Australian Islamist Monitor

Islam’s European, Balkan and Asia Minor slave trade 1–Arabs, Berbers, Moors:  Part F in Islam’s genocidal slavery.

Any who study Islam with their eyes open know that violent jihad , the jihad of conquering (not the rubbish about personal development-see Pipes for the lies about jihad), dhimmitude and slavery are the core institutions of Islam.   Islam allows war for plunder and conquest to obliterate the original culture and impose Islam and Arab culture.

The attitudes and laws of Islam determine its repressive, cruel, hate filled interaction with others but this history is hidden from Europeans.  This part examines ‘Arab/Berber/Moorish’ slave trading in Europe under the ‘less religious’ Umayyad’s (756-1071) and ‘more religious’  Abbasids, Almoravid (1085-1147) and Almohad (1133-1270).  The Muslim Seljuk and Ottoman (Turkish), Muslim Tartar or Muslim Persian (Safavid) jihad and slave trade which began about the 11th century will be covered in part G.  (Note other articles in this series on Islam’s slavery re text and laws, Mohammad’s example, racism and black slavery on this site).

The Muslim sadism towards others en mass, is staggering.  Islam’s law allows tiny enslaved girls to be raped by their Muslim owners.

The Hedaya’s legal section deals with men not having carnal ‘connection’ with their female slave (enjoying her) until she is ‘clean’ ie purified from her courses, though such abstinence is incumbent on the buyer only, NOT on the seller...(p103).  The power to commit the carnal act is established by property and possession..(p104).  If the slave is pregnant you cannot commit the carnal act on the property of another (ie the seller owns the child)...as for tiny girls:

“The purification of a pregnant female slave is established by her delivery, And that of a girl in whom the menses have NOT YET APPEARED, by the lapse of a month...”(Hedaya p 106)

For those who will try to pretend this means adult females who just don’t menstruate, there is specific reference to them:

‘rule for adult females not subject to courses’-
“If the courses be delayed in a female who is of age to be subject to them, it is in that case requisite to refrain from any carnal connection with her, until it appear that she is not pregnant, when it becomes lawful to cohabit with her.” (Hedaya p 106)

Regardless of the Muslim group or the century under discussion, we see the same things, all following Islam’s text and laws---the hatred of non-Muslims, death to men and the castration of  enslaved men and boys  (often sexually abused), death or enslavement and rape of women and children, destruction of religious sites, destruction of villages, towns and cities, ruination of the land and crops plus pillage and the imposition of restrictive (dhimmi) laws and repressive taxes and tributes.  Areas became depopulated and uninhabitable.  Families, communities and societies were shattered and the social system and economy of whole populations was destroyed and in some cases possibly never recovered even after centuries. 

These attacks lasted for centuries.  The devastation became so great that slaves or dhimmi groups were forced into devastated areas along with Muslim immigrants to ensure some land was worked to feed Muslim strongholds in the conquered cities or provide the necessary skilled crafts etc for Muslim invaders!

Due to Islamic attacks on shipping and land, (reaching as far as Ireland and Iceland) the economy was decimated as trade within Europe and across the Mediterranean and even into China was totally destroyed.   Papyrus from Egypt, essential for maintaining literacy and the administration of society, was nolonger available with catastrophic effects.  The free exchange of ideas for scientists, philosophers, doctors, artisans, artists, musicians, architects and others that had occurred over centuries was stopped.   Europe was truly thrown into the dark ages. 

From 14th century Grenada author Ibn Hudayl:

“it is permissible to set fire to the lands of the enemy, his stores of grain, his beasts of burden-if it is not possible for the Muslims to take possession of them-as well as to cut down his trees, to raze his cities, in a word to do everything that might ruin or discourage him, provided that the imam deems these methods appropriate, suited to hastening the Islamization of that enemy or to weakening him.  Indeed, all this contributes to a military triumph over him or forcing him to capitulate”  (Dufourcq p419-420)    (This complies with Islamic jihad laws: Reliance of the Traveller, pp509-604 re permission to kill and enslave people, kill animals and destroy buildings and trees etc)

Bat Ye'or notes that the conquered areas were originally Christian with large Jewish minorities but:

“Waves of colonists from Arabia followed the Muslim armies of occupation.   These settlers gradually became majorities through the occupant’s policy of colonization, land dispossession, fiscal oppression, and at times slavery and deportation.”   (Yeor Eurabia p 34)

The horror is recorded in chronicles, letters, songs and poems.

“Not a day goes by without the Saracens buffeting and torturing them!” (re captives)...
 “the Saracens now cover all the beaches.  Will Christianity perish?’(12 century poem  Dufourcq p431). 

While V. S. Naipaul (Nobel Prize for Literature 2001) regards Islam as :

 ‘the most uncompromising kind of imperialism’ (cited in Khan p 169)

Vikings who arose in Scandinavia became part of Islam’s slave trade.  From the 8th to 11th century they carried out raids and pirate attacks in Iceland, the British Isles, and Europe (from the north) to the Volga in Russia.  The Vikings supplied slaves, particularly white female slaves to Muslim markets in North Africa, Syria and Spain. 

A Russian trade centre led via the eastern European route, to Damascus and Baghdad via Byzantium which taxed Muslim slave merchants ---the gold was called aurum arabicum.   Viking long boats visited Islamic ports in Iberia, Spain. Viking established Dublin was a major slave market for slaves from Ireland and Britain.  Some ’Christian’ rulers and merchants and Jewish merchants were complicit in the trade.  Venice was a centre for Slavic captives from Dalmatia.  Marseilles was another centre.  Viking raids declined with the introduction of Christianity to Scandinavia.  Muslims took over  (O’Neill p 110-112; Khan p 322-323).

The Fate of slaves — torture, sexual abuse and toil to create ‘Islamic civilisation’,  death.

Castration: 

The Islamic world demanded eunuch slaves, particularly to supervise women or for sexual enjoyment (sodomy was common) or use in the military.  Young boys, taken from their families, brainwashed and with no hope of a family of their own would show allegiance to their Muslim master, their only hope of support.  (Khan p 311-313)  This practice continued to the beginning of the 20th century.  Eunuchs were obtained from outside the borders of Muslim lands via razzias into parts of central and eastern Europe, the steppes of central Asia (Turkestan) and areas in Africa. Boys aged 4-12 were mutilated.  (Bostom p 93).   . 

Slavic and Greek slaves usually had their testicles removed (with considerable morbidity) but black African slaves had their testicles and penis cut off  with mortality rates of 90% (Bostom p 93, Trivkovic 2002,  p174).  ( See ‘Islam’s black slave trade part E’ for Islamic text re eunuchs.)

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During the ‘Middle Ages’ Prague, Verdum (France), and Spain were castration centres for white eunuchs.   Kharazon near the Caspian Sea produced eunuchs from Central Asia (Chinese). (Khan p 313) .  Often dhimmis were forced to perform castrations.

Torture and abuse:
Millions of Europeans were enslaved –the Muslim Barbary Pirates alone (1516~1806) took 1.5 million Europeans/Americans. Slaves were gathered in hundreds to hundreds of thousands and transported into the Islamic world or areas of recent conquest.  They were chained and shackled and forced to walk possibly hundreds/thousands of miles with little or no food or water and suffered constant brutality (just like the Christian Armenians in 20th century Muslim Turkey!).  

In Africa, European slaves were often housed in metamores-filthy, dark underground dungeons.  When marched through towns or cities to the slave markets they were abused and attacked by Muslim crowds who hated Christians (see Khan p 291-297).

Imagine the little children ripped from their mother’s arms, taken from their family, their country and sent away to be violated , brutalised and brainwashed into Islam.  Many boys became the enemies of their own people, used by Muslims to slaughter and enslave as most Muslim armies were slave armies!  Girls and women produced ‘Muslims.’

Slaves were literally worked to death – after all, there was an endless supply.  Personal written accounts from slaves or those who travelled to pay ransoms and free them describe the sheer sadism  applied to force conversion to Islam or punish any trivial act that annoyed their owner even in the 17th and 18th century..

“the captives were hung upside down and bastinaded, normally on the soles of their feet’’

“burning the flesh of my bones by fire”

“caused her to be stript and whipt by his eunuchs with small cords, so long till she lay for dead”

“the blacks (guards) burnt her breasts with candle; and with the utmost cruelty they had thrown melted lead into those areas of her body  which, out of decency, cannot be named”.   The French female refused to convert and died.

“If the slaves complained of any pains in their body...they have iron rods, with buttons of the same metal on the end, as big as walnuts, which they made red hot and burn the wretched patient in several parts”

“taking hold of his hams(thighs), throw him up with all their strendth and, at the same time, turning him round, pitch him down head foremost”   necks were broken, shoulders dislocated ...until the sultan said to stop.

Sultan Moulay Abdullah Malek (r1627-1631) who had British/European slaves ordered some of his slaves be dragged by horses until they were all torn to shreds while some were dismembered while alive “ their fingers and toes cut off by every joint; arms and legs and so head and all”  (see Khan pp 293-298)

Slaves were accommodated in military prisons where they were beaten and whipped raw and forced into crippling labour.  They slept on the bare ground (Note the child slaves and appalling conditions of ‘workers’ in Muslim Dubai today-articles this site)

Slaves were so plentiful they not only formed workforces thousands strong in the homes of rulers and the rich, but even poor Muslim households had slaves (many still do today!).  Only Muslims could legally buy slaves in Islamic slave markets. (Khan p 307, 310).   Muslim soldiers received a share of the captured slaves which they could keep to provide their every need or sell.   Following Islamic text and Mohammad’s example (he always got a fifth), the current ruler got a fifth.   At times, so many slaves were obtained that prices fell dramatically.  Eunuchs were worth more as were the young and pretty.

Slaves were employed in building palaces for rulers, mosques...often using materials from the destroyed buildings and religious sites of conquered people.  There was constant destruction and building not only because of conquests but because Muslims fought each other with winners destroying and rebuilding more magnificently.   Sultan Moulay Ismail’s palace in Morocco (late 17th century) was built exclusively by thousands of European slaves.  Some 30,000 male slaves laboured each day building the palace.  As the sultan’s son demolished and rebuilt, he enjoyed the suffering and even death of slaves. (Khan p 301-302)

“one of his pleasures was to put a great number of them (slaves) at the foot of the wall which was about to collapse, and watch them be buried alive under the rubble” (Khan p 302)

Slaves formed the military and palace guards.  Harems were guarded by female guards, eunuchs and porters.  They endlessly cleaned armour, minded animals, and bore the brunt of attacks...slaves didn’t get a share of the spoils.  Who cared if a castrated infidel ‘convert’ died?

Slaves produced everything from food to textiles, metal work, weapons, leather goods etc. They worked in factories producing a huge array of goods. 
They cultivated crops, cared for animals, and grew cotton .
They ran the administration, revenue collection and  postal service.
Slaves were the musicians and dancers, poets and storytellers.  They taught music. They provided amusements and sports and trained animals.
Slaves were the physicians (doctors. scientists).
Slaves built and constructed religious sites, palaces, cities, bridges..
They also cleaned up all the filth.  Some rowed in galleys their entire life.  Others laboured and dug and cleared.
Female slaves were used to breed Muslims.  Indigenous populations declined without breeding males or females.
Slaves had to provide sexual satisfaction to masters as Mohammad’s example, Islamic text (Koran 4.24; 23.5-7; 70.29-30; etc) and sharia demand. (eg Khan pp298-311).

Islamic civilisation built on the back of slaves:
When Muslims began their violence against others they were a backward, lawless group of Arab tribes. 

The Islamic ‘civilisation’ was built by slaves or dhimmis who did everything from military campaigns to medicine, science, skilled crafts, finance , administration, education, building, engineering, translating learned texts from others into Arabic etc so much of what Muslims claim as ‘Islamic’ belongs to the intelligence and work of others  (see Khan p 173, 185, 187,  Warraq1995). 

Throughout Islam’s history to the present they have destroyed the books, libraries, art, and architecture of others because Islam regards all else as ‘ignorance.’     Manuscripts from Greece, India, Egypt etc were translated into Arabic often by Christians (Warraq  p 262, 1995)..but the originals of particularly Greek and Latin texts were destroyed to preserve the illusion of Islamic superiority (Khan p 178).  Should we thank Islam or condemn it!  In Spain popular works of medicine, agriculture, astrology and geography were translated from Latin into Arabic generally by Arabised Christian slaves (Mozarabs) or dhimmis and many texts must have been derived from the Etymologies of Isidore of Seville and other Christian writers (Encyclopaedia Britannica Vol 17 p 419).

The appropriation of the work of others has a long history outside this article but the truth appears when the Muslims are expelled from Europe, Europe progresses and the Islamic world sinks back to the barbarity of Islam.  Are we to believe the Muslims gave great knowledge to us and just forgot it all themselves—NO, it was not part of Islamic culture to begin with!  All a Muslim needs to know is in the (comically incorrect) Koran and they are encouraged to seek  religious knowledge, not follow unfettered intellectual inquiry (Warraq p 273).  Mohammad taught blind adherence to Islam, not critical analysis or science and raged against poets, musicians and artists! Even Mohammad’s illiteracy is praised.

Whatever was produced under Islamic domination came in spite of Islam not because of it and on closer inspection was appropriated from other conquered societies (Hindu, Greek, Christian, Jewish, Persian, Chinese), or carried out by non-Muslims including slaves and dhimmis (eg Avicebron, Isaac Israeli, Maimonides, Christian Bishop Barhebraeus) or those forced to ‘convert’ or indeed by some ‘Muslims’ who faced persecution for their un-Islamic ideas (Warraq p 272-275).   What can Islam give when it forbids any criticism or challenge to its text, god or prophet and the vile attitudes and practices found in its text and laws.  Islamic text and laws forbid the playing of musical instruments, and any representation of humans and other animals in pictures or statues (Reliance Law r40.1-3 p 774-776 and Law w50.1-10 p958-965; Law w52.1(261) p982; Law P44 p 683; Law f17.9 bp201). 

Various areas of science and philosophy are forbidden in sharia or regarded as un-Islamic.  Only knowledge that facilities worship or keeps the community alive is required and anything that challenges Islam is out  (Reliance Laws a1 –a7.2 p 2-14).  Philosophy was limited as anything that contradicts Islamic beliefs/tenets is unbelief  and unlawful  (Law w10.0 p 868).  Also forbidden is the science of the ‘materialists ‘ for allah alone is the cause of everything (Law w11.0 p 868).  Islamic science was religion and language, while ‘foreign science’ was maths, medicine, natural history., music, astronomy...and those who studied them were viewed with suspicion as such science endangered faith. (Warraq p 273)

“In April 2006, Ali Gomaa, Egypt’s top Islamic jurist and Grand Mufti, issued a religious edit based on Islamic text , declaring the exhibition of statues as un-Islamic” (khan p 169)

The fact that some developments were made under Islamic domination doesn’t compensate for the destruction wrought by Islam or the fact that far more could have been achieved had Europe been left to continue with the ‘renaissance’ already underway.  Islam should be condemned, not praised.

In a challenge to the usual view, archaeological evidence and descriptions from the Arab conquerors who viewed with surprise the opulence and size of Seville, Cordova, Merida and Toledo, show that the Gothic kings were completely ‘Romanised,’ usually secular and, following a period of turmoil in the 5th century, had rebuilt a sophisticated Latin civilisation rich in cities, agriculture, art, science and literature.  They were involved in manufacturing and traded extensively.  They recognised the Emperor in Constantinople.  All this seems to have stopped suddenly with the arrival of Islam.  Islam inhibited the developing ‘renaissance.’ (Pirenne, 1954 reprint 2001; O’Neill 2009)

 

In the past 600 years Islam has contributed virtually nothing to the modern world in stark contrast to the massive contribution in all areas by a tiny Jewish population of about 14 million (over 167 Nobel prizes, many in science/medicine cf about 9 Nobel prizes-mainly for ‘peace’ for 1.5 billion Muslims, their 2 science prizes going to Muslims working in the west)  Today Muslims head to the west or buy the science and scientists from the west.  

Conclusion:
Obscenely some (eg Australia’s ABC, SBS networks) claim Islam penetrated Spain because Islam brought ‘enlightenment’ thereby denying the spread of Islam via massive violence, barbarity and fear.  (Is a paedophile prophet who endorsed clitoridectomy, the beating and ploughing of multiple wives and slaves, and the slaughter of infidels   ‘enlightening?’).  Islam’s destruction of the social, political and economic base of the society, its enslavement, slaughter and religious persecution, its pillage and conversion of cropland to wasteland , its depopulation and the increasing forced conversions or death or exile are simply ignored.  Trade stopped and many cities were deserted. Populations that remained became dhimmis—mass slaves forced to do as their Muslim overlords demanded while they couldn’t build or repair their own religious sites (See Articles on Dhimmitude and Dhimmi laws this site) .

 Jewish theologian, philosopher and physician Maimonides (1135-1204) from Cordova chose exile rather than conversion or death, and in Muslim guise with his family, tried for nearly 20 years to find somewhere to settle.  He noted the persecution and forced conversion of Jews by Muslims.

“Never did a nation molest, degrade, debase and hate us as much as they” ......”we were dishonoured by them beyond human endurance”....  “we have acquiesced”...”No matter how much we suffer and elect to remain at peace with them, they stir up strife and sedition..” (Khan p 91)

Islam benefited from a Spanish Visigoth civil war initially but as people realised the horror of Islam they fought back—such people are heroes who go unrecognised.   Islam spread by violence, fear and destruction.

Islam entered Spain in 711but by the end of 13 century only the sultanate of Granada remained to be defeated in 1492.  Southern Spain was a base for raids elsewhere as were the Mediterranean Islands.   In Spain, Italy, France and the Islands there was a constant battle against Muslims with areas regularly changing from one to the other though only in Spain did Islam get a hold. 

The unity of Roman civilisation was shattered and the European coastline became a battle frontier.  A militant Christianity developed (although in contrast to Mohammad, Jesus told his men to put away their swords) as Christians fought for survival. 

Anti-Semitism grew as Jews were accused of collusion and Europeans absorbed the intense Jew hatred of Islam.  The Eastern and Western Christian world split and remains so today.

Thanks to those who fought Islam, Europe developed as a free, egalitarian and tolerant area with a great civilisation it seems happy to throw away as it flounders and allows Islam to enter en mass, unchallenged except by a few eg Geert Wilders, Melanie Phillips, Dr Sookdheo, and Italian MP Daniela Santanche who accurately described Mohammad as a paedophile and polygamist.  We are the victims of Islam and it’s time our story was told!  Where are our fighters?

Congratulations to the very tolerant Swiss who voted against minarets.  There’s hope when people begin to realise Islam is not a harmless ‘religion’ but a deadly totalitarian political ideology incorporating religion, government and law that obliterates all other cultures and imposes a barbaric Arab culture.  

Minarets, hijabs, the call to prayer, the constant demands for special treatment, the demand that others ‘respect’ their foolish practises (eg Ramadan), the demand for sharia, halal slaughter, Islamic schools and the threats of violence if we ‘offend them’ or impede their takeover in any way are all techniques of invasion and Islamization hidden under the guise of ‘freedom of religion,’ ‘tolerance,’ ‘diversity,’ ‘multiculturalism, ’ human rights etc!   Remember, Islam isn’t a ‘race’.  Discriminate or die. Don’t let the ‘Arabic’ EU or Islam control your country!  Plague was also part of Europe’s history, do Europeans want it back?

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Summary of  the battle for Europe, the Balkans and Asia minor under attack from Arabs, Berbers.

For those who want to read some detail, below is a list of attacks compiled from several books.  There was no peace as people battled against Islam for centuries.  Only a sample of attacks on major towns that were noted in chronicles  or letters by proud Muslims and horrified infidels, are mentioned.   Others aren’t noted and many farms, villages and small towns that were wiped from existence as Islam marched on are not recorded at all.  

Spain: 
Spain was engaged in civil war between Visigoth rivals.  The group not in power welcomed the Arabs as mercenaries for them.  Hence in 711 Toledo, the Visigoth capital with followers of the pretender to the throne opened their doors to the Arabs as did others.  It is claimed that some Jews may have thought things would be better under a new group though there is no evidence to support this (Khan p 89).  Some peasants too may have hoped for better -they soon learnt their mistake as Muslims pillaged, slaughtered, enslaved, burnt, profaned and destroyed.
711 The Berber Tarik led an invasion force across the Straits of Gibraltar.  Within 7 years most of Visigoth Spain was subdued.(ON p102). 

Those who ‘had welcomed the Arabs became aware too late of the reality of Muslim domination’  (Dufourcq p 423). 

In 713 Toledo rebelled against the Arabs so their citizens were slaughtered and everything pillaged (Dufourcq p 423).    Fear seized others wishing to rebel against the Arabs.   The Arabs pushed on raiding, enslaving, and conquering.
From 718, Spain was disputed between Christians and various Muslim conquerors eg Umayyads, Abbasids, Yemenites, Shiites and Umayyads from Cordova (Southern Spain).(Bostom  p371)

In 730  ‘the Arabs ravaged Cerdagne burning a bishop alive’ (Dufourcq p423).
Entire regions become uninhabited, particularly in the western half of the Iberian Peninsula.  

As of  the middle of the eighth century, the Arabs evacuated the entire northwest of ‘Hispania’; the land that extended from the Cantabrian mountains in the north to the Duero Valley in the south remained almost deserted for a long time:  no-one dared to remain in the area and no-one dared to settle there.’  (Dufourcq p423)

 Galicians, Asturians, Castilians, Basques all feared the Muslim campaigns of pillage, massacre and slavery.  Revolts were frequent despite the violence to the population eg Toledo in 761, 784-86, 797, 806, 811-819;   Saragossa 780-881; Merida 805-813, 828, 829, 868; Cordova 805, 818... so peace was rare from 756-912!   (Ye’or 2004)

In the 9th century, northern Spain remained under the Christians, the rest under Islam.   Charlemagne (Franks) crossed the Pyrenees into ‘Spain’  and his son Louis the Pious conquered Ausona-Vic in Catalonia, Huesca in Aragon, and Barcelona in 801.  Muslims constantly re-attacked eg Barcelona in 934, and  temporarily recaptured it in 985 (Dufourcq p 430).

In 807 following a rebellion, Caliph al-Hakam ordered the decapitation of 700 Toledo notables (Sookdheo p 158).
Over several years (850-859) Christians eg the Martyrs of Cordoba were decapitated for ‘blasphemy’ (Sookdheo p 251) 
In  837 in  Alava and  Hisn al-gharat people were killed, enslaved and booty seized.  In 860 the region of Pamplona was ravaged and pillaged (Bostom p 597)

 Muslim ships carried horses to aid in raids elsewhere.  The arsenal of Seville provided naphtha jars –firebombs that burnt on water. (Dufourcq p 427-428).

10/11th century battle for Spain raged unabated..(O’Neill P 104)  The period of ‘relative’ tolerance from 912-976 ended and the situation for Jews and Christians deteriorated.  Jews were forced to convert, Christians were expelled.  (Sookhdeo p 251)
In 980, the Muslim conqueror al-Mansur burned Leon, Barcelona and Santiago de Compostela and advanced over the Pyrenees, but died in 1002! (O’Neill p104). 
Catalonia was reattacked around 1000, and 1038 and 1045.  Navarre was reattacked.  Muslims advanced to Galicia (NW) which Arabs had left 250 years before (Dufourcq p 430).

In 1010 and 1013, hundreds of Jews were killed near Cordova and other parts of Spain.
The Fortress of Toledo was conquered and lost several times but was retaken by Christian forces in 1085

In the conquered areas (Southern Spain) people were never safe.  In 1066 all the Jews (4000-5000) including women and children or babies were massacred by the Muslim population because a Jew obtained a position of power and infidels cannot have authority over Muslims! (More were killed than were killed by the first Crusade in the Rhineland –Ye’or 2004).

In 1086, after an Almoravid victory at Zallaqa, piles of the severed heads of defeated Christians were loaded into carts and sent to various cities in Muslim Andalusia to proclaim victory. (Sookhdeo p 158)

By the 11th century , Arab sea power was disappearing as the Christian reconquest retook Islands and coastal areas.
The Crusades (1050-1291) were a reaction against the destruction of Christian areas, churches and holy sites in the Middle-east, particularly the Holy Land and the harassment of pilgrims by Muslims.(Sookdheo p 228-231)
 
In the mid 12th century, the African Muslim Almohads (1130-1232) conquered the African Muslim Almoravid cities in North Africa and Spain eg between Seville and Tortosa (Bostom p 612).  They killed Jews, forced conversions, closed Jewish educational institutions and destroyed synagogues (Sookdheo p 251)  In 1154 the Andalusian town of Niebla was seized after a long resistance, (it still had a bishop)  and all the men were massacred and women and children enslaved (Dufourcq p 430).  Almohad inquisitors (3 centuries before the Christian one) removed the children of Jewish converts to Islam placing them in Muslim care. (Ye’or 2004)
Jews and Christians were forced to convert or faced death or deportation—eg Granada’s Christians were deported to Morroco in 1126 (Khan p 91, Ye’or 2004).

In 1189 Spanish Muslims attacked Lisbon (Portugal) taking 3000 women and children and Silves (Portugal) in 1191 enslaving 3000 Christians.

In the 13th century, only the sultanate of Grenada remained. 
In the 14th century, despite their reduced power, Muslims attacked a ship carrying pilgrims between Collioure and Barcelona (~1320).   In 1397 Torreblanca, a village on Valencia’s coast was devastated enslaving 100, profaning the church and stealing holy objects. (Dufourcq p 428).

Spain was retaken by Ferdinand and Isabella’s Army in 1492 and all Muslims were finally expelled in 1609 (Sookdheo p 173).  Total victory was needed to stop Islamic repression. Moorish Spain wasn’t tolerant or enlightened (O’Neill p 126).  Jews and Christians lived as dhimmis with cruel persecutions, violence, heavy taxes and pillage, murder or enslavement at any time (Ye’or,/Bostom 2004 )

Even in the 16th century, the Port of Palamos, on the Costa Brava of Catalonia was destroyed.
Arab/Muslim piracy continued with attacks and raids of pillage and enslavement on land and attacks on ships, all without warning or any declaration of war.  Islamic attacks and piracy continue today.  Raids were carried out in Spain, France, Italy...over following centuries.  Islamic privateers became the ‘Barbary Pirates’. (Dufourcq p 428)

France:
France was invaded in 717.  In 720 Arab armies crossed Pyrenees and took Narbonne (SW), sacking the churches and enslaving great numbers of women and children but few men. (Dufourcq p420).  . Muslims headed North to Poitiers.(O’Neill p102).  Bordeaux  (SW) was pillaged and churches burnt in 732.  The Benedictine  Metropolitan Saint Ebbo  drove them back from Sens,(NE) 731 (Dufourcq p 420)

Charles Martel  ‘mayor of the palace’ and effective ruler of the Frankish kingdom defeated the Arabs at the battle of Poitiers, between Tours (capital of Gaulish Christendom) and Poitiers, in 732 stopping their advance in that direction (North, Northwest or Northeast across to Paris).(O’Neill p 102).  He took back Avignon in 737 (Dufourcq p 429)

In 725 or 731  Autun (east central) was sacked and burned. (Dufourcq p420). 

But, in 15 years (post 717) Muslim invaders stretched from Gibraltar to the banks of  Loire.(O’Neill p102)

Muslims sacked the greatest monasteries of southern France.  Carcassonne (SW) was captured in 725, Toulouse was attacked in 721 but the Arabs were driven back by Eudes, Duke of Aquitaine (Dufourcq p 420).
In 734 Avignon (retaken by Martel 737) and Arles was sacked and Leon pillaged in 743.  

After 750, Pipin the Short reconquered Nimes, Maguelonne, Agde and Beziers, and finally Narbonne in 759 making the Arabs/Muhammadans retreat to Spain though there were repeated attacks into the mid 9th century (Dufourcq p 429-430)

In 793, Spanish Muslims attacked Gerona (Spain), moving on to Narbonne and the district of La Cerdana...

“raping women, killing warriors, destroying fortresses, burning and pillaging everything and driving back the enemy(locals)  who fled in disorder”..returning to Spain with much booty (Bostom p 597)

They were still there in the 9th century with raids from Spanish Muslims and other Muslims eg In 825 –razzias of murder, enslavement and pillage.  In 845 a Muslim army entered ‘Galicia’ travelling to Leon which they pillaged and destroyed (Bostom p 597).   And Arles in 869.
 Muslims headed N, NE, E reaching Gap and Grenoble to the Alps where they charged taxes on those passing through (ie 10th century).   They crossed into Italy.

The French coast was constantly raided.  In 838, Marseilles was attacked, the people enslaved.  This was repeated several times into the 10th century. (Dufourcq p 421).  
 ‘
Provence’s coast was occupied from 890 but after raids inland they were expelled in 975 (Bostom p 374, 377).  During Muslim occupation the land wasn’t cultivated and sharp-bladed grasses and thorny tress encouraged to grow to protect the Muslim stronghold.  Booty from Provence often went to Spain which also provided reinforcements (9th century).  (Dufourcq p426).  Other areas under Muslim control served as bases for raids to pillage and enslave.

Spanish Arabs carried out endless razzias (RAIDS), pillaging Civita Vecchia (Italian seaport near Rome), Nice (coastal town SE France), Sardinia, Corsica (O’Neill p103)...

The number of wrecks of  10th century Muslim ships found off the coast of Provence suggests considerable traffic in slaves and plunder with the rest of  the Muslim world’ (O’Neill p104)

Even in the 15th century, areas of France were still attacked eg Agde 1406, Frejus 1475.  Fishermen from Provence were captured and enslaved. (Dufourcq  p428).

In1687 the French outpost at Taroudant was taken and the inhabitants put to the sword with 120 French citizens enslaved (Khan p 293).

Italy: 
The coast was raided by Muslim corsairs including those based on Mediterranean Islands.  Islands and coastal beachheads were used to attack further inland into the 10th century - eg Ischia, the promontory of Misena, the point of  Licosa,  the Pontine Islands, the coast at the mouth of the Garigliano (Dufourcq p 425).

After 830 the cities of central and southern Italy were under attack eg Brindisi was occupied in 836, 840-870 and Taranto ravaged in 838 and occupied in 840-880;  Bari was occupied 841-871 and via bases in Taranto and Bari, they controlled the region of Puglia (heel of boot). (Dufourcq p425)  In 856 the Cathedral of Carnosa was destroyed (Khan p 156).  
In 880 Byzantine Emporer Basil I freed Taranto (Khan p 156).

Calabria (boot toe) was frequently attacked eg 813 and raided in 838 and occupied 840-885 and attacked into the 10th century.(Dufourcq p 425).

Capua  (N of Naples) was razed in 840; Benevento attacked in 842-847 and 849-852.
In 861 the children of Ascoli were killed and the inhabitants enslaved.  Salerno was besieged for 6 months in 872 (Khan p 156)

Capo Mieno (Naples) and Ponza near Rome were captured in 845, serving as a base to attack Rome (Khan 845)
.
In 846 Rome was attacked via the Tiber, and from land via Muslim armies from Citavecchia, Ostia and Portus. Basilicas outside the walls were pillaged and vandalised, churches destroyed.  The Saxons, Lombards, Frisians and Franks staunchly defended St Peter’s, perishing to the last man. Marquis Guy of Spoleto defeated the Arabs.   While fleeing, the Muslims continued to devastate the country.    The Lombard army clashed with the Muslims again at Gaeta.   The Byzantine troops of Cesarius from Naples aided Guy of Spoleto.  The Muslim attack failed but they  returned eg 849 attempting a new landing at Ostia.  The Italian fleet defeated the Muslim fleet. From 857 Muslims threatened the Roman seaboard (Dufourcq p421, Khan p 156).  (Indeed Muslims today claim they will take Rome!!)

In 876, 877 Muslims  ravaged Campagna .  Pope John VIII (872-82) defeated the Arab Muslims at Circeo and freed 600 enslaved Christians from Muslim ships, but he had little help and in 878 the Pope was forced to pay a large annual tribute.  Outside Rome, the Abbey of Farfa was besieged, Subiaco (Monastery attacked in 840) was destroyed and the valleys of Anio and Tivoli ravaged.   Campagne (plain surrounding Rome) became a desert!  The region of Umbria (N. Of Rome)  had villages sacked and inhabitants slaughtered or enslaved as Muslims headed to Rome in 876.(Khan p 156, O’Neill p 103, Dufourcq p 421)

Naples was conquered in 856.  (Dufourcq p 425).  From the Gulf of Gaeta (near Naples), inland monasteries and abbeys etc were attacked eg Volturno, and Monte Cassino which was burned and destroyed 883 (O’Neill p103, Dufourcq p 427). 

Although Carolignian (Frankish) Emperor Ludovico II ousted the Muslims in 871 (Khan p 156) attacks continued.

In 841, 848 Ancona (Adriatic coast) was attacked and burnt.   Attacks occurred along the Dalmation coast (Croatia ) (Khan p 156, O’Neill p 103)  

Byzantine and Venetian fleets were defeated (9th century). (O’Neill p103)

Through the 880s and 890s Muslims ravaged the Roman countryside.
In 916, Marquis Adalbertusof Tusca, Marquis Albericus of Spoleto, Prince Landulf of Capua and Benevento, Prince Gaimar of Salerno, the dukes of Gaeta and Naples and Byzantine Emperor Constantine combined with Pope John X heading the land troops, and they defeated the Muslim Arabs freeing the Italian mainland! (Khan p 156) The Byzantine fleet also helped to protect Italy.

Northern Italy was raided by Spanish Muslims who reached the Swiss Alps eg in the 10th century, they reached Asti and Liguria and in 972 captured the important Abbot of Cluny, demanding a huge ransom.(Dufourcq p426-427).

Genoa (coast near France) was sacked in 934-935.  

Italy’s coasts and waters remained under attack.  

Mediterranean Islands:  these Islands as well as conquered areas on the mainland were sites to launch endless raids over centuries and conquer when appropriate.
Sicily:  Endless Arab assaults resulting in enslavement,  pillage in -652, 667, 668, 669, 703, 720, 728, 729,730, 731, 733, 734, 740, 752 failed to secure it for Islam (ON p102, Bostom p 368, Khan  p157)
Syracuse-seaport SE Sicily temporarily conquered in 708, but a 740 invasion failed.(ON p 102).  It was taken in a deadly attack in 878 when women, children and the elderly hiding in a church were massacred and the population enslaved or  massacred and the town pillaged.   Some 4000 captives who had fought against them were butchered (Dufourcq p422).

A raid on Etna and surrounds in 835, burnt harvests, slaughtered, pillaged and  brought so many slaves they were sold for almost nothing (Bostom p 603). 
From 827 -902 most of the island was conquered eg Palermo in 831,  Messina in 843 while resistant Cefalu and Enna  were conquered and burnt in 858 and 859 and Syracuse overrun in 878 slaughtering the population.  Only Taormina was  in Byzantine hands in 900 (Bostom p 374).  In 848, the inhabitants of Ragusa surrendered their town for ‘peace’, the Muslims stripped it and destroyed it (Bostom p 603). 
Locals fought back from 827.  Normans and Byzantines invaded in 1038-42.  From 1060-1091 Normans fought Muslims/Arabs to retake Sicily.(Khan p 156, Bostom p 380).  But attacks still occurred eg Syracuse in 1393 enslaving inhabitants and Muslims returned several times in the 15th century. (Dufourcq p 428)

Sardinia: Conquered in stages eg 711, 720, 760,  809, 813—1003 disputed by Byzantines and still raided by Muslims in the 10th century.  In 1015, a brief complete conquest lasted only one year!(Dofourcq p 425, O’Neill p 102)

Pantelleria: (Italian Island) conquered in700 and attacked again a century later  806 where people including monks were enslaved and sold into Spain.(Dufourcq p 425, O’Neill p102)

Corsica:  In Byzantine then Frank control in 744.  From the late 8th century on, the battle for Corsica raged incessantly between the Byzantines and various Muslim groups into the 10th century.  Endless Muslim raids eg 813.

At the beginning of the 8th century, it was invaded so often that the Pope urged the Corsicans to abandon their island and invited them to take refuge in Rome. ....4 thousand Corsican families ...arrived..in the eternal city shortly before 829. (Dufourcq p425)

Crete:  Brief Umayyad occupation in 674.  Conquered in 825 (supposedly by a Muslim leader and ‘refugees’ from Andalusia –but wasn’t Andalusia supposed to be fabulous!!)  Crete became the centre of Islam’s Mediterranean  slave trade until retaken by the Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus 11 Phocas around 956 (O’Neill p 108)

Cyprus:  Muslim attacks after 649-654.  The people in the capital were massacred or enslaved and gold and booty taken.  The Muslims returned for further attacks on the population –people gave all their riches to avoid death, but towns were attacked, people fled and towns were destroyed so they were nolonger inhabitable.  Likewise the Island of Cos.   (Bostom p 594,  Constantelos  p 390).  Attacks continue in 700’s, 800’s..

Rhodes:  attacked and devastated in 654, occupied 672-679. Occupied by Syrian Muslims in 717-718.

Malta:  Raided .  Attacked in 824-869.  Under Muslim control after 869. Retaken by Christians but still under attack in 1429!

Baleares:  raided by Muslims in 707-708 and for decades afterwards tribute was demanded or further attacks ensued.   Overall control changed from Byzantine to the Franks in 754-798.  Iviza (Ebusus) was conquered by Spanish Muslims in 798.  The whole island was conquered by Spanish Muslims in 903...remaining for 3 centuries.

Other Islands eg Majorca, Minorca were attacked by Muslim corsairs and used as strategic beachheads .  In 813 the islands of Ischia and Lampedusa were devastated and occupied. (Khan  p155)   Ischia, opposite Naples and the promontory of Misena were both used to conquer Naples in 856.

Majorca which became ‘Christian’ again in 1230 was still constantly attacked by Muslims into the 15th century (Dufourcq  p428).    Capri was still attacked in 1428 and Elba in 1443. (Dufourcq p 429).

Currently the devastating impact of Islam on Europe is ignored or underplayed. 

Balkans, Asia minor (Yugoslavia, Rumania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, European part of Turkey  and Asian part of Turkey including Anatolia)
Constantinople was attacked in  669, 674-680.   The city blockaded along Bosporus (674-678) but the Muslim fleet was destroyed by the ‘Greek fire’ of Kallinikos (Callinicus) the Syrian. An 80,000 strong Arab army plus 1,800 Arab was ships attacked again in 718 but the attack was again repulsed.  (O’Neill p102-103).   The city was threatened again in 782.

Constantinople, never invaded by Goths or Huns, was a million strong capital of the east yet by the mid eight century it was a veritable ruin (O’Neill p 106).  Indeed for about 2 centuries, it was attacked virtually annually by land and sea by Arab Muslim forces. (O’Neill p 109).  Asia Minor (today’s Turkey) was devastated and depopulated.

In 781,  7000 Greek prisoners were enslaved at Ephasus,   
At Thessalonica in 903/4,  22000 Christians were enslaved.   An eyewitness account notes

‘the Saracens were unleashed like wild beasts’, ...’no mercy’...’no-one was spared’..’.all were pierced by the sword’..and the 300 hundred hiding in the church ..’the entire floor was covered with bodies, with a lake of blood in the middle’  (Bostom p 604).

From 650 Arabs/Muslims? entered Cilicia and Cesarea of Cappadocia (in today’s Turkey).  At Euchaita the population were put to the sword or enslaved and riches taken while immoralities were committed inside the churches.  Further advances through the area saw plunder, murder, enslavement or the extraction of tribute to buy ‘protection.’  Raids were launched on Amorium, Cappadocia and Pergamum (716...) with Arab armies reaching Armenia. The people fled as Arab armies stretched from Lebanon to Armenia.

 “All this region was remarkable for the density of its population and the abundance of its vineyards, its cereals and its magnificent trees of every kind.  Henceforth it was laid waste and these lands are nolonger inhabited’ (721 Bostom p 596)

From 637 Anatolia was annually raided and often invaded by Syrian Muslims. (Bost p 370).  Anatolia was invaded in 806, 838.

 Armenia:  Assyria:  In 642, thanks to a couple of Armenia collaborators the main city Dvin and the whole region wasinvaded.  Booty was taken, areas burnt, inhabitants butchered, and 35,000 slaves taken. ((Bostom p 592).  The area was controlled by Muslims from ~ 644 to 680.  Heavy taxes (jizya, kharaj) were imposed eg in 691,  Non-Muslims lost employment, were prohibited from fishing and suffered religious persecution –still operating in the 9th century.   .In 699 another wave of Arab armies invaded Armenia and encountered strong resistance in certain areas (Ter-Ghevondian p406, 407).  There were many attacks.

Armenia was conquered in 701-702 by Muhammad-ibn-Marwan.  Muhammad showed such brutality that the situation was described as-

‘the population was left as if scorched by a smoking fire, and like a tuft of wheat trampled upon by swine’ (Ter-Ghevondian p407)

In 703 an Armenian group of 2000 defeated an Arab army of 8000, and after caring for the survivors, sent them to the caliph.   Groups across Armenia fought the Arabs, destroying them.  As a new Arab army advanced, to spare the population,  leaders promised the Armenians would be obedient if they were allowed ‘religious freedom’ not forced conversion. (Ter-Ghevondian p 409)

Muhammad appointed a new governor of Armenia -  Abdullah, a cruel, lustful, unrestrained man who detained and tortured free men and princes.  Demands were made for a general conversion to Islam.  People were enslaved.

In 705 ‘Arabs penetrated Armenia, where they captured all the magnates and leaders of the people, brought them together, and burned them alive’ (Costantelos Bostom p 391).

The families were enslaved and shipped to Damascus.  Other nobles were tortured, robbed, and hung. (Ter-Ghevondian p411)

Muslim control operated (different groups), from 717 into the 9th century.   Again in 847-861, Armenian nobles were deliberately targeted and great pillage and cruelty ensued with ordinary people being enslaved or fleeing.  In a distressing account once again villages, fields and towns turned into deserts and people fled, died or were sold as slaves to foreigners and taken far from their land. (Bostom p 599-602) The story of the Armenians will continue in the article on Ottoman/Turks and tartar slavery part G.  Turks ravaged Armenia from the beginning of the 11th century.

Islamic piracy:
Around 890, Moorish pirates from Andalusia (Spain) set up at Saint Tropez (France) on a hilltop today called  La Garde Freinet.   Over decades members raged west to Marseilles, north to Vienne, and even to the abbey of St. Gall in Switzerland until ousted in 972. (O’Neill  p 104)

Barbary Pirates:  As the information above shows, Islamic piracy never ceased (it continues today) but from 1516, particularly the 1530’s a vicious group of North African Muslim pirates operated for 300 years raiding the European coasts (Spain, Italy,  Portugal, France in particular) as far as England, Ireland, and Iceland and attacking Islands and shipping.

“how many know that perhaps 1.5 million Europeans and Americans were enslaved in Islamic north Africa between 1530-1780?...what of the people of the town of Baltimore in Ireland, all carried off by ‘corsair’ raiders in a single night”  (Christopher Hitchens quoted in Khan p 320).  (Baltimore was attacked in 1631 by European convert Murad Rais who also attacked and enslaved people from Iceland in 1627.  Ie ISLAM is the PROBLEM)

Many were sent to Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Libya. 
According to one report, 7000 English people were abducted between 1622 to 1644, many of them ship crews and passengers. (Scourge,2004)

In 1544, 4000 were enslaved from the Island of Ischia off Naples and 9000 from Lipari off Sicily.  A Turkish pirate chief ransacked Granada’s coastal settlements in 1663 enslaving 4000.  Islamic pirates put Islam’s standard on Lund Island in the Bristol Channel using it as a base to pillage, slaughter and enslave.  They attacked unarmed fishing villages, enslaving and burning.  Algiers alone had at least 25,000 white slaves between 1550-1730. (Khan p 320-321).  (Remember the heroic Mohammad attacked farming villages as people headed out to work.)

Muslim leaders explained that their religious texts gave them the right to enslave.  Finally after appeasement and tributes, the British, Europeans and Americans realised there was only one way to stop Islam and they attacked and militarily defeated the enemy in the early 19th century.

Why are Europeans who generally didn’t enslave or displace local populations and often revealed their history and removed horrors like slavery and jizya (and admittedly committed some horror) condemned while the massive imperialist and colonialist destruction of Islam is ignored or even praised!  I repeat, WE (non-Muslims) are the victims of Islam and it’s time our story was told!

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References: 

1. Bostom, A. G.  ‘The Legacy of Jihad:  Islamic holy war and the fate of the non-Muslims.’  Prometheus Books.  New York.   2005.
   
2. Constantelos, D.  ‘Greek Christian and other accounts of the Muslim conquests of the Near East’  Ch. 37 in Bostom, A. G.  ‘The Legacy of Jihad:  Islamic holy war and the fate of the non-Muslims.’  Prometheus Books.  New York.   2005.
   
3. Encyclopaedia Britannica Vol 17 p 419  15th edition. 1982 Printed in the USA.
   
4. Hedaya or guide:   A commentary on the Mussulman laws:   Translated by order of the Governor-General and Council of Bengal   by Charles Hamilton:   Vol IV.  (1791)  London.  Printed by T.  Bensley.  (this is a reprint of the original)
   
5. Karsh, E.  ‘Islamic imperialism: A history.’  Yale University Press. 2006. 
   
6. Khan, M. A.  ‘Islamic Jihad:  A legacy of forced conversion, imperialism and slavery.’ iUniverse, Bloomington, IN.  2009. 
   
7. O’Neill.  ‘Holy warriors:   Islam and the demise of classical civilisation.’   Felibri publications.   2009.
   
8. Pipes, D:  ‘Jihad: How Academics Have Camouflaged Its Real Meaning’ 12-02-02 http://hnn.us/articles/1136.html  George Mason University  History News Network
   
9. Pirenne, Henri.  ‘Mohammed and Charlemagne.’   Dover Publications Inc, New York.  Reprint 2001 of 1954 print by George Allen and Unwin.
   
10. Reliance of the Traveller:  A classic manual of Islamic sacred law.   In Arabic with facing English Text, commentary and appendices edited and translated by Nuh Ha Mim Keller  Al-Misri, Ahmad ibn Naqib;  Amana publications  Maryland USA 1994.
    
11. Sookhdeo, P.  ‘Global Jihad:  The future in the face of  Militant Islam.’  Isaac Publishing.  2007.
    
12. The Scourge of Slavery  vol 4 2004 http://www.christianaction.org.za/articles_ca/2004-4-TheScourgeofSlavery.htm
    
13. Ter-Ghevondian.  A.  ‘The Armenian rebellion against the Caliphate’  Ch. 38 in Bostom, A. G.  ‘The Legacy of Jihad:  Islamic holy war and the fate of the non-Muslims.’  Prometheus Books.  New York.   2005.
    
14. Trifkovic, S. ‘The sword of the prophet.’   Regina Orthodox Press, Inc.  2002.
    
15. Warraq, I.  ‘Why I am not a Muslim.’  Prometheus books.  1995
    
16. Ye’or, B. And G. Bostom.   2004   ‘Andalusian Myth, Eurabian Reality:  Inventing the past, and denying the present.’   A Jihad Watch EXCLUSIVE essay  http://www.jihadwatch.org/2004/04/andalusian-myth-eurabian-reality.html