Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West

by Raymond Ibrahim

As one researcher summarizes, non-Muslims are described in the Koran as “vile animals and beasts, the worst of creatures and demons; perverted transgressors and partners of Satan to be fought until religion is Allah’s alone. They are to be beheaded; terrorized, annihilated, crucified, punished, and expelled, and plotted against by deceit.”

From here the argument can be made that Muhammad’s most enduring contribution to world history is that, in repackaging the tribal mores of seventh-century Arabia through a theological paradigm, he also deified tribalism, causing it to outlive its setting and spill into the modern era. Whereas most world civilizations have been able to slough off their historic tribalism and enter into modernity, to break with tribalism for Muslims is to break with Muhammad and his laws—to break with cardinal Islamic teachings.

That Islamic scriptures portray paradise in decidedly carnal terms—food, drink, gold, and “eternally young boys” who “circulate among” the believers also await the martyr—should not be surprising considering the aforementioned primitivism of Muhammad’s society.

Similarly, whenever Muslims are under infidel authority, they are permitted to feign friendship for and loyalty to their non-Muslim overlords—so long as the enmity is not extinguished from the heart (according to the Koran-based doctrine of taqiyya, more fully discussed in Chapter 6). §

Along with four wives, Muslim men are permitted to have as many infidel sex slaves as they can acquire (see Koran 4:3, 4:24, 33:50).