What is that saying about the more times change, the more they remain the same?
Well....they can't be the same as 1400 years ago......
...can they?
1. "Today in history, on August 20, 636, one of the most consequential battles between Islam and the West took place, that of Yarmuk. Not only did it decide whether the Arabian creed thrives or dies; it became a chief source of inspiration and instruction for jihadis throughout the centuries, right down to the Islamic State, or “ISIS.”
2. ...begins, perhaps unsurprisingly, with the prophet of Islam. ... On his death, some tribes that sought to break away remained Muslim but refused to pay taxes, or
zakat, to the caliph, Abu Bakr, Muhammad’s successor. Branding them all apostates, the caliph initiated the Ridda (“apostasy”) Wars, which saw tens of thousands of Arabs beheaded, crucified, or burned alive.
It would fall to the second caliph, Omar bin al-Khattab (r. 634–44), to direct the full might of the once feuding Arabs — now one tribe, one
umma — against “the infidel.”
3. ...thousands of Arabs flooded into Christian Syria, slaughtering and pillaging. According to Muslim historians, this was done in the name of jihad — to spread Allah’s rule on earth.
4. ...
Khalid bin al-Walid, whom Muhammad had dubbed the “Sword of Allah,” commanded thousands of horsemen and camel riders behind the infantry and influenced military decisions....met under a flag of truce to negotiate. .... the empire was pleased to provide them with food and coin on condition that they return home. “It was not hunger that brought us here,” Khalid responded coolly, “but we Arabs are in the habit of drinking blood, and we are told the blood of the Romans is the sweetest of its kind, so we came to shed your blood and drink it.
5. ...8,000 marching Muslims appeared before the Roman camp carrying the severed heads of 4,000 Christians atop their spears. These were the remains of 5,000 reinforcements who had come from Amman to join the main army at Yarmuk. The Muslims had ambushed and slaughtered them. Then, as resounding cries of “Allahu akbar” filled the Muslim camp, those Muslims standing behind the remaining 1,000 Christian captives knocked them over and proceeded to carve off their heads before the eyes of their co-religionists,...
6. ...historians such as Francesco Gabrieli hold that “the battle of the Yarmuk had, without doubt, more important consequences than almost any other in all world history.”
7. ...Yarmuk continues to serve as a model of inspiration for modern-day jihadis (who, we are regularly informed, are “psychotic criminals” who have “nothing to do with Islam”).
8. As the alert reader may have noticed, the continuity between the words and deeds of the Islamic State (ISIS) and those of its predecessors from nearly 1,400 years ago are eerily similar. This of course is intentional. When ISIS proclaims that “American blood is best and we will taste it soon,” or “We love death as you love life,” or “We will break your crosses and enslave your women,” they are quoting verbatim — and thereby placing themselves in the footsteps of — Khalid bin al-Walid and his companions, the original Islamic conquerors of Syria.
9. ISIS’s black flag is intentionally patterned after Khalid’s black flag. Its invocation of the
houris, Islam’s celestial sex-slaves promised to martyrs, is based on anecdotes of Muslims dying by the Yarmuk River and being welcomed into paradise by the houris. And the choreographed ritual slaughter of “infidels,” most infamously of
21 Coptic Christians on the shores of Libya, is patterned after the ritual slaughter of 1,000 captured Roman soldiers on the eve of the Battle of Yarmuk.
10. Here, then, is a reminder that, when it comes to the military history of Islam and the West, the lessons imparted are far from academic and have relevance to this day — at least for and understanding the mindset of the jihadis."
The Battle of Yarmuk: ISIS's Blueprint for Terror - Raymond Ibrahim
“Every Muslim who is well aware of the history of Islam, knows that the
holy war against infidels is an integral part of Islam, and those who read history would know.”
Islamic State video calls for jihad after Brussels blasts - Reuters
