A Black Book on Jihad, by Matthew Hanley.
Anyone genuinely curious about the history of the 20th century has probably heard about the Black Book of Communism, an exhaustive account of the damage Marxist ideology inflicted around the globe. Its authors estimated that Communism claimed the lives of about 100 million people. That sobering, round figure tends to stick in the mind, even if some seek to explain it away.
Robert Spencer’s new book The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS — along with Raymond Ibrahim’s Sword and Scimitar — gives us something akin to the Black Book of Communism. It’s a powerful account of the domineering brutality that Jihad has inflicted near and far, from its bloody 7th century origins to the present day. As Spencer makes abundantly clear to anyone willing to take seriously the facts he summons up, “Islamic piety always underlay the jihad.” For this reason, he is only too likely to be belittled or scorned.
There is no firm number of total deaths by way of jihad over the centuries. Might it exceed the 100 million mark? It likely approaches that figure in India alone; the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Will Durant argued in 1935 that the “Mohammedan conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history.” This is hardly on anyone’s radar, and Spencer fills a major gap in our understanding by detailing what occurred in the subcontinent in all its vivid, revolting detail. …
In the first (8th century) foray, the instructions were as clear as day: kill all the combatants, arrest and imprison their children, and grant protection only to those who submit. Massacres ensued in rapid succession, but killing so many can get exhausting. When the general on the ground, faced with the practical difficulty of mass extermination, started encouraging surrender and granting protection without conversion, his superior back in Iraq was incensed – and sent word: “God said: ‘Give no quarter to infidels but cut their throats. Then you shall know that this is the command of the great God.’”
Our ruling class insist that Islam is the religion of peace. Are they stupid or dishonest, or both? Imagine if they read this book, instead of just listening to their own echo chamber of PC fantasies.
hat-tip Stephen Neil
