“Robert Spencer Exposes Islam’s Phony Peace,” by Andrew E. Harrod, The Stream, August 7, 2018: “I have been made victorious with terror.” Muhammad, Islam’s prophet, reportedly said this before his death in 632. Robert Spencer’s new book The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS puts facts behind the claim.

Deadly Doctrines

Spencer writes of violence throughout Islam’s 1,400 years. Jihad is a basic tenet of Islam. Islam demands jihad warfare. Violent jihad is the best act for a Muslim. This was seen in Islam’s conquests in its first century, which were unequaled in history. Mainstream Muslims were never concerned about human equality. “There was no Era of Good Feeling, no Golden Age of Tolerance,” writes Spencer. Centuries later, it’s still this way. There were jihad horrors like the 1453 Ottoman conquest of Constantinople (now Istanbul). Tamerlane’s 1398 Mongol invasion of India was also bloody. He had 100,000 Hindu prisoners killed in one day.

Muslims didn’t just wage jihad against non-Muslims. Tamerlane, for instance, beat the Ottomans at the 1402 Battle of Ankara. The defeated sultan’s wife then became a naked table servant. Also, Jihad slavery of non-Muslims has been prevalent in places like Eastern Europe. The name “Slav” derives from the Arabic word “saqlab” for slave. In 1842, a British consul general shocked Moroccans by suggesting limits to slavery.

Muslim Tyranny

Muslim tyranny changed people. Conversion to Islam was a means of escape. Istanbul was 50 percent Christian even in 1914, but today is 99.99 percent Muslim. Muhammad’s example showed that truth was unimportant. Ottoman rulers could break treaties according to a 1571 fatwa. The only exception to war was peace with non-Muslims when it benefitted Muslims. Otherwise war was required.

Further, Spencer debunks interfaith myths about Muslim Spain. Events like the 1066 Granada pogrom happened. What’s more, after the 1086 Battle of Sagrajas, Muslims were called to prayer atop piled Christian heads. Spencer also denies unique Western self-loathing shown by the Crusades. The Crusades’ counterattack defended against jihad, despite crimes like Jerusalem’s 1096 sack. By contrast, a Muslim 1180s traveler found Muslims in Crusader lands living better than in Islamic areas.

As with Islamic Spain, Spencer offers facts concerning the Crusaders’ famed opponent Saladin. Saladin’s myth supports Islam’s nobility. Yet he killed Christian captives defeated at the 1187 Battle of Hattin. He later also thought of killing Jerusalem’s Christians, but enslaved and ransomed them instead.