What would the Messenger of God, Muhammad, say about the current global position of Islam?

He would probably be taken aback, first by the vast expansion of the Muslim faith and then by the wealth and sheer numbers involved, over 2 billion worldwide – almost as many as there are Christians (2.2 billion).

In 2023, almost 50 countries are majority Muslim. At the time of the prophet’s death, in 632 CE (equivalent to 10-11 BC), there were just under ten countries or territories under Islamic rule, all in the Arabian Peninsula. An accurate calculation of the Muslim population at that time cannot be made due to the lack of documentation and census data.

It was only after Muhammad’s death that vast conquests and expansion took place. At its height, Islam claimed 29 countries or territories, including major portions of Asia, Africa, and Europe, in the 8th and 9th centuries before the retribution of the Crusades began in the late 9th century (lasting through the earliest part of the 13th century).

The Crusades did not lead to any significant lasting Christian presence in the Middle East but did take back and keep certain areas of southern Europe, including Spain, France, and Italy.

Muhammad today would be pleased and proud to know Islam’s expansion had reached every settled continent and had grown to include every race, creed, color, and socioeconomic background. He would be thrilled to also know that schools, called Madrasas, exist to teach children his Sharia Law, five pillars of faith, taqiyya (the moral absolution of lying to the “kafir” or “nonbelievers,” or “deceivers”), and “dhimmitude.”

“Dhimmitude,” or the “dhimma system” in the context of Islamic history, is a system involving the treatment of non-Muslim communities, particularly “People of the Book” (Jews and Christians) living in Muslim-majority lands. Dhimmitude was characterized by a set of rules and restrictions, as well as the payment of a special tax called the jizya, in exchange for protection and the ability to maintain their religious practices.

Historically, under the dhimma system, non-Muslims were given a choice between several options, which generally included:

Conversion to Islam: Non-Muslims could choose to convert to Islam, thereby becoming equal to Muslim citizens in terms of legal and social rights.

Payment of Jizya: Those who preferred to remain non-Muslims were required to pay the jizya tax, which symbolized their submission to and protection by the Muslim state. The jizya would increase over time to the point where cash-poor non-Muslims would have to pay in collateral – land, property, livestock, etc. until they were penniless and destitute. This was possible because the Muslim faith requires theocracy – the joining of government and religion (which is diametrically opposed to the US Constitution).

Adherence to Dhimmi Regulations: Non-Muslims were expected to adhere to a set of regulations governing their behavior, dress, and religious practices. They were also subject to various social and legal restrictions.

Protection: In return for the jizya and adherence to the dhimma regulations, non-Muslims were entitled to the protection of the Muslim state, ensuring their safety from external threats.

Death, Enslavement, Rape, Marriage, Concubine: If, however, a non-Muslim community chose not to convert to Islam or pay jizya, the Islamist hoards would invade, kill or enslave the men, enslave, rape and/or marry the women (turning them into concubines), and kill, enslave, marry or concubine the children—all according to Sharia Law.

It’s important to note that the dhimma system varied over time and across different regions, and not all non-Muslim communities experienced it in the same way. Additionally, the dhimma system has largely been a historical practice, and contemporary civil Islamic societies do not necessarily employ this system – at least overtly. However, caliphate Islamist societies and some Islamist terror states do continue to employ this barbaric and brutal practice.

In real-time, however, we are seeing the hidden modern dhimma hoards raise their savage heads through the uprisings against the Israeli incursion into Gaza (which, we must remember, came after Islamist Hamas terrorists massacred 1,400 innocent Israeli men, women, children, elderly, infirm, pregnant women, and babies).

The Islamist rallying cry, “From the river to the sea,” is being characterized by Islamist apologists such as US House of Representatives Member Rashida Tlaib as “an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence.” But it is, in fact, a call for genocide, as it refers to the Hamas charter requirement that Israel will only exist “until Islam will obliterate it.” In other words, all Jews living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea (that is, in the state of Israel) are to be obliterated.

Make no mistake, the Islamic hoards are coming for you, me, our friends, family, and everyone else “of the book” (Jews and Christians).

Ironically, before reaching the age of 40, Muhammad had encounters with those who were learned in both Judaism and Christianity. Although illiterate, Muhammad observed and appreciated Christianity and Judaism, especially the lives of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael (to whom he is related), Moses, and Jesus.

And yet, he still chose to impose the system of dhimma upon these people. And later, his followers imposed on them further and further, eventually consuming hundreds of millions of Arabs and non-Arabs alike as converts, slaves, and payers of jizya.

Today, the reach and sting of Islam is worldwide, insidious, and relentless.

Are there such things as “peaceful Muslims?” “Good Muslims?” Yes, as there were peaceful and good Germans, Japanese, Italians, and Russians in the WWII era.