Carolina QuotesI have never said that the terrorists' interpretation of Islam is the accurate or correct one. But I have pointed out that the terrorists portray themselves quite successfully among Muslims as the exponents of true and pure Islam, and moderates have mounted no successful response as yet.
Robert Bruce Spencer Connected to the Carolinas
Source
Honesty is the best policy, Bob, July 19, 2007: About moderation in Islam
- year
- 2007
Cite this record
“I have never said that the terrorists' interpretation of Isl…” Robert Bruce Spencer. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-B09410EE28. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/b09410ee28
More from Robert Bruce Spencer
In short, the lack of confirming detail in the historical record, the late development of biographical material about the Islamic prophet, the atmosphere of political and religious factionalism in which that material developed, and much more suggest that the Muhammad of Islamic tradition did not exist, or if he did, he was substantially different from how that tradition portrays him.
India, too, felt the force of jihad. Hindu historian Sita Ram Goel notes that by 1206, the Muslim invaders had conquered “the Punjab, Sindh, Delhi, and the Doab up to Kanauj.” The jihad also continued elsewhere. When the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet besieged Constantinople in 1453, he offered the Byzantines a triple choice: “surrender of the city, death by the sword, or conversion to Islam.” This was based upon the tradition in which Muhammad told the Muslims to offer unbelievers conversion to Islam or submission to Islamic hegemony, or war if they refused both.
The Roman Empire of Constantinople deserves not dismissal but patient study, gratitude, and respect. We are still living in its long shadow. In the best aspects of our society, we are still living in it.