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Actually, Islam received one TREMENDOUS slap-down, back in about the 13th Century. The Mongol conquest of Khwarezmia from 1219 to 1221 established the foothold in the Islamic world.

Genghis Khan’s Mongol Empire gained a border with the Khwarezmid Empire, governed by Shah Ala ad-Din Muhammad. The shah had only recently taken some of the territory under his control, and he was also busy with a dispute with the caliph in Baghdad. The shah had refused to make the obligatory homage to the caliph as titular leader of Islam, and demanded recognition as sultan of his empire, without any of the usual bribes or pretenses. This alone had created problems for him along his southern border. It was at this junction the rapidly expanding Mongol Empire made contact.

The Khan had no interest in alliance with any ruler who claimed ultimate authority, titular or not, and which marked the Caliphate for an extinction which would come from Genghis’ grandson, Hulegu.

One of the first engagements was the siege of Bukhara. The Bukharan garrison was made up of Turkish soldiers and led by Turkish generals, who attempted to break out on the third day of the siege. The break-out force, of perhaps 20,000 men, was annihilated in open battle. The city leaders opened the gates to the Mongols, though a unit of Turkish defenders held the city’s citadel for another twelve days. Survivors from the citadel were executed, artisans and craftsmen were sent back to Mongolia, young men who had not fought were drafted into the Mongolian army and the rest of the population was sent into slavery. As the Mongol soldiers looted the city, a fire broke out, razing most of the city to the ground. Genghis Khan had the people assemble in the main mosque of the town, where he declared that he was the flail of God, sent to punish them for their sins before ordering their execution.

Dang, that Genghis Khan really knew how to get the Muslims to comply.