30 August 2014 A.D. Apostolos
Euangelou Vacalopolos, Greeks &
Ottomans: Quotations on Islam from
Notable Non-Muslims
For 88 more quotes from other leaders regarding
Islamo-Dominionism & Theocratic Reconstructionism, see: http://reformationanglicanism.blogspot.com/2014/08/25-august-2014-ad-quotations-on-islam_25.html
Apostolos Euangelou Vacalopoulos
“The Revolution of 1821 is no more than the last
great phase of the resistance of the Greeks to Ottoman domination; it was a
relentless, undeclared war, which had begun already in the first years of
servitude. The brutality of an autocratic regime, which was characterized by
economic spoliation, intellectual decay and cultural retrogression, was sure to
provoke opposition. Restrictions of all kinds, unlawful taxation, forced labor,
persecutions, violence, imprisonment, death, abductions of girls and boys and
their confinement to Turkish harems, and various deeds of wantonness and lust,
along with numerous less offensive excesses – all these were a constant
challenge to the instinct of survival and they defied every sense of human
decency. The Greeks bitterly resented all insults and humiliations, and their
anguish and frustration pushed them into the arms of rebellion. There was no
exaggeration in the statement made by one of the beys if Arta, when he sought
to explain the ferocity of the struggle. He said: ‘We have wronged the rayas
[dhimmis] (i.e. our Christian subjects) and destroyed both their wealth and
honor; they became desperate and took up arms. This is just the beginning and
will finally lead to the destruction of our empire.’ The sufferings of the Greeks
under Ottoman rule were therefore the basic cause of the insurrection; a
psychological incentive was provided by the very nature of the circumstances[14]
“At the beginning of the eleventh century, the
Seljuk Turks forced their way into Armenia and there crushed the armies of
several petty Armenian states. No fewer than forty thousand souls fled before
the organized pillage of the Seljuk host to the western part of Asia Minor.
From the middle of the eleventh century, and especially after the battle of
Malazgirt [Manzikurt] (1071), the Seljuks spread throughout the whole Asia
Minor peninsula, leaving error, panic and destruction in their wake. Byzantine,
Turkish and other contemporary sources are unanimous in their agreement on the
extent of havoc wrought an the protracted anguish of the local population…[The
Greek chronicler] Kydones described the fate of the Christian peoples of Asia
Minor thus:
‘The entire region which sustained us, from the
Hellespont eastwards to the mountains of Armenia, has been snatched away. They
[the Turks] have razed cities, pillaged churches, opened graves, and filled
everything with blood and corpses…Alas, too, they have even abused Christian
bodies. And having taken away their entire wealth they have now taken away
their freedom, reducing them to the merest shadows of slaves. And with such
dregs of energy as remain in these unfortunate people, they are forced to be
the servitors of the Turk’s personal comforts.’
“From the time the Ottoman Turks first set foot in
Thrace under Suleiman, son of Orchan, the Empire rapidly disintegrated….From the very beginning of the
Turkish onslaught under Suleiman, the Turks tried to consolidate their position
by the forcible imposition of Islam. [The Ottoman historian] Sukrullah
[maintained] those who refused to accept the Moslem faith were slaughtered and
their families enslaved. ‘Where there were bells’, writes the same author,
‘Suleiman broke them up and cast them onto fires. Where there are churches he
destroyed them or converted them into mosques. Thus, in place of bells there
were now muezzins. Wherever Christian infidels were still found, vassalage was
imposed upon their rulers. At least in public they could no longer say ‘kyrie
eleison’ but rather “There is no God but Allah; and where once their prayers
had been addressed to Christ, they were now to ‘Mohammed, the prophet of
Allah.’[15]”
For 88 more quotes from other leaders regarding
Islamo-Dominionism & Theocratic Reconstructionism, see: http://reformationanglicanism.blogspot.com/2014/08/25-august-2014-ad-quotations-on-islam_25.html
For illustrative quotes on Islam from Barack Hussein Obama:
#1 “The future must not belong to those who
slander the Prophet of Islam”
#2 “The sweetest sound I know is the Muslim call to prayer”
#3 “We will convey our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith, which has done so much over the centuries to shape the world — including in my own country.”
#4 “As a student of history, I also know civilization’s debt to Islam.”
#5 “Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance.”
#6 “Islam has always been part of America”
#7 “we will encourage more Americans to study in Muslim communities”
#2 “The sweetest sound I know is the Muslim call to prayer”
#3 “We will convey our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith, which has done so much over the centuries to shape the world — including in my own country.”
#4 “As a student of history, I also know civilization’s debt to Islam.”
#5 “Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance.”
#6 “Islam has always been part of America”
#7 “we will encourage more Americans to study in Muslim communities”
For the rest of Obama’s 40
theological quotes and scholarship, see the URL.
http://reformationanglicanism.blogspot.com/2014/08/40-theological-quotes-from-barack.html
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