Europe, Beware!
Muslim
Europe in the Making
Moshe Sharon
In 1683, the armies of Islam besieged
Vienna for the second time. The first occasion had been a century and a half
earlier. The great Islamic Empire of the time, the Ottoman Empire, under the
long reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566) was then at its zenith. It
had extended its borders on the Danube far to the west of Budapest always
poising to capture Vienna that stood between its armies and Western Europe.
Suleiman regarded himself then as the ruler of the world, and treated the great
kings of Europe as his subjects. The actual subjugation of the rest of Europe
was, as far as he was concerned, only a matter of time. Fortunately for the
world of Christianity, when the Moslem armies attempted to besiege Vienna, for
the second time, some 117 years after his death, the Ottoman Empire was already
on the decline, its expansion westwards had been checked, and the bastions of
European Christianity could then begin threatening the Muslim Empire rather than
be threatened by it.
Yet for the Ottomans, the Christian
countries of Europe remained Dar al-Harb – “the Land of War” – the term
always used by the Muslims for all the territories not yet under Islamic
rule. The term is both legal and political, and is charged with religious belief
and emotional fervor.
Legally speaking, it defines the relations
between the Lands of Islam and the lands of the infidels. Infidels – in Arabic
Kuffar (singular: kafir) – are all those who are not Muslims,
mainly Jews and Christians. They are, therefore, regarded to be, both
theoretically and actually, in a state of war with the Muslims. This war does
not have to be declared, since in Muslim view, it is the only possible state of
affairs between the two parties. Moreover, it is part of the divine plan. For
after Allah sent Muhammad “with the guidance and the religion of truth” there
was no other way but that “he may uplift it above every religion.” (Qur`an,
Surah 9, verse 33) In other words, Allah made it incumbent on the Muslims, the
Community of the Faithful, to subjugate the whole world and bring it under the
rule of Allah. The fire of jihad, Holy War, must burn in the chest of
every Muslim. It is a collective and personal duty; it is the duty of every
Muslim leader, particularly the head of the Muslim Empire, to pursue this duty
and never end it. Legally therefore the appellation of “The Land of War” to
Europe is understandable. Every Christian who came from the Land of War – dar
al harb – had the status of harbi. This was different than to be a
dhimmi, the status imposed on Christian and Jews tolerated to live under the
Islamic rule as a third class subjects. The harbi was simply an alien,
enemy of Islam, even when no acts of war were in process between the two sides.
This legal outlook reflected the religious
obligation to keep the jihad, the Holy War, always alive. Since no one
can abolish such a duty which is enshrined in the words of God in the Qur`an, it
remains an open ended condition. Similarly the Land of War cannot change its
status until it is conquered by the Muslims and becomes part of the Land of
Islam.
The emotional aspect of this religious
obligation is an integral part of the way by which the relations between the
Muslims and the kafirs where defined. The Qur`an and Islamic tradition
taught the Muslims that their Community of Faithful is “the best nation ever
brought forth to men,” (Qur`an, Surah 3, verse 110) and that the truth of their
religion is the only perfect truth, and that they, as believers, are always on
the right side, and the infidels are always wrong.
Europe, more than any other part of the
world, personified the land of war. It was the natural place against which the
jihad was to be waged. It was after all the major enemy of Islam from its
very inception.
But Europe proved to be a difficult enemy.
It was an enemy that fought back successfully. In the Middle Ages the Crusades
brought the Europeans, for the first time, into the heart of the Islamic lands,
but Islam somehow recovered from this success of the infidels, which put the
Muslims for the first time in a defensive position, and tormented them with
doubts about the Allah’s support.
But Islam did not recover, from the loss of
Spain (“the Jewel in the Islamic Crown”). Once Islam conquered Spain, it became
an Islamic land. Its re-conquest by the infidels seemed to be a reverse of
history for it negated the rule which says that once Islamic land is always
Islamic Land. To this very day, Spain, which the Arabs insist calling Andalus,
is regarded as a lost Islamic territory, the recovery of which is a religious
and political objective and duty, more than a dream.
The offensive of the Ottomans against
Europe in the 16th century, after destroying the last symbol of Roman
Christianity in the east with the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, was the
natural course of the Islamic jihadi idea. However, the Ottoman Empire
failed, retreated, deteriorated, and was finally destroyed in the Great War in
1918. Moreover Christian civilization and the modern way of life of Europe were
victorious also in another way. The national regime in 20th century Turkey
dramatically changed the nature of the state and society by importing from
Europe every thing that western civilization could offer, from script to
technology and from system of government to fashion, with the declared aim of
building a modern secular Turkey, and expelling Islam from the life of the state
and the society.
Another political development that appeared
like another major setback to Islam was the establishment of the state of
Israel. More than the loss in the 15th century of the Islamic land of Spain, the
establishment of the State of Israel on Islamic land is regarded a double
reverse of history because it does not involve only the loss of land but also
the unacceptable situation where Jews, who are dhimmis rule over Muslims.
This is already against the divine law itself. It cannot be tolerated and it
must be changed.
The other setback is the fact that Europe
ceased to be the only land of the infidels. America joined this category, and
America proved itself even a tougher opponent than Europe, both militarily and
ideologically.
However, modern Muslim activists detected
that Europe after World War II, began to show signs of old age frailty and
weakness, and the mighty West in general proved to be surprisingly vulnerable.
Islam emerged as a strong power waiting to be used. This notion was summed up by
the Malaysian premier, Dr. Mahatir Muhammad, on October 16, 2003, at the opening
of the Islamic summit: the 1.3 billion strong Muslims possess both natural
richness and human resources, and it was inconceivable that they could not
achieve their goals or be defeated by a few million Jews. However, the
availability of resources, that can be turned into weapons proved to be less
effective than Mahatir and his like thought.
It should be noted again that Islam is a
warring religion and a fighting civilization. The Muslims left their mark on
world history first and foremost in this military capacity. They can do the same
in this age, changing strategy and tactics, but remaining on the same course.
The revivalist Muslim movements – the Iranian revolutionaries, the Muslim
Brotherhood, al-Qai`dah, the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad – to mention only a
few, looked for, and discovered, the weak links in the Western defense. On the
one hand they proved that terror, similar to that practiced by the Muslim
assassins in the Middle Ages, can be devastating much more than its actual
physical damage and bloodshed. In one act of terror they succeeded in changing
the government in Spain. On the other hand, like the Soviets, they soon
discovered the ease with which they can use the European democratic system, the
liberal ideologies, leftist intellectuals, the media, and even the governments,
to achieve their objectives.
The Muslim jihad for the conquest of
Europe already started a few decades ago, and the Europeans are taking part in
it, not on the enemy side but on the Islamic side as full collaborators. The
establishment of the European Union has done away with national borders,
obliterated defined national entities, weakened national feelings, ancient
values and the sense of national pride and national defense; and on the other
hand has created a wonderful infrastructure for the infiltration of Islam into
Western Europe by millions of Muslims who keep their Muslim identity, hold on to
their Muslim values and regard the whole of Europe as their own land like any
other part of the world. Bin laden, Qaradawi, the Ayatollahs of Iran, and many
other teachers of Islam tell them that they arrive in Europe as masters not as
immigrants. These Muslims, using the European laws and exploiting the leftist
intellectuals, the “Useful Fools” (to use Lenin’s immortal definition) actually
behave like the masters in the host countries rather than guests. Thousands of
mosques have been established in every country from Finland to France. The
Muslim way of life is even imposed on economic institutions, and the Islamic
version of history and thought is creeping into all the echelons of political
and intellectual life, affecting the educational system on all levels.
Official Europe convened the Hamburg
Symposium already in 1983 to humbly acknowledge the importance of the Islamic
contribution to the creation of European civilization, and to encourage the
study of the Arabic language and Islamic civilization in Europe, free from the
(sound, and scientific) “Orientalist method” of research, namely in accordance
with the Muslim traditional methods; concurrently encouraging the departure from
the Judeo-Christian heritage and minimizing its contribution to Western
Civilization.
This pathetic attempt to drive modern
Europe away, from its true moral, cultural and historical sources, in which
Judaism occupies a central place, also has a political aspect. This aspect is
yet another success of Islam, which is a natural by product of the infiltration
of its version of modern history into the European society and institutions.
Muslim propaganda succeeded in presenting the foundation of the State of Israel
as a sin committed by the Europeans against the World of Islam. Namely, that the
state of Israel is nothing but an easy way by which post war Europe atoned for
the crimes of the Nazis and their helpers at the expanse of the poor Arabs.
The idea has sunk very well into the minds
not only of the “useful fools” from the European Left, but has also found its
way into the business and political community. Nowadays, more than ever, one can
hear in all those circles and in the media (though covered with laundered words)
that the establishment of Israel was a “moral and political mistake”. In other
words, Europe would be very happy to see a major Arab pogrom, to which it would
quietly contribute its part, which would rid her of the guilt of this “moral and
political” sin. Much of the European policy in the Middle East, and particularly
the official enmity to Israel, and the one sided pro-Arab nature of its policy
is directed and formed by these sentiments. And we have not yet mentioned the
ingrained anti-Semitism which has been covered only for a while, but from
which Europe has never recovered.
Instead of paying attention to its steady
conquest by Islam and the loss of its Western character, Europe has again found
the usual, ancient solution to all its problems – the Jews, and now also, very
conveniently, their state. There is a great possibility that Europe will finally
become Islamic in less than half a century and it will be its own making.
Illustrations
Is the Empire returning with the help
of the “infidels?