But he was a thug

"For the ten years that Muhammad lived in Medina (AD 622—632), he either went out on or sent out seventy-four raids and wars, ranging from small assassination hit squads to large full-scale battles. After his death of a fever in 632, his leading Companions followed his example, waging wars on Arab pagans, forcing them either to convert or die. After that, Islamic armies stormed out of the Arabian Peninsula and conquered territories, north, east, and west. For the next four centuries Islam embarked on its own Crusades, long before the Europeans responded with their own. "

(The author may be reached at jamesmarlandson@hotmail.com)

(If anyone besides me has read the Butlerian Jihad material written about in the Dune series, this piece of history is where it came from. I was lucky enough to have dinner with Frank Herbert, one night after he spoke at Carnegie-Mellon, during which he explicated his fascination with the Islamic mythos.)