Daniel J. Pipes

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No Muslim Country was created with popular consent/reply to Tonon

Reader comment on item: Hold Damascus Responsible
in response to reader comment: What about Arab countries?

Submitted by Peter J. Herz (United States), Aug 7, 2006 at 09:30

Apart from the Arabian desert, no Muslim country is the product of popular consent, either. Islam spread in the 7th-8th century because of conquest, not conversion. As late as the time of the Crusades, the majority of Egyptians were still Christians who spoke Coptic and supported a Muslim ruling caste by paying jizya.

Maybe, for the sake of world peace, Arabic-speaking Muslims could withdraw to the Najd, Hijaz, etc., an leave the Fertile Crescent to Jews, CHristians, and Mandaeans; Egypt to the Copts; and the Maghreb to the Berbers (perhaps invite a few Romance-speaking Christians in to round out the population, too).


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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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