Radical Islam did not exist in 1796

Submitted by Alfred H. Yoli (United States), Nov 8, 2006 at 10:07

In 1784, Islam pirates seized the American ship, Betsey and its crew of ten. J. Adams and T. Jefferson were instructed by J Jay to negotiate with the ambassador of Tripoli the tribute payment required to free the seized seamen. T. Jefferson asked why the Muslems seized the ship since the U.S. had not offended the Muslem powers in anyway. In a letter written to J. Jay and Congress in 1786, T Jefferson said the following:

The Ambassador answered us thatr it was founded on the Laws of the Prophet, and it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners.

T.Jefferson, as President, did not negotiate with the Islam pirates and as a result, the Marine hymn contains the words "to the shores of Tripoli"

I believe the above clearly shows that radical Islam existed in 1796. I also believe that we make a serious mistake when we differentiate between Islam, the religion and radical Islam.

A. Yoli

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".