There is, unfortunately, an abysmal ignorance in the Western world of both the theology and the history of Islam, an ignorance which the historian Raymond Ibrahim has been working hard to correct. In his two fascinating books, Sword and Scimitar and Defenders of the West, Ibrahim, whose family is Egyptian and Coptic Christian, recounts much of the history of the long war between Islam and Europe, a war that it often seems only Muslims are fighting.
Yesterday marked the anniversary of one of the crucial battles in that war, the Battle of Belgrade (1456), and Ibrahim narrates an animation that depicts those events. In it, we're introduced to one of the greatest heroes of Western civilization, a man named John Hunyadi, a man of whom few Americans have ever heard, although he's a national hero in Hungary.
As the Muslim multitudes swept toward the Hungarian city of Belgrade Hunyadi took it upon himself to lead a small group of professional soldiers and a ragtag assemblage of peasants against the armies of the Turks. In Hunyadi's words, "We have had enough of our men enslaved, our women raped, wagons loaded with severed heads of our people, the sale of chained captives, the mockery of our religion... We shall not stop until we succeed in expelling the enemy from Europe."
The battle Ibrahim describes is only part of Hunyadi's story, a story that includes terrible betrayal and astonishing courage. I encourage you to watch the video, and if you're a reader of history, get your hands on either or both of Ibrahim's books. You'll be very glad you did, but if books are not your preference (although they should be), Ibrahim has a regular column at PJMedia.
The video is about twelve minutes long:
