Do we love our Western way of life enough to defend it from those who love death?
In 633 CE, a year after Muhammad’s death, the commander of the new Muslim armies wrote a letter to the Persian emperor, Yazdegerd III, the last king of the great Sassanid dynasty.
“Submit,” Khalid ibn al-Walid declared, “or you will be conquered by men who love death as you love life.”
To the emperor, the general must have seemed like a madman. How could the Persian Empire, standing for more than 400 years, be threatened by those who love death?
“We love death more than you love life”.
