Maybe someone should inform them their most sacred mosque closely resembles an ancient Orthodox Christian basilica.
Oh wait
During my undergraduate days, whenever anyone began to moan about the great moral evil of British imperialism I always made a point of asking their opinion of the sprawling Ottoman Empire and - in particular - its aggressive expansion into Europe and levy of the
cizye, or tax on non-Muslims.
Mind You, given the near-universal ignorance of history which is a hallmark of the Australian university student (and this includes most "history majors"), such questions were a complete waste of time so I invariably had to follow up with explanations of what I was talking about.
Unbelievable as it seems, the following event actually happened. I was at a party (well, piss-up) and had raised the Ottomans in a response to a cliched tirade against "European imperialism" by the usual worthless White hipster types. Answered with the customary ums and ahs and blank stares, I proceeded to expound upon the initial Muslim incursions into Anatolia, naturally making reference to the Battle of Manzikert (1071). When I stated that the Seljuq commander's name was Alp Arslan, one fat-faced accountancy student says: "Aw, come on, you're making this up. Arse-lan? Yeah, right. As if that's a real name! It's just one of this guy's jokes!"
I physically started back at his words, as this bean-counting bottom-feeder was actually serious. My face must have been a study in disgusted incredulity. Now, I'd heard plenty of half-witted comments on and around campus, but this one was definitely a medal contender.
After shaking my head and providing the necessary anthroponymical clarification (which was completely lost on this irredeemable dunce) I asked him if he thought Saladin was thus named because his father was exceedingly fond of lettuce and spring onions. While his keen brain was overloading, I called him "a ****ing stupid fat sack of pig ****", got up and left. Funnily enough, I was never invited to that house again...
