Comment on "Islam Bulldozes the Past"

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Mar 23, 2015 at 01:50

Dear Dr Pipes,

Thanks for writing your blog "Islam Bulldozes the Past" and citing the fact that Islamic invaders destroy both Islamic and non-Islamic historical icons. Only most ardent apologists of Islam will disagree with the observation that Islamic invaders leave a trail of destruction wherever they go. Within 100 years of its birth Islamic invaders reached the western borders of what used to be India at that time. It is impossible to take a fork in history but what would the history of the world had been if Islam had never reached India? While Islamic armies were ruthlessly invading countries all around them in the 8th century, India --under the guidance of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist philosophies-- had already had almost thirteen centuries of non-violent traditions. And India had something to show for these long centuries of peace: India had discovered decimal system of numbers by then, along with Greeks she had already dabbled in algebra, trigonometry, and number theory. And, India had also made deep inroads into the subject matters of mind, body, spirit and consciousness that modern psychologist love.

And, by this time India had been talking about 'just wars' for about 1000 years. What was that 'clash of civilizations' between India on one hand and Islamic invaders on the other like? Can we teach ISIS today what a just war should be? What I have written here may be wrong. What your 'Islam bulldozes the past' blog says may also be wrong. May be all this is media hype and misrepresentation but these questions need to be asked and repeated continuously until they are historically and intellectually answered to everyone's satisfaction.

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