Islam Awareness Week is a project of the Muslim Student Association, a frequent source of disruption and anti-Semitism on college campuses.  The organization also helps shill for Palestinian terrorists through Palestine Awareness Week (PAW).  This article will respond by designating September as militant "Islam" (or Islamism) Awareness Month, a reminder of this depraved ideology's 1,400-year assault on civilized humanity.

September 2, 1898: Battle of Omdurman

On January 25, 1885, Muhammad Ahmad, the self-proclaimed mahdi, or messiah, overran Khartoum in Sudan and massacred the garrison and inhabitants, including General Charles Gordon. The Mahdi died of natural causes shortly afterward, but his followers continued to wage violent jihad throughout the region.  They were met on September 2, 1898, by an Anglo-Egyptian army under the command of Herbert Kitchener.  The collision between Islamist fanaticism and European military science, including the new machine guns – "Whatever happens, we have got / the Maxim gun, and they have not" – was essentially a one-sided massacre of the former.  The only significant Anglo-Egyptian losses were suffered by the Twenty-First Lancers, who paid roughly a quarter of their strength dead and wounded for three Victoria Crosses.  Winston Churchill rode with the Twenty-First during the attack, and he used a Mauser "broomhandle" pistol because a shoulder injury made it difficult for him to wield a saber.

September 5, 1972: The Munich Massacre

The Munich Massacre began on September 5, 1972, when Palestinian terrorists took Israeli Olympic athletes hostage and subsequently tortured and massacred them.  They also murdered a German police officer.  Hillary Clinton later kissed the wife of terrorist leader Yasser Arafat, who is believed to have been complicit in the Munich Massacre.

September 11, 2001

Americans are most familiar with September 11, the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.  Nineteen deranged terrorists hijacked four airplanes full of innocent people, brayed "Allah akbar," and crashed three of the planes into buildings filled with more innocent people including law-abiding Muslim citizens and guests of the United States.  The passengers on the fourth aircraft attacked the terrorists, who decided to crash the plane into a field rather than risk letting the passengers regain control.  Here is a video of militant "Islam's" contribution to world history on September 11, 2001, which by itself makes September the ideal month for Islamist awareness.

Colonel Ardant du Picq explained more than a century ago why the passengers did not fight back sooner even though the able-bodied ones outnumbered the hijackers.  "Four brave men who do not know each other will not dare attack a lion.  Four less brave, but knowing each other well, sure of their reliability and consequently of mutual aid, will attack resolutely."  The passengers did not know whom among their neighbors they could rely on for support, so none dared to make the first move.

September 11, 1697: Battle of Zenta

The cause of militant "Islam," however, suffered a far greater catastrophe at Zenta on September 11, 1697, where the jihadists met armed enemy soldiers rather than unarmed civilian airplane passengers.  A numerically inferior Austrian army under the command of Prinz Eugen of Savoy slaughtered roughly 30,000 Ottoman soldiers, at a cost of fewer than 500 fatalities, and captured 87 artillery pieces.  This showed yet again that Western military science and discipline beats militant "Islamic" fanaticism any day of the week.  Prinz Eugen also distinguished himself in the Battle of Vienna on September 12, 1683.

September 12, 1683: Battle of Vienna

The high water mark of Islamism's assault on civilization came in the summer of 1683, when an enormous Turkish army laid siege to Vienna. A Polish army under the command of King Jan Sobieski III, however, attacked the Turkish besiegers and dispersed them with catastrophic losses.  The Turks' allies, the Crimean Horde, did not apparently believe their holy men's promise of one-on-one meetings with Allah and harems of 72 virgins, because they ran away the instant their khan saw Poland's dreaded Winged Hussars.  This leads to several Polish jokes that Poles are likely to enjoy:

• How do you know the Polish Army has been in your camp?  Your Janissaries are dead, and your artillery, flags, and coffee are missing.  (Captured Turkish coffee was served in Vienna's first coffee shop, and crescent pastries were modeled on the captured Turkish battle standards.)
• Although Poles are reputedly the best horsemen in Europe, why can the slowest Turkish Spahi outride the fastest Polish Winged Hussar?  The ones that couldn't are dead.
• What two things do you need to ensure that you don't lose a battle to Polish cavalry?  Fast horses and a head start, as applied by the Crimean Horde.
• How do you get a Janissary to set a new speed record?  Walk up behind him and say something in Polish.  "Bij! Zabij!" ("Strike!  Kill!") works well.
• The Turkish court jester asked the sultan, "Did you hear the one about the Polish cavalry?"  "Yes," the Sultan answered while he drew his scimitar and cut the jester's head off.
• The next Turkish jester began, "How many Poles does it take–," whereupon the Sultan cut off his head as well.  "They had as many as they needed!"

The Turks did, however, succeed in massacring their Christian prisoners before they were dispersed.  This underscores the fact that the militant "Muslim," ISIS/Daesh being the latest example, is at his best against helpless and unarmed civilians rather than infidel combatants.  Poland's role in saving Central Europe from militant "Islamic" domination is meanwhile a strong argument for making September 12 Jan Sobieski Day, to go along with Kościuszko Day, which commemorates Tadeusz Kościuszko's role in our War of Independence.

September 12, 1897: Battle of Saragarhi

A less prominent but more amazing battle against militant "Islam" took place on the anniversary of the Battle of Vienna.  Although the twenty-one soldiers of the 36th Sikhs could not have been blamed for abandoning Saragarhi in the face of an attack by roughly 500 times their number – that's roughly ten thousand Islamists versus 21 Sikhs – their absolute devotion to their duty made them choose to fight to the death instead.  All 21 were eventually killed, and all received the Order of Merit (equivalent to the Victoria Cross and Param Vir Chakra) posthumously, which is probably the highest number of such decorations awarded for any battle in history.  Rorke's Drift, in contrast, resulted in "only" eleven Victoria Crosses.  It would be fair to call Saragarhi the Thermopylae of what is now Pakistan.

The Islamists, meanwhile, admitted to losing 180 killed, and the British claimed that the figure was closer to 450.  The fact that the Sikhs killed no fewer than nine enemies for every man they lost despite being outnumbered 500 to 1 underscores the complete superiority of the Sikh soldier over the Islamist fanatic, as well as that of the Sikh sense of duty over Islamist fanaticism.

Let us therefore designate September as Islamist Awareness Month to recognize what the ideology of militant "Islam" has given the world ever since its creation: an unbroken legacy of Dark-Age savagery, mindless violence, and crushing defeats when confronted by infidels who were willing to resist it.

William A. Levinson, P.E., is the author of several books on business management including content on organizational psychology as well as manufacturing productivity and quality.