The fierce struggle between the Islamic thoughts and the Kufr thoughts, and between the Muslims and the Kuffar, has been intense ever since the dawn of Islam. When the Messenger of Allah (saw) was sent, the struggle was only an intellectual one, and was not associated with any material struggle. This status quo continued until the Islamic State was established in Madinah, whereupon the army and the authority were established and since then, the Messenger of Allah (saw)

combined the material struggle with the intellectual struggle. The verses of Jihad were revealed and the struggle went on. It will continue in this way - a bloody struggle alongside the intellectual struggle - until the Hour comes and Allah (swt) inherits the Earth and those on it. This is why Kufr is an enemy of Islam, and this is why the Kuffar will be the enemies of the Muslims as long as there is Islam and Kufr in this world, Muslims and Kuffar, until all are resurrected. This is a decisive and a constant fact. Hence the understanding of it should remain clear to the Muslims at all times throughout the whole of their life, and it should be taken as a criterion to judge the relationships between Islam and Kufr and between the Muslims and the Kuffar.

The pure intellectual struggle continued for thirteen years. It was the harshest and most ferocious of struggles. Eventually the Islamic thoughts vanquished the Kufr thoughts, and Allah (swt) made Islam triumphant. The State that protects the honour of the Muslims and is the shield of Islam and spreads the guidance amongst people by way of Jihad, was established in Madinah.

The fiercest and harshest of wars between Islam and Kufr and between the Muslim and the Kuffar armies broke out in successive battles. Victory in all these wars was to the Muslims. Although the Muslims were defeated in some of the battles, they however always won the war, and they did not lose a war for six centuries, rather remaining victorious in all of their wars during that time. The Islamic State remained the leading nation throughout the whole of that period. Apart from the Muslims, this has never happened to mankind, rather it has been exclusive to the Islamic State. However the disbelievers, especially the European states, had been mindful of Islam, for they wanted to attack it, and they had been mindful of the Muslims, for they wanted to destroy their entity. They attempted to attack or conspire against the Muslims whenever the opportunity arose.

Between the end of the sixth century Hijri (eleventh century CE) and the beginning of the seventh century Hijri (twelfth century CE), the European countries sensed the condition that the ruling system in the Islamic State had reached regarding the fragmentation of the Wilayahs (provinces) from the body of the state, and the independence of some Walis (governors)

in key areas concerning the internal policy such as the armed forces, finance, authority and the like. In fact, they had become more like a federation of states rather than a single united state. The Khaleefah’s authority had been reduced in some Wilayahs to the supplication for him on the pulpits, minting coins bearing his name and sending him an amount of money from the Kharaj. The European states had sensed this, hence they dispatched the crusades against the Muslims, and war broke out. The Muslims were defeated in this war and the Kuffar captured the whole of Al-Sham :

Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. They occupied these territories for decades, even keeping some areas such as Tripoli for a hundred years.

Although the battles which took place between the crusaders and the Muslims were continuous throughout the hundred years, and although the Muslims’ attempts at recapturing the lands over which the crusaders defeated them did not subside, these wars did however unsettle the Islamic Ummah, and they lowered the status of the Islamic State. The Muslims lost the war and they were defeated by the Kuffar. Victory in the war was to the Kuffar against the Muslims. Although the victory of Kufr against Islam never materialised, neither intellectually nor spiritually, the shame and humiliation which befell the Muslims was beyond imagination. Thus, the era of the crusades, is considered an era of defeat for the Muslims, for despite their victory in the end against the crusaders with their expulsion from Al-Sham, they did not pursue the conquests and the wars with the disbelievers. No sooner had the crusades ended, the Mongols arrived, and the massacre of Baghdad took place. This setback was followed by the fall of Damascus at the hands of the Mongols in the same year, (656

AH, 1258 CE). Then came the battle of Ayn Jaloot on 3rd September 1260 where the Mongols were destroyed. In the wake of the destruction of the Mongols, the emotions of Jihad were aroused in the souls of the Muslims, and they sensed the need for a resumption of carrying the Da’awah to the world. Hence, the Muslim conquests of the Kuffar began once again, and Jihad against the Byzantines was resumed. Battles broke out and successive victories followed. It was around the seventh century of Hijrah (the 13th century CE) when the Islamic Ummah resumed the conquests. The wars continued and several successive battles took place, and the Muslims always emerged as the victorious, for although the Muslims were beaten in some battles, they used to win the wars and conquer the lands. The Islamic State was the leading nation and she continued to occupy the premier position for four centuries, until the mid 12th century AH (the 18th century CE). Then the industrial revolution in Europe emerged in a remarkable manner that had a profound impact on the states’ powers. Muslims stood idle and confused by this revolution, hence the balance of power in the world changed and the Islamic state began her slide from the leading spot gradually, until eventually she became the coveted object of the greedy. Hence, she started evacuating the lands she had conquered and the lands which had been previously under her authority. The disbelieving countries started usurping from her the land of Islam piece by piece, and this marked the start of the ebb and the end of the tide for the Muslims. Since then, the European countries started to focus upon the removal of the Islamic State from the international scene, and upon the complete removal of Islam from life’s affairs and from the relationships between people. In other words, they started thinking about a new campaign of crusades. However unlike the first crusades, the new crusades were to be more than just a military invasion to defeat the Muslims and vanquish the Islamic State. The new crusades were more horrific and had more profound consequences. They were designed to uproot the Islamic State so that no trace of it would be left, and so that not one single root would be able to grow again. They were designed also to uproot Islam from the souls of the Muslims so that nothing could remain except a host of clerical rites and spiritual rituals.