Reflecting on the words of Gibbon, Muqtedar Khan, an assistant professor at the University of Delaware, writes, after a recent visit to Oxford:

In that magnum opus, Gibbon wrote that if the Franks had not won the battle of Portiers in 733, ‘perhaps the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford and her pulpits might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Mahomet.’ Remembering what he wrote, I wondered what his response would be, if he were to now take a tour of Oxford. Islam is present and thriving in Oxford University and in Oxford city.

… Oxford is a small college town, but it has nearly 7000 Muslims, the majority of whom are of South Asian origin. It has five Muslims in the city council, dozens of Muslim scholars in the various colleges of Oxford, four mosques and more halal restaurants on any of its main streets than the entire state of Delaware in the US, which also has roughly the same number of Muslims.

…Oxford is clearly one of the most enlightened cities in the world, with its 30+ very old and very distinguished colleges, and boasting of some of the finest minds in nearly every field as part of its citizenry. Add to this the spectacular domes and tall minarets of the two big mosques in Oxford and the picture of a virtuous city is complete. Gibbon would have been surprised to learn the lesson that military defeats do not stop the advance of civilizations and the globalization of Islam is unimpeded by the material and military weaknesses of the Muslim world

(my italics).

Thus the triumphalism of someone who understands better than the dhimmi dummies of Oxford university the magnitude of the cultural pass they have so recklessly sold.