Posted: 09/22/09

OBAMA-STUDENT OF HISTORY? (PART 5) – Treaty of Tripoli

William J. Federer

In his speech in Cairo, Egypt, June 4, 2009, President Barack Obama stated:

 "As a student of history, I also know...in signing the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796, our second President, John Adams, wrote, 'The United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquillity of Muslims.'"

 Actually, John Adams did not write that phrase.

 It was written by an obscure treaty negotiator, Joel Barlow, who had replaced negotiator Tobias Lear, former secretary of George Washington.

 In 1784, Muslim Barbary pirates captured the U.S. schooner Maria. The crew and passengers were paraded through the streets of Algiers, jeered as "infidels" and thrown in prison.

 In 1793, Muslim Barbary pirates captured the U.S. cargo ship Polly. The ship was plundered and the crew was imprisoned. The Muslim captain justified their brutal treatment: "for your history and superstition in believing in a man who was crucified by the Jews and disregarding the true doctrine of God's last and greatest prophet, Mohammed."

 Negotiator Joel Barlow faced a dilemma. Muslims had been at war with the "Christian Nations" of Europe for over 1000 years, because the Qur'an commanded:

 "Believers, take neither the Jews nor the Christians for your friends." (Sura 5:51)

 "Infidels are those who declare: 'God is the Christ, the son of Mary.'" (Sura 5:17)

 "Infidels are those that say 'God is one of three in a Trinity.'" (Sura 5:73)

 "The infidels are your sworn enemies." (Sura 4:101) 

 "Mohammed is Allah's apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the infidels." (Sura 48:29) 

 "Prophet, make war on the infidels." (Sura 66:9) 

 "Make war on the infidels who dwell around you." (Sura 9:123)

 "When you meet the infidel in the battlefield, strike off their heads." (Sura 47:4)

 "Kill the disbelievers wherever we find them." (Sura 2:191)

 "The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger...will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land." (Sura 5:33)

 "Fight those who believe not in Allah...(even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued." (Sura 9:29)

 "When ye meet the Unbelievers...when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind a bond firmly (on them): thereafter (is the time for) either generosity or ransom." (Sura 47:4)

 "Believers, do not make friends with those who have incurred the wrath of Allah." (Sura 60:13)

 "Never be a helper to the disbelievers." (Sura 28:86)

 Treaty of Tripoli negotiator, Joel Barlow, tried to explain to Morocco's Muslim leader that he was not making a treaty with a religion, but with a nation-state. This was a novel concept to the 18th century Muslim mind.

 The difficulty was, fundamental Muslims considered Islam not just a religion, but also as a political and military system.

 Though President Obama misspoke when he claimed "John Adams wrote" that line in the Treaty of Tripoli, nevertheless, John Adams' son, President John Quincy Adams, explained the challenge of negotiating with Morocco's Muslim Pirates.

 In his "Essays Dealing with the Russo-Turkish War and on Greece" (NY: The American Annual Register for 1827-28-29, 1830), John Quincy Adams wrote:

 "The victorious may be appeased by a false and delusive promise of peace...

 "The faithful follower of the Prophet may submit to the imperious necessities of defeat, but the command to propagate the Muslim creed by the sword is always obligatory when it can be made effective...

 "The commands of the Prophet may be performed alike, by fraud or by force."

 John Quincy Adams continued:

 "Of Mahometan good faith, we have had memorable examples ourselves.

 "When our gallant Commodore Stephen Decatur had chastised the pirate of Algiers, till he was ready to renounce his claim of tribute from the United States, he signed a treaty to that effect:

 "but the treaty was drawn up in the Arabic language, as well as in our own; and our negotiators, unacquainted with the language of the Qur'an, signed the copies of the treaty in both languages, not imagining that there was any difference between them.

 "Within a year the Dey (Moroccan leader "Omar Bashaw") demands, under penalty of the renewal of the war, an indemnity in money for the frigate taken by Stephen Decatur;

 "Our Consul demands the foundation of this pretension; and the Arabic copy of the treaty, signed by himself is produced, with an article stipulating the indemnity, foisted into it, in direct opposition to the treaty as it had been concluded."

 Imagine that, Muslims wrote the Treaty in Arabic in direct opposition to the Treaty in English.

 John Quincy Adams further explained:

 "The arrival of Commodore Isaac Chauncey, with a squadron before Algiers, silenced the fraudulent claim of the Dey, and he signed a new treaty in which it was abandoned; but he disdained to conceal his intentions;

 "My power, said he, has been wrested from my hands; draw ye the treaty at your pleasure, and I will sign it; but beware of the moment, when I shall recover my power, for with that moment, your treaty shall be waste paper."

 John Quincy Adams concluded:

 "Such is the spirit which governs the hearts of men to whom treachery and violence are taught as principles of religion."

Of the negotiations, Frederick C. Leiner wrote in his book, "The End of the Barbary Terror-America's 1815 War Against the Pirates of North Africa" (Oxford University Press)

 "Commodore Stephen Decatur and diplomat William Shaler withdrew to consult in private...

 "The Algerians were believed to be masters of duplicity, willing to make agreements and break them as they found convenient...

 "Commodore Stephen Decatur and Captain William Bainbridge both recognized that the peace could only be kept by force or the threat of force."

A century later, Winston Churchill wrote (Stanely Kurtz, "Tribes of Terror," Claremont Review of Books, Winter 2007/2008, p. 39, reviewing Akbar S. Ahmed's Resistance and Control in Pakistan, Routledge, 2004).:

        "[Islam's] system of ethics...regards treachery and violence as virtues rather than vices."

 As a student of history, President Obama's speech in Cairo has reminded the world of the Treaty of Tripoli," albeit with a little "obamaguity."

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William J. Federer is the author of the best-selling book, What Every American Needs to Know About the Qur'an-A History of Islam & the United States.

By William J. Federer Email: wjfederer@aol.com Click here for bio and archived articles