tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post6834948738488500265..comments2024-03-28T06:00:18.802-07:00Comments on bionic mosquito: The Battle for Syria, Part IIbionic mosquitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12002548958078731031noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-49809809917936773732016-03-07T09:45:36.679-08:002016-03-07T09:45:36.679-08:00Syria was Christian from the time of Christ. Egyp...Syria was Christian from the time of Christ. Egypt was Coptic Christian; North Africa was Europe-oriented and Christian before Jihad boiled out of Medina. Greek Anatolia, which became Turkey, was Christian before it was conquered. By the end of the 7th Century CE they were under Islam's thumb. The First Crusade, which began in 1095, was not about booty or occupying land. Not about conquering the area. It was in response to desperate requests from subjugated Christians who had been living as slaves and dhimmis for several centuries. Brutalized to a degree you cannot imagine. I have not read any Belloc but I'd be wary of taking him as my authority for that area's history. I have read the Quran in translation, as well as The Sira (Mohammed's biography) and several score Hadith from Bukhari and al-Muslim. Mohammed is the ultimate authority on what canonical Islam is. I don't know where Belloc gets his views of Islam but if they conflict with the foregoing they are opinion rather than fact.<br /><br />My sources are various books of The Center for the Study of Political Islam, http://www.CSPIpublishing.com; the video "Why We Are Afraid," by CSPI, http://www.politicalislam.com, http://www.realcrusadeshistory.com, Ibn Warraq, Scots Islamic History scholar, and Raymond Ibrahim. Translated television interviews of Muslims speaking to Muslims in Muslim media on MEMRI.org also.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com