One of the founding myths of Islam is that Mohammed won his early victories, against tremendous odds, because Allah made his enemies fearful, so much so that in some instances they destroyed themselves. This view is expressed over and over in the Koran (translations by Arthur J. Arberry, The Koran Interpreted (1955) [Arberry doesn’t number verses, so references are to his volume and page number]):
I [Allah] am with you; so confirm the believers.
I shall cast into the unbelievers’ hearts
terror; so smite above the necks, and smite
every finger of them!
(Sura 8, I:198)
Those words, supposedly pronounced by Allah after the Battle of Badr (624), in which 300 Moslems routed a thousand pagans, are dear and familiar to every mufsidun, for, in addition to promising divine terror, they constitute the scriptural “justification” for beheading captives like Nicholas Berg and Danny Pearl.
And He [Allah] brought down those of the People of the
Book who supported them [Mohammed’s enemies] from their fortresses
and cast terror in their hearts; some you [Mohammed] slew,
some you made captive.
And He bequeathed upon you their lands,
their habitations, and their possessions,
and a land you never trod. God is powerful
over everything.
(Sura 33, II:124)
It is He [Allah] who expelled from their habitations
the unbelievers among the People of the Book
at the first mustering. You [Mohammed] did not think
that they would go forth, and they thought
that their fortresses would defend them
against God; then God came upon them from
whence they had not reckoned, and He cast
terror into their hearts as they destroyed
their houses with their own hands, and the
hands of the believers; therefore take heed,
you who have eyes!
(Sura 59, II:267)
Islamofascists who contemplate the current American debate over Iraq can be forgiven for believing that Allah has aided them there as he did Mohammed at Badr. The American giaours outnumber the mufsidun heavily, are infinitely better armed and have inflicted vastly heavier casualties than they have suffered. Yet it is Americans – all except the demon-possessed George W. Bush and his Jewish cronies – who talk loudly about running away. What can that mean if not that the Islamic deity has “cast terror into their hearts”?
Advocates of scaling back the U.S. presence in Iraq will declare, naturally, that they are not afraid. I believe them. Unwillingness to fight in Iraq stems, I’m sure, from rabid political partisanship (viz., the ever present fear that a Republican Administration might gain an electorally useful success), coupled with indifference to the fate of people who live in faraway lands and insouciance about the danger that an energized Islamofascism will overrun much of the Middle East.
There is no reason, though, to think that our enemies will seek explanations in our political stasis when Revelation so snugly fits the observed facts. One might as well expect a 16th Century Englishman to believe the “Protestant wind” that scattered the Armada was nothing more than a meteorological phenomenon.
If there were no other reason to continue the campaign in Iraq, it would be important not to lend credibility to claims that Allah is openly fighting for our enemies. It is hard to imagine a greater morale booster and recruiting tool for fanaticism. By the same token, nothing would be more likely to cause the mufsidun armies to melt away than a growing realization that every bomb and beheading simply strengthened our resolve and brought greater woe down on our enemies’ heads.
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