanatics who were bent on converting everyone to Islam by force. She and her parents were given one choice: "If you do not become a Muslim you will be shot."These incidents are not isolated and are not committed only by radical extremists; the history of Islam proves that it's normal behavior for Muslims, and happens in all predominately Muslim countries. In Sudan, approximately 3 million Christians have been killed in the past 30 years. Many Christians in the southern Sudan are being kidnaped and sold as slaves to Muslims in the north. When Christians in Muslim countries begin to prosper more than Muslims, they are attacked and looted, often destroying their means of employment. In Bangladesh, Muslims have "destroyed rickshaws owned by Christians, thereby taking away their only source of income" (The Voice of the Martyrs, Jan. 1999). Egypt has the largest Christian population, "However, the country's constitution gives preferences to Muslims, and Christians are treated as second-class citizens, denied political representation, and discriminated against in employment" (Ibid). In Iran, Christians are "discriminated against in education, employment, and property ownership" (Ibid). In Morocco, Christians "have endured ostracism from their families, loss of employment, and imprisonment" (ibid). In Pakistan the names of Christians are frequently printed in the local newspapers to increase social pressure. Those whose names appear are not able to find work and are harassed by local Muslims. Their families are placed in greater danger and some have even been killed. (VOM, April 2000, p. 7)Muslims have been punishing Christians economically for centuries. Why They Hate America Just being Christians is enough, but the Muslim world hates the West because of what they see as Western domination. Therefore, they believe it is right to slaughter Americans or Europeans in an attempt to stop the cultural pollution and what they see as political oppression coming from Western nations. They see the religion of Islam as "a force of liberation" (Davis, Between Jihad and Salaam: Profiles in Islam, p. 100). When Muhammad spoke of the future conquest of Constantinople, he referred to it as the "liberation" of Constantinople. Muslims will tell you that they do not hate the American people, only the American government. When Muslims invade the U.S., they will come to liberate us from the government, and from Christianity. One might argue that Christianity has also committed violence in the name of religion, yes, but it did so in ignorance because the Bible says Christians are to love their enemies and do good to them; whereas the Quran teaches that the enemies of Islam should be killed. And Christianity did not start with the use of warfare, but Islam did. Nor was Christianity spread by warfare, but Islam was. Proponents of Islam claim that Islam has historically tolerated other religions such as Judism and Christianity, yes (to a point), as long as they paid a heavy tax and did not try to convert anyone. To this day, any person who tries to convert a Muslim to Christianity is automatically under a death sentence as are any persons who convert to Christianity from Islam. The proponents of Islam will tell you that Osama bin Laden and his terrorist organization does not reflect main-stream Islam, but the actions of Islamic nations after the Sept. 11 attacks proves that statement false. After the attacks, Muslims throughout the Muslim world were celebrating in the streets. The Muslim nations officially condemned the attacks but the actions of the people proved what they really thought and believed. A Pakistani newspaper, The Nation, said, "September 11 was not mindless terrorism for terrorism's sake. It was reaction and revenge, even retribution" (Zakaria, Newsweek, page 24). From Morocco to Indonesia, Muslims are attacking and killing Christians by the thousands. For more information about Muslim violence against Christians throughout the world.
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