Omar the martyr

[Kendall K. Down]

The gulf between the peace-loving religion of Christianity and the
bellicose and aggressive religion of Mohammed is summed up in a tale
told by Ibn Battuta.

"Thence we went to Yazmir [Smyrna], a large town on the coast, mostly in
ruins. The governor ‘Omar, a son of the sultan of Aydin, came to the
convent to visit me and sent me a large hospitality-gift. Afterwards he
gave me a young Greek slave named Nicolas. He was a generous and pious
prince and constantly engaged in war with the Christians. He had
galleys, with which he used to make raids on the environs of
Constantinople the Great, taking prisoners and booty and after spending
it all in largesse he would make another raid. Eventually the Greeks,
under the pressure of his attacks, appealed to the Pope, who ordered
the Christians of Genoa and France to make an attack on him. They did
so, and the Pope sent an army from Rome, which captured the port and the
city in a night attack. The amir ‘Omar went down from the citadel and
fought them, but he died a martyr’s death together with a number of his
troops."

Ibn Battuta obviously approved of Omar's method of acquiring money for
charity (and, indeed, profitted from it himself). When the
long-suffering people of Constantinople finally managed to put together
an army and get rid of the old pirate, Ibn Battuta has the nerve to call
him "a martyr"!

He wasn't a martyr, he was a vicious, murderous thug who got a
well-deserved come-uppance, but to Muslims he is a hero to be admired
and emulated.

Bah.

God bless,
Kendall K. Down