Islam emerged from what is modern-day Saudi Arabia in the seventh century, and never looked back.
Muslim armies swept across North Africa and invaded Catholic Spain, destroying or converting the Christian communities along the way. They turned churches into mosques and made Islam the official religion. Muslim armies also took over the Holy Land, destroyed the last non-Islamic Persian empire, and moved into Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). By the 16th century, Islam had destroyed the Christian Byzantine Empire, had taken over Constantinople and had turned the Hagia Sophia — the most beautiful church in Christendom — into a mosque. A century later, Muslim armies were outside the gates of Vienna, Austria.
While the years have passed and the names of the armies and countries have changed, Islam’s war against the rest of us continues at full speed. There isn’t a day that goes by without a new terrorist attack carried out by a Muslim militant. Women are stoned in Afghanistan because they had the nerve to be raped. Children are beaten to death and strung up in Pakistan because they were suspected of theft. Non-Muslims living in Muslim countries are in constant fear of kidnapping and killing.
It’s even happening here. In Buffalo, N.Y., a Muslim American television executive, who attempted to use his station to improve U.S. public opinion about Muslims, is awaiting trial on charges that he beheaded his wife after she filed for divorce. Of the roughly 25 wars ongoing, 21 involve Muslim countries. Put differently, Islam is connected to 80 percent of the planet’s armed conflicts, while making up only 20 percent of its population.
