{"id":6355,"date":"2013-08-19T14:34:09","date_gmt":"2013-08-19T21:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=6355"},"modified":"2013-08-19T14:34:09","modified_gmt":"2013-08-19T21:34:09","slug":"the-siege-of-the-byzantium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-siege-of-the-byzantium\/","title":{"rendered":"The Siege of the Byzantium"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0National Review Online<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Today, August 15, marks the anniversary of Constantinople\u2019s victory over Muslim invaders in what historians commonly call the \u201cSecond Siege of Byzantium,\u201d 717\u201318. Prior to this massive onslaught, the Muslims had been hacking away at the domains of the Byzantine empire for nearly a century. The Muslims\u2019 ultimate goal was the conquest of Constantinople \u2014 for both political and religious reasons.<\/p>\n

Politically, Islam had no rival but the \u201chated Christians\u201d of Byzantium, known by various appellations \u2014 including\u00a0al-Rum<\/em>\u00a0(the Romans),\u00a0al-Nassara<\/em>\u00a0(the Nazarenes), and, most notoriously,\u00a0al-Kilab<\/em>\u00a0(the \u201cdogs\u201d). The eastern Sasanian Empire had already been vanquished, and Persia subsumed into the caliphate. Only the \u201cworshippers of the cross\u201d \u2014 as they were, and still are, disparagingly known \u2014 were left as contenders over the eastern Mediterranean basin.<\/p>\n

More important, Constantinople \u2014 from a theological perspective \u2014 simply\u00a0had<\/em>\u00a0to fall. From the start, Islam and jihad were inextricably linked. The jihad, or \u201choly war,\u201d which took over Arabia and Persia, followed by Syria, Egypt, and all of North Africa \u2014 all formerly Byzantine territory \u2014 was considered a religious obligation, or, as later codified in sharia law, a\u00a0fard kifaya<\/em>: a communal obligation on the body of believers, to be adhered to and fulfilled no less than the Five Pillars of Islam. As the famous 14th-century Muslim historian\u00a0Ibn Khaldun\u00a0put it: \u201cIn the Muslim community, the\u00a0jihad<\/em>\u00a0is a religious duty, because of the universalism of the Muslim mission and the obligation to convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force. . . . \u00a0Islam is under obligation to gain power over other nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

This concept of jihad as institutionalized holy war was first articulated and codified into Islam\u2019s worldview by \u201cwarrior-theologians\u201d (mujahidin-fuqaha<\/em>) living and fighting along the Byzantine-Arab frontier (such as the\u00a0mujahid<\/em>\u00a0Abdallah bin Mubarak, author of the seminal work\u00a0Kitab al-Jihad<\/em>\u00a0or \u201cBook of Jihad\u201d).<\/p>\n

The prevalent view was that, so long as Constantinople stood, the Cross would defy the Crescent. This is a literal point: Symbols played a great role in these wars. Less than a century earlier, at the pivotal battle of Yarmuk (636), where the Muslims crushed the Byzantines, leading to the conquest of Syria, one Muslim complained to the caliph, saying, \u201cThe dog of the Romans [Emperor Heraclius] has greatly frustrated us with the ubiquitous presence of the cross!\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, one cannot overemphasize the religious nature of these wars \u2014 which, if still codified in Islam\u2019s sharia, has become all but alien to a Western epistemology that tends cynically to dismiss the role of faith. That the primary way of identifying oneself in the old world was based on religious affiliation \u2014 not race, ethnicity, or nationality, all modern concepts \u2014 is indicative of the central role of faith. Even useful terms such as \u201cByzantines\u201d are ultimately anachronistic; \u201cByzantines\u201d identified themselves first and foremost as \u201cChristians.\u201d<\/p>\n

For these reasons, the conquest of Constantinople would take on increasingly apocalyptic proportions in Islamic literature. Ever since the Muslim prophet Mohammed sent a message in 628 to the Byzantine emperor Heraclius, summoning him to Islam, with the famous assertion,\u00a0aslam taslam<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>\u2014 that is, \u201csubmit [become Muslim], and you will have peace\u201d \u2014 and the summons was refused, Constantinople became Islam\u2019s arch-enemy. Mohammed even prophesied that the Christian capital would \u2014 indeed,\u00a0must\u00a0<\/em>\u2014 fall to Islam, with blessings and rewards to the Muslim(s) fulfilling this prophecy. Fall the great city would \u2014 but not for some 800 years, in 1453, giving an inchoate Europe the needed time to mature, strengthen, and unify.<\/p>\n

Beginning with Mohammed\u2019s participation at the Battle of Tabuk (630), recorded in the Koran, Muslims had been harrying the Byzantines for decades, closing in on Constantinople. With the coming of the Umayyad dynasty (660) \u2014 which also saw the end of the first\u00a0fitna<\/em>\u00a0(Muslim \u201ccivil war\u201d), resulting in the Sunni-Shia split \u2014 Islam\u2019s seat of power moved from Medina to recently conquered Damascus,\u00a0mere miles from the prize of \u00a0Constantinople.<\/p>\n

By the early 700s, the Muslim conquests were slowing down. There were several \u201cdisaffected\u201d parties in the Muslim camp \u2014 particularly the losers of the first\u00a0fitna<\/em>, the Kharijites and Shia, the former a particularly ruthless sect. To prevent another civil war from erupting, a major campaign against the common infidel enemy was in order.<\/p>\n

All these factors \u2014 Umayyad consolidation of Muslim power in Damascus, a slowing down of the conquests in general, and the need to direct the bellicosity of the various idle or disgruntled warlike Muslim sects, not to mention an undying enmity for the obstinate infidels across the way \u2014 encouraged the caliphate to apply its full might against its arch-foe. Constantinople had been unsuccessfully besieged several times before, most notably during the First Siege, which lasted four years (674\u201378) and was ultimately turned back by the cyclopean walls of the city.<\/p>\n

So it was that, upon his ascension to the caliphate in 715, the new supreme leader of the Islamic empire, Suleiman, decided that the time was ripe for a massive, all-out offensive against Constantinople. The Byzantines would go on to offer a hefty tribute, but nothing less than total capitulation to Islam would do. Mustering a mammoth army of some 200,000 fighters, with Suleiman\u2019s own brother, Maslama, leading, the former commanded the latter: \u201cStay there [Constantinople] until you conquer it or I recall you.\u201d (That a caliph sent his own brother is further indicative of the importance of this campaign.)<\/p>\n

A single anecdote supports the chroniclers\u2019 claims that a gargantuan army was being mustered. Two years prior to the siege, in 715, a report reached the Christians that the Muslims were felling countless trees in Lebanon, land of the cedar, in order to construct tens of thousands of warships for an \u201cupcoming expedition.\u201d This fact alone caused a mini-war to erupt on the island of Rhodes, where the Byzantines sent an army to intercept the Muslim expeditionary force. One Byzantine ambassador returning from Damascus reported that the \u201cSaracens were preparing an armament by sea and land, such as would transcend the experience of the past, or the belief of the present.\u201d In short, 120,000 infantry and cavalry, and a naval force composed of 80,000, were making their way to Constantinople.<\/p>\n

Maslama, leading the land force through Anatolia, crushed and put to the sword all in his way. Women and children were enslaved; tens of thousands of men crucified. While making their way through that great desolate no-man\u2019s land between the Byzantine and Umayyad empires, frequented by nomadic tribes, the Muslims attacked, slew, and burned all in their path.<\/p>\n

According to renowned Muslim chronicler al-Tabari, \u201cThe [Christian] inhabitants of eastern Anatolia were filled with terror the likes of which they had never experienced before. All they saw were Muslims in their midst shouting \u2018Allahu Akbar!\u2019 Allah planted terror in their hearts. . . . The men were crucified over the course of 24 km.\u201d Al-Tabari later goes on to explain that the Muslim forces were successful owing to their adherence to Koranic verses such as 8:60: \u201cMuster against them [infidels] all the men and cavalry at your command, that you may strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah, and your enemies.\u201d (See also 3:151.)\u00a0(Nearly a millennium and a half after the Koran\u2019s compilation, modern-daymujahidin\u00a0<\/em>\u2014 \u201choly warriors\u201d who are fond of exhorting their followers by referring to these otherwise arcane battles \u2014 continue relying on such verses and their exegeses to \u201cterrorize\u201d the \u201cenemies of Allah.\u201d)<\/p>\n

To make matters worse, as Maslama was marching toward Constantinople, subjugating everything in his path, the Christian empire itself was internally divided \u2014 as evinced by the fact that, between 713 and 717, two emperors had come and gone.<\/p>\n

Enter Leo III \u2014 also known as Leo the Isaurian, Leo the Arab, and, most notoriously, Leo the Heretic. There is little doubt that the Byzantine victory over the Muslims owes a great debt to Leo, who makes his appearance early in the pages of the chronicles as a general and strategist \u2014 living up to the Greek word for \u201cgeneral,\u201d\u00a0strategos<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Born as Conon in modern-day Syria (hence the \u201cArab\u201d appellation), Leo, stationed in Anatolia, encountered the forces of Maslama early on. All the sources record Leo playing something of a cat-and-mouse game with the caliph\u2019s brother, duping him in various ways. Tabari simply concludes that Leo dealt Maslama \u201csuch a deception as if he [Maslama] was a silly plaything of a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

At any rate, Leo gained the necessary time and advantage to slip back to Constantinople, where, as the ablest man to defend the empire from the coming onslaught, he was soon proclaimed emperor. Considering the empire\u2019s strong walls that had withstood countless sieges for centuries, Leo knew that, as long as sea communications were open, the city would be relatively safe. The problem was that, as Maslama was nearing with his land force of 120,000, 1,800 vessels containing the additional 80,000 fighting men were approaching the Bosporus. The city would be surrounded.<\/p>\n

On August 15, Maslama was at the city walls, laying siege to it with various engines of war; the navy arrived two weeks later, on September 1. After a few fruitless attempts to breach the walls, Maslama settled to reduce the city by blockade, much of which would depend on the navy.<\/p>\n

A close reading of the sources reveals that two important factors saved the empire: Arab inexperience at sea warfare and Greek ingenuity. The Arab warships nearing the Bosporus were heavy-laden with equipment and, in general, cumbersome. To lure the ships, Leo, in another stratagem, had the ponderous chain that normally guarded the harbor cast aside. \u201cBut while they hesitated whether they should seize the opportunity . . . the ministers of destruction were at hand\u201d: Leo had sent out his fleet, with the secret weapon of the day, \u201cGreek fire\u201d (an incendiary\u00a0composition projected by means of siphons), which conflagrated the Muslim ships into \u201cblazing wrecks\u201d: \u201cSome of them, still burning, smashed into the sea wall, while others sank in the deep, men and all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon after this pivotal defeat, the ambitious caliph Suleiman, who had meant to fulfill Mohammed\u2019s prophecy by conquering Constantinople, died of \u201cindigestion\u201d (according to the chroniclers, by devouring two baskets of eggs and figs, followed by marrow and sugar for dessert). To make matters worse, the new caliph, Omar II, seemed, at least initially, not to be as attentive to the needs of Maslama\u2019s army. Winter set in, and the Byzantines retired to their fortified city, leaving the elements to deal with the Muslim camp. \u201cOne of the cruelest winters that anyone could remember\u201d arrived, and, \u201cfor one hundred days, snow covered the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Maslama\u2019s brother, the late caliph, had commanded him to \u201cstay there [Constantinople] until you conquer it or I recall you.\u201d Neither had happened; the latter option was no longer possible. All Maslama could do was wait and assure his emaciated, desperate men: \u201cSoon! Soon supplies will be here!\u201d In the meantime, roaming Turkic tribes, particularly the Bulgars, who had yet to embrace Islam, began harrying the Muslim camp.<\/p>\n

By springtime, reinforcements finally came, by both land and sea. It was not enough; frost and famine had hit the massive army of Maslama hard, to the point that cannibalism was resorted to. The Greek chronicler Theophanes relates: \u201cSome even say they put dead men and their own dung in pans, kneaded this, and ate it. A plague-like disease descended on them, and destroyed a countless throng.\u201d The plausibility of the second sentence offers support for the improbable first one. An independent chronicler, Michael the Syrian, wrote: \u201cThe hunger oppressed them so much that they were eating the corpses of the dead, each other\u2019s feces, and other filth.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the new caliph\u2019s point of view, that such a massive force, years to mobilize, was already at the gates of Christendom, made it very difficult to simply give up. As caliph \u2014 successor to the warrior-prophet and his companions, who had subjugated much of the known world \u2014 he could not accept defeat so easily. While the army made do, a new navy, composed of two war expeditions, one from Alexandria, Egypt, the other from North Africa \u2014 nearly 800 ships total\u00a0\u2014\u00a0made its way to Constantinople. Under cover of night, they managed to blockade the Bosporus, threatening to cut off all communications from the city.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the Muslim commanders were warier of the Greek fire, and kept their distance. Aware of this, Maslama\u2019s army, somewhat recovered owing to supplies and fresh conscriptions, was once again on the move, besieging the city with \u2014 considering the abominable trials to which they had recently been subjected \u2014 a feral fury. It seemed that the beginning of the end, though delayed, had finally arrived.<\/p>\n

Delivery for Constantinople came from the least expected source: the Egyptian crew manning the Alexandrian ships, the Christian Copts. Because the vast majority of the caliphate\u2019s fighting men, the\u00a0mujahidin<\/em>, were already engaging the enemy, the caliph had no choice but to rely on Christian\u00a0dhimmi<\/em>\u00a0(second-class) conscripts for reinforcements. Much to the caliph\u2019s chagrin, however, the Copts all fled at nighttime to Constantinople, and acclaimed the Christian emperor.<\/p>\n

Theophanes writes that, as the Copts seized light boats and fled in desertion to the city, \u201cthe sea looked entirely made of wood.\u201d Not only did the Muslim war galleys lose a good deal of manpower, but the Egyptians provided Leo with exact information concerning the Muslims\u2019 ships and plans. Taking advantage of this, Leo once again released the fire-ships from the citadel. Considering the loss of manpower after the Copts\u2019 desertion, the confrontation was more a rout than a battle.<\/p>\n

It is worth noting that this little-known fact \u2014 that Copts abandoned the Muslim fleets in droves to join forces with the Christian emperor \u2014 indicates that, from the start, Christian life under Muslim rule was not as tolerable as later revisionist history (which claims that the Copts of Egypt welcomed the Muslims as \u201cliberators\u201d from the Byzantine yoke) makes it out to be.<\/p>\n

Seeking to capitalize on this naval victory and the enthusiasm of the Christians, Leo had the retreating Muslim fleets pursued on land, and many Muslims were cut down. Simultaneously, the neighboring Bulgars \u2014 who, though occasionally hostile to the Christian empire, had no love for the new invaders, the Muslims \u2014 were persuaded by Leo\u2019s \u201cgifts and promises\u201d into attacking and ultimately killing as many as 22,000 of Maslama\u2019s battle-weary, half-starved men.<\/p>\n

To make matters worse, \u201ca report was dexterously scattered that the Franks, the unknown nations of the Latin world, were arming by sea and land in defense of the Christian cause, and their formidable aid was expected.\u201d (It would be another three centuries before the Franks and Muslims would engage in a military conflict, spanning over two centuries, that would come to be known as the Crusades.)<\/p>\n

By now, even the distant caliph realized that all was lost. Maslama, who could only have welcomed the summons, was recalled; and, on August 15 \u2014 according to most chroniclers, precisely one year to the day after it began \u2014 the siege of Constantinople was lifted.<\/p>\n

Still, the Muslims\u2019 troubles were far from over. Nature was not through with them. A terrible sea-storm is said to have all but annihilated the retreating ships, so that, of the 2,560 ships embarking back to Damascus and Alexandria, only ten remained \u2014 and of these, half were captured by the Byzantines, leaving only five to make it back to the caliphate and report the calamities that had befallen them (which may be both why the Arab chroniclers are curiously silent about the particulars of these events, and why it would be centuries before Constantinople would be similarly attacked again).<\/p>\n

This sea-storm also led to the popular belief that divine providence had intervened on behalf of Christendom, with historians referring to August 15 as an \u201cecumenical date.\u201d Meanwhile, in the Islamic world, this defeat, earthquakes in Palestine, and the death of Caliph Omar II in 720 (having been caliph in the year 100 of the Islamic calendar) boded an apocalyptic end to the world.<\/p>\n

Of the original 200,000 Muslims who set out to conquer the Christian capital and additional spring reinforcements, only some 30,000 ever made it back alive. By way of retribution and before dying, a bitter and vindictive Omar, failing to subdue the Christians across the way, was quick to project his wrath on those Christians, the\u00a0dhimmis<\/em>, living under Islamic authority: He forced many of them to convert to Islam, killing those who refused.<\/p>\n

It is difficult to exaggerate the significance of this battle. That Constantinople was able to repulse the caliphate\u2019s hordes is one of Western history\u2019s most decisive moments: Had it fallen, \u201cDark Age\u201d Europe \u2014 chaotic and leaderless \u2014 would have been exposed to the Muslim invaders. And, if history is any indicator, the last time a large expanse of territory was left open before the sword of Islam, thousands of miles were conquered and consolidated in mere decades, resulting in what is known today as\u00a0Dar al-Islam<\/em>, or the \u201cIslamic world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, this victory is far more significant than its more famous Western counterpart, the Frankish victory over the Muslims at the\u00a0Battle of Tours<\/a>, led by Charles Martel (the \u201cHammer\u201d) in 732. Unlike the latter, which, from a Muslim point of view, was first and foremost a campaign dedicated to rapine and plunder, not conquest \u2014 evinced by the fact that, after the initial battle, the Muslims fled \u2014 the siege of Constantinople was devoted to a longtime goal, had the full backing of the caliphate, and consisted of far greater manpower. Had the Muslims won, and since Constantinople was the bulwark of Europe\u2019s eastern flank, there would have been nothing to prevent them from turning the whole of Europe into the northwestern appendage of\u00a0Dar al-Islam<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Nor should the architect of this great victory be forgotten. The Byzantine historian Vasiliev concludes that \u201cby his successful resistance Leo saved not only the Byzantine Empire and the Eastern Christian world, but also all of Western civilization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet, true to the vicissitudes and ironies of\u00a0Byzantine<\/em>\u00a0history \u2014 the word has not come to mean \u201cconvoluted\u201d for nothing \u2014 by the time Leo died, \u201cin the Orthodox histories he was represented as little better than a Saracen\u201d (hence the famous appellation, \u201cLeo the Heretic\u201d) owing to the Iconoclastic controversy. If Charles Martel would be memorialized as the heroic grandfather of the first Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne, it would be Leo\u2019s lot to be all but anathematized \u2014 an unfortunate fact contributing to the historical neglect of this brilliant victory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0National Review Online Today, August 15, marks the anniversary of Constantinople\u2019s victory over Muslim invaders in what historians commonly call the \u201cSecond Siege of Byzantium,\u201d 717\u201318. Prior to this massive onslaught, the Muslims had been hacking away at the domains of the Byzantine empire for nearly a century. The Muslims\u2019 ultimate goal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[227,99,576],"tags":[390,192,415,30,1060],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-1Ev","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3295,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/today-in-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":6355,"position":0},"title":"Today in History","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Constantinople saves Western Civilization from Islam by Raymond Ibrahim Jihad Watch Since certain Muslim media are fond of\u00a0rehashing old history, reminding Muslims of the \u201catrocities\u201d committed by the hated Crusader \u2014 past and present \u2014 it seems only logical that we here in the West also remember the past. Today\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":709,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/greatest-church-soon-to-be-mega-mosque\/","url_meta":{"origin":6355,"position":1},"title":"Greatest Church Soon To Be Mega Mosque?","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim FrontPage Magazine Ostensibly dealing with a building, a recent report demonstrates how Turkey's populace \u2014 once deemed the most secular and liberal in the Muslim world \u2014 is reverting to its Islamic heritage, complete with animosity for the infidel West and dreams of Islam's glory days of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/religion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2134,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/lethal-weapon-islamist-perfidy-or-western-naivety\/","url_meta":{"origin":6355,"position":2},"title":"Lethal Weapon: Islamist Perfidy or Western Naivety?","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim PJ Media In a blog entry for\u00a0Islamist Watch, David J. Rusin shows how the word \u201cjihad\u201d continues to be euphemized in the West. Despite Islamic law\u2019s unequivocal portrayal of it as a military endeavor to empower Islam, jihad is still being peddled as \u201cnothing more than a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5526,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/conquest-and-concession\/","url_meta":{"origin":6355,"position":3},"title":"Conquest and Concession","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The fate of Hagia Sophia and the Aqsa Mosque by Raymond Ibrahim Private Papers Previous to Pope Benedict XVI\u2019s November 30th\u00a0visit to the Hagia Sophia complex in Constantinople, Muslims and Turks expressed fear, apprehension, and rage. Turkey\u2019s independent paper\u00a0Vatan\u00a0expressed it thus: \u201cThe risk is that Benedict will send Turkey\u2019s Muslims\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11999,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/book-review-sword-and-scimitar-fourteen-centuries-of-war-between-islam-and-the-west-by-raymond-ibrahim-da-capo-press-2018-pp-297\/","url_meta":{"origin":6355,"position":4},"title":"Book Review: Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War Between Islam and the West by Raymond Ibrahim. Da Capo Press, 2018. Pp. 297","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Please\u00a0read\u00a0this\u00a0book\u00a0review\u00a0from\u00a0my\u00a0colleague Terry Scambray \/\/ New Oxford Review Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War Between Islam and the West\u00a0by Raymond Ibrahim.\u00a0 Da Capo Press, 2018.\u00a0\u00a0 Pp. 297 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We judge individuals by what they say and what they do.\u00a0 We judge cults, religions and ideologies the same way; that\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6094,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/christendoms-greatest-cathedral-to-become-a-mosque\/","url_meta":{"origin":6355,"position":5},"title":"Christendom’s Greatest Cathedral to Become a Mosque","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim PJ Media While unrest in Turkey continues to capture attention, more subtle and more telling events concerning the Islamification of Turkey \u2014 and not just at the hands of Prime Minister Erdogan but majorities of Turks \u2014 are quietly transpiring. These include the fact that Turkey\u2019s Hagia\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Turkey"","block_context":{"text":"Turkey","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/turkey\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6355"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6355"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6356,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6355\/revisions\/6356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}