Nikephoros made no secret of his contempt for Islam and ordered his men to gather and burn any copies of the Koran they found.‡ After reconquering Tarsus, he ordered his herald to proclaim that those Muslims “who desire security of property, of their lives, and the lives of their children,” and “who desire just laws and fair treatment,” to accept Christian rule. “But those who want fornication, tyrannical laws and practices, extortion, [and the] confiscation of property,” must “go to the land of Islam.”
