On this day, August 20th, in 1534, Fleet Admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa captured the city of Tunis for the Islamic Ottoman Caliphate from the Islamic Hafsid Dynasty.  While we are told that Muslims would never attack and kill fellow Muslims, and while the Qur’an is quite clear on the subject, in fact Muslims wage war against Muslims almost constantly, and Muslims are among the biggest victims of Islamic jihad.

The Hafsid Sultan was quickly re-instated in Tunis by the warships of the King of Spain, Charles V.  Rather than fight professional soldiers, Barbarossa decided to instead flee, and continued to bombard, sack, and destroy cities all along the Mediterranean Sea, including the Italian cities of Sicily and Sardinia, the island of Capri off Italy’s coast, Hippo in Algeria, Mahdia in Tunisia, and the Spanish cities of Majorca and Minorca.  And Nice, Cannes, San Remo, Monaco.  And Naples, Genoa, Elba, Tuscany, Sardinia, Salerno, and Reggio Calbria.  Besides bombing civilians and burning cities, he also found time to take tens of thousands of Greeks as slaves to Turkey.  He also converted the Cathedral of St. Mary in Toulon into a mosque.

After a successful career of blowin’ stuff up and running a lucrative extortion and protection racket, he retired in 1545 and died in 1546.  At the conclusion of the second World War, as a reminder of the former glory of the Ottoman Caliphate, Turkey build a memorial to Barbarossa in 1944.

Previous Days in the "Religion of Peace™":

Aug 19: Stoning Sentence in Nigeria
Aug 18: Iranian Jihad Against Kurds
Aug 17: Mass Murder in Lahore
Aug 16: Taliban Bans Bakeries
Aug 9: Pseudo Coup in Mauritania