Mark Steyn points out aquote from Gibbon, that
the battle of Poitier-tours
and the defeat of the muslims
was a big turningpoint in
western civilization.
[the midpoint between poitiers
& tours is shown by a thumtack,
and it is much further north than
I expected, I guess I thought the
muslims were defeated in the pyrennes
a la the "song of roland"]
From Gibbon:
“Perhaps,” wrote Edward Gibbon in The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, “the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Mahomet.”
Steyn then points to another quote from the daily mail:
The deeply English, deeply Christian city of Oxford, one of the homes of free thought, is now being asked to accept the Islamic call to prayer wafting from mosque loudspeakers over its spires and domes.
Which is deeply ironic, since Gibbon had assumed that we had won the war
with Islam, the 18th century sultanate was weak, the muslims of north africa
were no more than pirates. The idea that the call to prayer will echo over
his Oxford would probably have him spinning in his grave.
Now the Islamic re-reconquista is steadily capturing more territory than ever
before, but not on spearpoints of mounted knights, but by diffusion. It's interesting
to me as a student of history, and it's ironic, but it's still worrying.
