Invigorated by their triumph over the Quraysh, the Muslims went on to
besiege the Jewish Banu Qurayza tribe, who were rumored to be plotting
against Muhammad. This conflict was a leisurely walk in the sand dunes after
the Battle of the Trench. The Muslims were victorious, and upon winning,
exhibited the characteristic Islamic contempt for the unbeliever that has
lasted to this day through an utter lack of reform in the religion. The
vanquished Jews forfeited their property and goods. After their surrender,
600-900 of their men were beheaded in the marketplace of Medina over ditches
dug there. The women (who weren't taken as concubines) and children were
sold into slavery. Some were sold to buy horses and weapons. The Qur'an
succinctly records this horrific tale of massacre, rapine, and enslavement
in two verses2:
He [God —ed.] brought down from their strongholds those who
had supported them [i.e., the Banu Qurayza Jews who had supported the
Banu Quraysh Arabs —ed.] from among the People of the Book [Jews
—ed.] and cast terror into their hearts, so that some you slew and
others you took captive.
He made you masters of their land, their houses, and their goods, and
of yet another land [Khaybar—another conquest over a Jewish community
in Arabia —ed.] on which you had never set foot before. Truly, God
has power over all things.
This apparently made a significant impression on the Meccan Arabs, as
Muhammad then marched into Mecca and, meeting no resistance, triumphantly
claimed it in God's name. The rest, of course, is history—a history that
anyone with two good eyes and a modicum of common sense can see being
written and rewritten in infidel blood today.
This is how the great world religion of Islam was established. It was
founded upon a sturdy bedrock of offensive war, unbending intolerance,
disdainful devaluation of the infidel, and divine justification for these
positions, reinforced by countless military victories under the black banner
of jihad. The Muslims were indeed a fearsome and destructive force. The mass
transnational conquests that followed the death of their warrior prophet
rivaled those of the Romans and the Mongolians, the latter of whom tellingly
converted to Islam in 1295. WIthin two hundred years, Muslims had conquered
half of the civilized world—quite a legacy for a violent glorified highway
robber with delusions of grandeur and an insatiable thirst for power. This
spectacular series of Muslim military defeats was fueled by the same three
potent motivators that still drive the mujahideen today:
- God's ordination in the Qur'an and sunnah, charging Muslims with the
holy mission of making His word (i.e., shari'ah law) reign
supreme in all lands, over all people, for all times—because they are
superior to the enemies of God (the infidels).
- The win-win prospects of the mujahid Islamic holy warrior going to war
against the infidel: If he lives, he wins glory, material gain, sensual
pleasure, and supremacy. If he dies as a martyr for the faith, he wins
the same in Paradise—sumptuous banquets with gold plates, wine
(non-alcoholic, of course), endless sex with doe-eyed perpetual virgins
on luxurious cushions, lush gardens of repose, all as the unbelievers
are destined burn in hell.
- An ever-increasing (although not so much these days) number of
dazzling victories over the unbelievers, confirming God's favor and the
efficacy of holy war.
Islam is impervious to reform and is still very much the bellicose,
supremacist ideology that it was when its barbarian believers hurtled, sword
and Qur'an in hand, out of the Arabian Peninsula toward victory and the
demise of every culture and society it encountered. It's still the same, and
now it's more dangerous than ever because it has been supremely humiliated
by the kuffar (infidels) that Muslims have always looked down upon with
disgust. The ferocity of the pride that comes with always winning,
especially winning for God, should never be underestimated once it is ground
in the dirt of reality. With the final dissolution of the thirteen hundred
year-old Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) in 1924—which Muslims attribute to
the West's animus toward Islam—the long-smoldering fire of jihad was
rekindled anew. To us, it was just business, and we now feel remorse over
any suffering we may have caused. To Muslims, it was a resounding slap in
the face—the kind of slap they had grown used to giving out.
The undeniable success of the industrial, largely secularized, democratic
West effected a painful cognitive dissonance in the Muslim psyche, as it
became more and more clear that something had gone terribly awry with God's
mission of conquest and subjugation. The supremacy of the infidel on such a
grand scale was something that Islam's earlier indomitability had simply not
prepared Muslims to face, notwithstanding the protracted death of the sick
Ottoman of Europe.
The decadence (suffrage, truly representative law, greater social
freedoms and rights, etc.) that was brought about as a result of the West's
prosperity and higher standard of living and health put the capstone on the
edifice of the great Satan of the modern Islamic mythos. Again, Islam has
never seen even the ghost of a true reform movement, let alone an
enlightenment. It is ill-equipped to assimilate into the modern age of
pluralism, tolerance, freedom, and civil rights under the rule of man-made
law. In fact, democracy, along with its attendant benefits and advantages,
falls under the Islamic designation of shirk. Loosely translated as
"polytheism," this term refers to anything that is given the
respect, honor, or obeisance that is due to God alone. This is Islam's
ultimate sin.
What every infidel should understand is that each Muslim believes that he
or she is part of a grand mission from God to spread Islam by word or sword.
Islamic missionary work is called da'wah, with the ultimate goal of
the entire Earth being governed by Islamic theocracy. If da'wah does not
suffice to fulfill this goal, there is the recourse of jihad (holy war).
This doesn't by any means make every Muslim a terrorist. It just fosters a
mind-set among the believers that makes it difficult for them to countenance
the superiority of the infidel way of life. It also provides religious
sanction to support the violent overthrow of that way of life, wherever and
whenever possible.
The infidel should also be aware that there is no separation of mosque
and state in Islam—every last detail of human experience and endeavor is
administered under shari'ah law. This is why Muslims say that Islam is not
just a religion, but a complete way of life. That's what it is. How you go
to the bathroom, make love to your spouse, punish those who transgress
against God's will, give to charity (Islamic charity), go to war, eat, wash,
borrow money, treat infidels—in short, anything you may do in the course
of being alive—is strictly regulated by the shari'ah. Life for the Muslim
is a complex series of bizarre rituals and habits that are commanded by God
and His apostle. Islam is the obsessive-compulsive disorder of religions.
Thus, Islam is distinguished from one its parents, Christianity, which
actually does allow for genuine freedom and tolerance.
Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God
the things which be God's.3.
In contrast to the Qur'an, sunnah, and shari'ah, there is no inherent
conflict in the Gospels between living a devout life and living in equality
and harmony under the rule of law alongside others who may believe
differently. It should also be noted that nowhere in the New Testament are
Christians enjoined to make war against non-Christians to establish the
supremacy of the Christian faith. Christians who kill in Christ's name are
acting against his teachings, while Muslims who kill in their God's name are
dutifully following Muhammad's teachings (and example).
