History, Islam, and 9/11

History is a funny thing.  There are such things as objective historical facts, but they are almost always viewed through a much more limited and biased lens.  For instance, FDR is often seen as a great president both because of his economic policies and because of his war time leadership.  However, when someone takes time to look at the facts of history we find out that most of his domestic policies were ruled unconstitutional and most of the ones that were not ruled unconstitutional had a detrimental impact on the economy.  It is the fact that he was a great war time leader that influences most people to assume that he was a great president in every way. 

Thirteen years ago 19 men hijacked plains and successfully crashed two of them into the twin towers and one into the pentagon killing more than 3,000 Americans.  That event is a pivotal event that sent us into war in the middle east, and here we go again.  What is interesting is our view of history.  For many we don't remember the previous attacks on the westernized world by those claiming the religion of Islam.  We assume that Islam is a peaceful religion that was hijacked by a few "extremists".  Maybe we have it all backwards.  Maybe it is the extremists who are being true to the Quran and the Sunnah and it is the moderate peaceful Muslims who have hijacked the religion.

The truth is we have been fighting Muslims since the founding of our country.  Thomas Jefferson and John Adams met with Arab diplomats in 1786 to ask them why they had continued to commit terrorist acts of piracy against American ships.  This is why Thomas Jefferson owned a Quran, so he could better unIn a letter written to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay, Jefferson said the following about that meeting:

      We took the liberty to make some inquiries concerning the Grounds of their pretensions to make war upon a       Nation who had done them no Injury, and observed that we considered all mankind as our Friends who had       done us no wrong, nor had given us any provocation. THE AMBASSADOR ANSWERED US THAT IT WAS       FOUNDED ON THE LAWS OF THEIR PROPHET, THAT IT WAS WRITTEN IN THEIR KORAN, THAT ALL       NATIONS WHO SHOULD NOT HAVE ACKNOWLEDGED THEIR AUTHORITY WERE SINNERS, THAT IT       WAS THEIR RIGHT AND DUTY TO MAKE WAR UPON THEM WHEREVER THEY COULD BE FOUND,           AND TO MAKE SLAVES OF ALL THEY COULD TAKE AS PRISONERS, AND THAT EVERY                             MUSSELMAN (MUSLIM) WHO SHOULD BE SLAIN IN BATTLE WAS SURE TO GO TO PARADISE.

Islamists have been attacking the U.S. as long as the U.S. has been around.  It isn't because we attacked them first and it isn't because of some foreign policy, it is because it is a foundational part of their religion.  The Quran commands them to kill and destroy those who do not believe (Surah 3:32; 48:29; 5:33; 9:5; 9:29-30; etc).  The list of terrorist attacks against the U.S. prior to 9/11/2001 is long, but those attacks are forgotten because they were minor in comparison.  9/11 isn't an aberration in history, it is, to this point, the culmination of the religious ideology of Islam.  Islam's history is not one of peace and prosperity, but of war, conquest, and oppression.  In spite of those who would like to re-interpret history the truth is that, Islam is, and always has been, a religion of violence and conquest.  The United States is, and always has been, in their sites.  ISIS has not hidden this fact.