Note: A video version of this article appears below.

The Stream

Amid the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, a prominent Egyptian sheikh is now calling on Donald Trump to follow “guidance.”

In a video message, Sheikh Mustafa al-‘Adawi issued the following summons:

A message to Trump, the great [one] of America: Peace to whoever follows guidance. Submit and all will go well for you. Submit and God will reward you twice. If you wield authority, you will be held accountable. Know, Mr. President, that you will die and be resurrected alone. You will be held accountable and punished — so do righteous deeds… God granted you kingship, and He alone can withdraw it. Do not be deceived by being a king or president — those before you have died. Where is Johnson? Where is Nixon? Where is Kennedy? They all passed away and were buried. Do not be deluded by military funerals or flowers on graves. Know that your deeds will be exposed one day. You are on the path of arrogance. And the Lord of Glory said: ‘He created you from weakness, then made after weakness strength, then after strength, weakness and white hair.’ So submit and all will go well for you — God will reward you twice.

On the surface, these words may seem like philosophical reflections worthy of a Marcus Aurelius — urging an aging Trump to repent, cease wrongdoing in the Middle East, and follow spiritual guidance before meeting his Maker.

But make no mistake: beneath the veneer of piety lies a thinly veiled jihadist threat — specifically, the age-old ultimatum to embrace Islam or face consequences.

Direct Threat

I know this because the sheikh’s exact phrasing — particularly “Peace to whoever follows guidance” and “submit and all will go well for you” — has a long, documented history in the annals of Islamic expansionism. I first analyzed this formulaic language over two decades ago, when Osama bin Laden repeatedly employed it in his communiqués to the West (see The Al Qaeda Reader, 2007).

Just like Sheikh al-‘Adawi today, bin Laden began and ended his threats with the same phrase: “Peace to whoever follows guidance.” To the average Western reader, this may have seemed like a benign or even conciliatory gesture — an invitation to mutual understanding. But embedded within such messages were accusations, grievances, and promises of violent retribution; or, in the literal words of bin Laden: “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” and “Just as you bomb, so shall you be bombed.”

The pattern was clear: Follow our guidance or face war.

In reality, this phraseology traces directly back to the prophet of Islam himself. In 628 AD, after uniting most of Arabia through conquest, Muhammad sent a letter to the Byzantine emperor Heraclius:

“In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. From Muhammad, the Messenger of God, to Heraclius, the Roman emperor. Peace to whoever follows guidance. Submit and all will go well for you.”

The Arabic phrase “aslam taslam” is a linguistic pun, which can most literally be translated as “submit, have peace” or “submit, be safe.”

Heraclius refused. What followed was jihad — as enshrined in Koran 9:29 — and the Islamic conquest of nearly two-thirds of the then-Christian world: Egypt, North Africa, Syria, and Spain.

Second Verse, Same as the First

This is the context behind the seemingly innocuous phrase now being lobbed at Trump. For Muslims steeped in their own history, this is not metaphorical. Trump is being cast as the modern Heraclius, the current “Roman Emperor,” and the West once again finds itself in the crosshairs.

Here’s what many in the West fail to understand:

• Islam and peace are not synonyms. While both “Islam” and the Arabic word for peace, salam, derive from the same root — s-l-m — only salam means “peace.” Islam (aslam) means “submission.” In Islamic doctrine, peace comes only after.
• The message is never simply ‘live and let live.’ It’s a structured process: First issue the call to Islam. If rejected, war is not just justified but mandated. This formula — call, reject, fight — is rooted in the behavior of Muhammad himself, and thus eternally valid for his followers.
• The phrase has powerful religious and rhetorical weight. When modern Muslim leaders invoke “Peace to whoever follows guidance,” they are consciously echoing Muhammad. To Muslim ears, it signals not moderation, but alignment with sacred precedent.

In the West, this phrase continues to deceive. Many interpret it as a poetic call for coexistence. But within the Islamic world, its meaning is understood — and its implications are deadly. The fact that some translators are today rendering “aslam taslam” as “convert to Islam or else” is a sign of growing awareness, even if their critics accuse them of not literally translating the phrase.

The takeaway? When Muslim preachers tell you “submit and all will go well for you,” they mean it. Just ask Heraclius. Or Trump.

And the next time someone parrots the claim that “Islam means peace” — as President George W. Bush infamously did after 9/11 — remember the truth: Islam means submission. Peace comes only afterward — if at all.

 Video version:

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