Robert M. Levy examines the 1,300-year war between Islam and Christianity

In 1492, why did Columbus “sail the ocean blue”? To celebrate Spain’s final victory over its Muslim invaders, of course.

Muslims had conquered Spain and much of France over the previous 7 centuries. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were so pleased with Spain’s victory at the Battle of Grenada that year, they gave an obnoxious Italian sailor three ships to sail where he told them “no man had gone before.”

Today’s Spanish Socialist Prime Minister and today’s European leftist leaders together with American Democrats should have learned about how The Muslim Conquest of Europe fostered what was known as the “Dark Ages.” Perhaps they do not understand that one key to the rise of The Renaissance and the subsequent Enlightenment was forged when Islam was expelled from Europe. Only because the Christians defeated the Muslims in 1492 did Columbus begin The Age of Exploration.

Yeah, we were right to erect statues to that guy. But we should have put Ferdinand and Isabella beside him.

The civilizational tragedy of the 700 year Muslim Conquest of Europe was never clearly understood by today’s leftist leaders in either Europe or the United States. Over the past few years, a new phase of that Muslim-Christian conflict has begun, and they don’t understand that either.

Just a few days ago, it hit Europe in its face. Thousands of Muslims invaded the border between Spain and Morocco. Spanish authorities were overwhelmed. So, predictably, Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister called an emergency news conference. Yeah, his response was in Spanish. But let me paraphrase what was said in a facetious, and therefore a more meaningful Casablanca dialect:

“I am shocked, shocked I tell you that there is illegal immigration going on here!”

A reporter who had seen the movie was infuriated. The reporter asked the Minister, “Did you not know that if you gave amnesty to Islamic illegal immigrants from Morocco as you recently did, many more would invade Spain and eventually overwhelm it?”

The Prime Minister responded, “Well, it was just like when Rick came to the desert of Morocco looking for water. I was misinformed.”

Maybe he was just misinformed. Maybe all open-border leftists are likewise “misinformed.” I doubt it. Yet certainly their supporters are. They have no understanding of world history. That history shows that this week’s Muslim invasion of Spain is just the next chapter of a saga which began around 711 A.D.

It started after Mohammed’s initial conquests and after his death in 632. Approximately 711 A.D., Islamic hordes invaded what remained of a Christian Western Europe. They came from North Africa, crossing the Straits of Gibraltar and conquering much of Spain and France. They seized control as far east as Sicily. It was a war that continued for over 7 centuries. Today, the crossing points are different, but the reality of invasion is the same.

Spain is only part of the problem. Muslims are crossing the Mediterranean from Tunisia to Italy and from Algeria to France. Many then cross the English Channel, migrating to the United Kingdom and Ireland. While leftist historians are complaining about the sins of Western “colonizers,” today’s colonization is actually an Islamic colonization of the West. In fact, in Western terms, it is Mohamed’s Second Crusade.

Unfortunately, “The West,” both Europe and America, are a comparatively “New World.” We think in terms of decades. Trends are examined in small phases like, “since World War II…,” or “since the French Revolution….” These are worthy inquiries, but they blind us to larger trends. To understand migration today, we must understand what we might call “The War of the Millenia.” It is a war between Islam and Christianity which began with the rise of Mohammed and is now in its second or possibly even third phase.

The Middle East conflict is not just about Israel and Iran or Israel and the Palestinians. It is about the Muslim conquest of Europe. It is about the Christian Crusades, a rear-guard action between 1096 and 1221 which overlapped the Muslim Conquest. It is about the Islamic Ottoman Empire which massacred the Christians of Armenia while on a foolish frolic to conquer Christianity by way of Russia.

They didn’t plan on T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) and Great Britain sidetracking that Ottoman Islamic dream,

It is also about now, the early 21st century. It is about the “new Islamic barbarians” who are invading the Western World. It has very little to do with “The Jews.”

The war between Islam and Christianity has been fought for over 1300 years. The left, a group of mostly godless Socialists and Communists, don’t understand that. This ignorance, sometimes willful ignorance, is the reason why the left will be so surprised if Mohammed wins.

In that case, the rights of women will be seen through the eye slits of a Burka. The left will not understand when gay rights and trans rights are found on the roofs of the tall buildings from which LGBTQ people are thrown.

Beware. When we don’t learn from history, we are not necessarily doomed to repeat it. The outcome may not be the same. It may be much worse. Unless the West is ready to unite and fight this 1300 Years’ War with both bombs and deportations, in a few years, not just New York and London, but Raleigh, North Carolina, and Keokuk, Iowa might look a lot more like the strict world outlined by Mohammed and a lot less like the free world which most of the West enjoys today.

August 1, 2026

By Robert M. Levy. Republished with permission.

Subscriptions are free at RLevy.substack.com

Robert M. Levy grew up in Moore County and graduated from Pinecrest High School. He earned a BA in history and sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where his honors thesis on the Wilmington Rebellion of 1898 became part of the university’s library collection.

Admitted to the California State Bar in 1978, Levy practiced law for 40 years in California and Maryland, focusing on family and criminal law, including work with juvenile offenders and abused children. His writing on affirmative action appeared in the San Fernando Valley Law Review, and he authored Divorce: A Cynical Experience. He later earned a North Carolina teaching certificate from UNC Charlotte and taught high school social studies across Moore County.

Levy has served as chairman of the Moore County School Board, president of the North Carolina Electoral College, chairman of the Moore County Republican Party, and a columnist for The Pilot in Southern Pines. He lives in Pinehurst with his wife, Linda, and they have three children and four grandchildren.

Subscribe to Sandhills News and support this conservative journalism with advertising.

Submit news tips, events and interview requests to editor@sandhills.news.

Sandhills News is plain-English local government reporting that explains how decisions affect your land, taxes, schools and rights.