MOSHE SHARON

In 1683 the armies of Islam besieged Vienna for the second time. The first time had been a century and a half earlier, when the Islamic Empire was at its zenith under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-66). Then it had seemed the conquest of all of Europe was only a matter of time. Fortunately for the Christian world, when the Moslem armies attempted to besiege Vienna the second time, the Ottoman Empire was already on the decline, its expansion westwards had been checked, and the European powers could begin threatening the Muslim Empire rather than be threatened by it.

Yet for the Ottomans, the Christian countries of Europe remained Dar al-Harb – “the Land of War” – the term used by the Muslims for all the territories not yet under Islamic rule. The term, charged with religious belief and emotional fervor, is both legal and political. Legally, it defines the relations between the Lands of Islam and the lands of the infidels. Infidels – in Arabic Kuffar (singular: kaffir) – are all those who are not Muslims, mainly Jews and Christians. They are, therefore, seen, both theoretically and actually, to be in a state of war with Muslims. Allah made it incumbent on Muslims, the Community of the Faithful, to subjugate the whole world and bring it under His rule. The fire of jihad, Holy War, must burn in the chest of every Muslim. It is a personal and collective duty, incumbent on every Muslim leader, particularly the head of the Muslim Empire, to pursue this goal. Every Christian who came from the Land of War – dar al harb – had the status of harbi. This was different than to be a dhimmi, the status imposed on Christian and Jews permitted to live under Islamic rule as third class subjects. The harbi was simply an alien enemy of Islam, even when no acts of war were underway between the two sides.

Europe, more than any other part of the world, personified the Land of War. As the major enemy of Islam, it was the natural place to wage Jihad. But Europe proved to be a difficult enemy. In the middle Ages the Crusades brought the Europeans, for the first time, into the heart of Islamic lands, but Islam recovered from this success of the infidels, which had put the Muslims for the first time in a defensive position. But Islam did not recover from the loss of Spain (“the Jewel in the Islamic Crown”). Once Islam conquered Spain, it became for Muslims an Islamic land. Its re-conquest by infidels seemed to reverse the course of history for it negated the rule which says that once Islamic, that land is forever Islamic Land. To this very day, Spain, which the Arabs insist on calling Andalus, is regarded as a lost Islamic territory, the recovery of which is a religious and political objective and duty.

After destroying Constantinople in 1453, the last symbol of Roman Christianity in the east, the Ottoman offensive against Europe in the 16th century was the natural course of the Islamic jihadi idea. However, the Ottoman Empire failed, retreated, deteriorated, and was finally destroyed in the Great War in 1918. Moreover Christian civilization and the modern way of life of Europe were victorious in another way. Kemal Attaturk's national regime in 20th century Turkey dramatically changed the nature of state and society by importing from Europe whatever western civilization could offer, from script to technology, from system of government to fashion, with the declared aim of creating a modern secular Turkey and expelling Islam from its dominant position in state and society.

Another major setback to Islam was the establishment of the state of Israel. This was a greater blow than the loss in the 15th century of Spain, a double reverse of history because it involved not only the loss of land but also the wholly unacceptable situation where Jews, who are dhimmis, rule over Muslims.

There was yet another setback as Europe ceased to be the only dangerous land of the infidels. The United States joined this category, and proved even a tougher opponent than Europe, both militarily and ideologically.

However, modern Muslim activists came to realize that Europe, after World War II, showed signs of frailty and weakness, and the mighty West in general proved to be surprisingly vulnerable. They saw Islam as a vital growing power waiting to be deployed, with changed strategy and tactics. The revivalist Muslim movements – the Iranian revolutionaries, the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaeda, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, to mention only a few, looked for, and discovered, the weak links in the Western defense. On the one hand they proved that terror, similar to that practiced by the Muslim assassins in the Middle Ages, can be devastating, its impact going beyond actual physical damage and bloodshed. In one act of terror they succeeded in changing the government in Spain. Also, like the Soviets, they soon discovered the ease with which they can use the European democratic system, the liberal ideologies, leftist intellectuals, the media, and even the governments, to achieve their objectives.

The Muslim jihad for the conquest of Europe started a few decades ago, and the Europeans are taking part, not on the enemy side, but as full collaborators. The establishment of the European Union has done away with national borders, obliterated defined national entities, weakened ancient values and the sense of national pride and national defense. It has also played into Muslim hands by creating a wonderful infrastructure for the infiltration of Islam into Western Europe by millions of Muslims who keep their Muslim identity, hold on to their Muslim values and regard the whole of Europe as their own land. Bin laden, Qaradawi, the Ayatollahs of Iran, and many other teachers of Islam tell them that they arrive in Europe as masters not as immigrants. These Muslims, using European laws and exploiting leftist intellectuals, the “Useful Fools” (to use Lenin’s immortal definition), behave like masters, rather than guests, in the host countries. Thousands of mosques have been established in every country from Finland to France. The Muslim way of life is even imposed on economic institutions, and the Islamic version of history and thought is creeping into all aspects of political and intellectual life, affecting the educational system on every level.

As early as 1983, official Europe convened the Hamburg Symposium to humbly acknowledge the importance of the Islamic contribution to the creation of European civilization, and to encourage the study of the Arabic language and Islamic civilization in Europe, free from the (sound, and scientific) “Orientalist method” of research, namely in accordance with Muslim traditional methods; concurrently it encouraged the departure from the Judeo-Christian heritage and minimizing its contribution to Western Civilization.

This effort to drive modern Europe away from its true moral, cultural and historical sources, in which Judaism occupies a central place, also has a political aspect. This aspect is yet another success of Islam, a byproduct of the infiltration of its version of modern history into European society and institutions. Muslim propaganda has succeeded in presenting the foundation of the State of Israel as a sin committed by the Europeans against the World of Islam, an easy way by which post war Europe atoned for the crimes of the Nazis and their helpers at the expense of the poor Arabs.

The idea has sunk not only into the minds of the “useful fools” from the European Left, but has also found its way into the business and political community. Nowadays, one can hear in all these circles and in the media (sometimes couched in clouded language) that the establishment of Israel was a “moral and political mistake.” In other words Europe would be very happy to see an all-out Arab pogrom, to which it would quietly contribute its part, that would rid her of the guilt of this “moral and political” sin. Much of the European pro-Arab policy in the Middle East, and particularly the official enmity to Israel, is directed and formed by these sentiments. And we have not yet mentioned the ingrained anti-Semitism which was covered over for a while, but from which Europe has never recovered.

Instead of paying attention to its steady conquest by Islam and the loss of its Western character, Europe has again found the usual, ancient solution to all its problems – the Jews, and now also, very conveniently, their state. There is a grave possibility that Europe will become Islamic in less than half a century and the transformation will be of its own making.

Professor Moshe Sharon teaches Islamic History at the Hebrew University. This article is adapted from a longer essay published in German and Hebrew.