That the caliph sought to extirpate Christianity by fire and sword is documented in other sources. In a widely circulated letter attributed to Muhammad al-Nasir himself, he boasted that Muslims had “cleansed Jerusalem of the filthiness of the Christians,” and that the latter should “submit to our empire and convert to our [sharia] law.” Otherwise “all those who adore the sign of the cross… will feel our scimitars.”†
