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Triumph of the Irrational

The Champion of the Irrational Issues an Ultimatum

Istanbul’s Topkapi Palace, now a museum, was home to all the Ottoman sultans until the reign of Abdulmecid I (1839-1860), a period of nearly four centuries.

In the Holy Treasury within the third courtyard of the old palace, there is a letter. The more than one thousand-year-old letter, now a shrunken piece of parchment, is carefully preserved behind glass. It is one of the letters that Muhammad sent to the various rulers of the kingdoms that bordered Arabia at the time of the Muslim conquest, inviting them, and their subjects, to become Muslims or else!

The letter under glass is addressed to the governor of Egypt and leader of the Coptic Church, a fellow by the name of Muqawqis. The last sentence is particularly ominous (italics mine).

From Muhammad the servant and Prophet of Allah, to Muqawqis, the leader of the Coptic tribe.

There is safety and security for those believers who follow the correct path. Therefore I invite you to accept Islam. If you accept it, you shall find security, save your throne, and gain twice as much reward for having introduced Islam to your followers. If you refuse this invitation, let the sin of calamity which awaits your followers be upon you. You too are People of the Book; therefore let us come to a word common between us that we worship none but Allah and shall equalise anything with him. Let us not abandon Allah and take others for lords other than him. If you do not consent to this invitation, bear witness that we are Muslims.

The phrase “gain twice as much reward for having introduced Islam to your followers” is a reminder that jihad is very much about plunder, for these additional riches can only come from those who refuse to submit. As to the ominous warning about Muslims not making idle threats, it is similar to one made in the Koran, the focus of the next three chapters.

3:64 Say: "O People of the Book (the Bible), come to an equitable word between you and us, that we worship none but Allah, do not associate anything with Him and do not set each other as lords besides Allah.” If they turn their backs, say: "Bear witness that we are Muslims."

It would be up to Muhammad’s successors to make good on his ultimatum. Within twenty short years after his passing, during the period known as the Rashidun (the reign of the first four successors known as the Rightly Guided Caliphs, three of whom were assassinated by disgruntled believers), Muslim armies imposed Allah’s Rule on Persia (including modern day Iraq), Syria (which included Palestine), Armenia, Egypt and most of North Africa.

The latest claimant to the mantle of Muhammad to pursue this bloody war of conquest, that will not end until all of humanity has subscribed to the irrational, was Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi the late leader of the Islamic State.