To: hdl who wrote (5376 ) 10/5/2002 4:29:37 PM From: Haim R. Branisteanu Read Replies (3) | Respond to Mohammed started his faith by plundering caravans and fought against other tribes for the control of passage of caravans No hard work, just a system later used by the Mafia. The big difference is that the Mafia used it only for monetary benefits with out clear political aspiration or those of conquest which Islam is propagating.And yet he (Mohammed ) was ruthless in his dealings with the Jews, when once he had ceased to hope for their submission. He approved of assassination, when it furthered his cause; however barbarous or treacherous the means, the end justified it in his eyes; and in more than one case he not only approved, but also instigated the crime. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10424a.htmAfter Mohammed's death Mohammedanism aspired to become a world power and a universal religion. The weakness of the Byzantine Empire, the unfortunate rivalry between the Greek and Latin Churches, the schisms of Nestorius and Eutyches, the failing power of the Sassanian dynasty of Persia, the lax moral code of the new religion, the power of the sword and of fanaticism, the hope of plunder and the love of conquest — all these factors combined with the genius of the caliphs, the successors of Mohammed, to effect the conquest, in considerably less than a century, of Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, North Africa, and the South of Spain.
