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Per Fox News

Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the jizya (poor-due), then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. - Qu’ran, 9:5 If the above might look familiar, it’s known as Ayat al-Sayf, or the Verse of the Sword. And unfortunately, it’s quite a significant passage in governing the relationship between Muslims and the rest of the world.

When confronted with acts of stunning atrocity, such as the attacks of September 11th, the Madrid train bombings, the two attacks in Bali, or the synchronized bombings in the London underground, many navel-gazing Westerners are prompted to ask, "Why do they hate us?" Although there's something off-putting about the implicit blame-the-victim mentality in a question like that, it nonetheless is a legitimate question to ask. Some people ask that question rhetorically: to them, the answer to "Why do they hate us?" always leads one place: it's our fault. To these people, any horrific act anywhere in the world is a...