Academic Calls to Retake Spain and Portugal for Islam

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/06/dean-of-quranic-studies-at-islamic-university-of-gaza-misunderstands-islam-says-muslims-hope-to-conq.html

A Dean of Koranic studies in Gaza has renewed the call to retake the Iberian Peninsula for Islam.

The term Al-Andalus refers to the the Islamic name for that region. The most likely explanation for the origin is that it refers to the Vandal Kingdom, which existed in the south of the peninsula for a brief period after it was lost to the Western Roman Empire. The name lives on today as Andalusia.

This is by no means an isolated rant by a lone Muslim.

Aside from the obvious call to enforce Islamic rule throughout the world, a crucial part of Islamic thought is the reconquest or re-Islamization of regions that were once under Islamic rule.

The very concept of a region/nation that, after being ruled and administered by Muslims, is lost to that religious system is anathema to them. It is not sufficient to say that the fact that Muslims chafe at being reminded that nations or peoples were able to throw off Islamic rule or otherwise  regain sovereignty over their territory, they view such insolence as an insult to them, Allah, and Mohammed.

The results of the Reconquista, the campaigns of liberation of the nations of Iberia that spanned over 800 years, have not been accepted by Muslims. It is their obligation to return this region to Islamic rule. Many other prominent Muslims have also called for such actions, but the one in the top link is the most recent.

This is something that is largely ignored in the West. After all, most of us have taken to the "Let bygones be bygones" position when it comes to old quarrels. This is not so in the Islamic world. Even the Crusades, which only, and in a very temporary fashion, forced Muslim rulers out of a small portion of the Near East, have come to be a routine flag of victimization to be flown by modern-day Muslims. We of course are supposed to forget that every nation outside of Arabia that fell under Islam rule did so as a direct result of Islamic aggression.

Another interesting irony is that, to the Muslim world, the Crusades were never a big deal to the Muslims when it came to discussing their history. The Muslims won the Crusades and they were content enough with that. It was only with the arrival of General Allenby and his army into Jerusalem in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire and the somewhat accompanying spectre of Zionism that the Crusades became a rallying cry in the Islamic world.

Most of us have been brought up on the sanitized version of Islamic conquest, so it is hard to understand what is going on in the minds of many Muslims. The entire Balkan region (and much that is north of that), Sicily, Spain and Portugal, the "heel" of Italy, India, and other regions that have been ruled by Muslims must be returned to Islamic rule. Presumably, this would also include former Islamic strongholds in southern France such as Fraxinetum and other cities in Italy. In Islamic thought, once a region has been ruled by Muslims, it becomes part of the House of Islam. This event,  having occurred, cannot be reversed.

In summary, if you live in a region that was ever ruled by Muslims, the Muslim world will not be willing to allow your nation/people to remain free of Islamic rule forever.

The speaker also mentions that Rome must be taken. Most of is are also not aware that Muslims sacked much of Rome in 846 AD and that the eventual conquest of that city was prophesied by Mohammed.

I wrote a while back about one of the reasons that I hold motivates Muslims to take Rome. That city is the seat of the Pope, the Patriarch of the West. The ancient Christian Church was comprised of five Patriarchates. These were Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Antioch. Out of those five, four have long been under the Islamic yoke. Whether one is a Catholic, Mainline Protestant or other Christian, it must be understood that, in Islamic thought, that Patriarchal seat must be placed under the same rule as that of the other four.

The post on that subject is below:

http://thehotgates480bc.blogspot.com/2011/12/islam-and-christian-patriarchates.html