The “Image of Hellâ€: Islam’s Siege of Malta
05/18/2020 by Raymond Ibrahim 5 Comments
Jean Parisot de Valette gives thanks for the delivery of Malta (painting by Charles-Philippe Larivière, b.1798).
Today in history, May 18, 1565, one of the most symbolically important military encounters between Islam and Europe began: the Ottoman Turks besieged the tiny island of Malta, in what was then considered the heaviest bombardment any locale had been subjected to.
Around the start of the sixteenth century, Muslim pirates from Algiers began to terrorize the Christian Mediterranean. Like their terrestrial counterparts, they too were indoctrinated in and emboldened by Muhammad’s promises: “A campaign by sea is like ten campaigns by land,†the prophet had said, “and he who loses his bearings at sea is like one who sheds his blood in the path of Allahâ€â€”that is, he is rewarded either in the here or hereafter. The piratical lust for booty was, accordingly, heightened by dreams of “martyrdom.â€
https://www.raymondibrahim.com/2020/05/18/the-image-of-hell-islams-siege-of-malta/
