An Invitation to Peace

An Invitation to Peace
Muhammad’s message now – I have changed!” and yet he never did
do that – although this is exactly what you would have expected from
him since he had always sought to contradict the Qur’an. Now the
Qur’an gave him a very direct challenge saying, ‘All you have to do to
split this whole thing apart at the seams is to say the words, “There is
only One God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God!”’ How
could Muhammad possibly have known for sure that Abu Lahab
wouldn’t do that just to spite him? How could he possibly have been so
confident as to give somebody ten years to discredit his prophethood
any time he wanted? The only answer is that these were not his words
but God’s; only God could have put forward such a risky challenge.
The Fall of Byzantium
During the years 613-614, the Persians severely defeated Christian
Byzantium, the Romans. Following their defeat of the Byzantines at
Antioch in 613, the Persians seized control of Damascus, Cilicia,
Tarsus, Armenia, and Jerusalem. The loss of Jerusalem in 614 was
particularly traumatic for the Byzantines, for the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre was destroyed and the Persians seized the “True Cross,” the
symbol of Christianity. In addition, the Avars, Slavs, and Lombards also
were posing serious threats to the Byzantine Empire. The Avars had
reached as far as the walls of Constantinople. Emperor Heraclius
ordered the gold and silver in churches to be melted and turned into
money in order to meet the army's expenses. When this proved
insufficient, bronze statues were melted down in order to mint more
money. Many governors had revolted against Heraclius, and
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Byzantium was on the point of collapse. Mesopotamia, Cilicia, Syria,
Palestine, Egypt and Armenia, which had earlier belonged to
Byzantium, were invaded by the idolatrous Persians.
141
Warren Treadgold, A History of the Byzantine State and Society (Palo Alto, CA: Stanford
University Press: 1997), pp. 287-99
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