Originally posted by Russlan1187
NewGuy, your answer dissaponts me. I was expecting better from you. You want me to believe that the only reason Jews and Christians lived in peace in the Middle East is because Muslims didn't follow their text. I think any objective person would agree with me that it's mmuch more likely that the Koran doesn't permit against anyone who doesn't wish to harm Islam.
Here are some verses from the Koran that refute your claim.
[004:089] They but wish that ye should reject Faith, as they do, and thus be on the same footing (as they): But take not friends from their ranks until they flee in the way of God (From what is forbidden). But if they turn renegades, seize them and slay them wherever ye find them; and (in any case) take no friends or helpers from their ranks;-
[004:090] Except those who join a group between whom and you there is a treaty (of peace), or those who approach you with hearts restraining them from fighting you as well as fighting their own people. If God had pleased, He could have given them power over you, and they would have fought you: Therefore if they withdraw from you but fight you not, and (instead) send you (Guarantees of) peace, then God Hath opened no way for you (to war against them).
Let me help you:
004:089-091: [4.89] They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah's way; but if they turn back [to their homes], then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper. [4.90] Except those who reach a people between whom and you there is an alliance, or who come to you, their hearts shrinking from fighting you or fighting their own people; and if Allah had pleased, He would have given them power over you, so that they should have certainly fought you; therefore if they withdraw from you and do not fight you and offer you peace, then Allah has not given you a way against them [Allah supposedly does not allow Muslims to fight people friendly to Muslims]. [4.91] You will find others who desire that they should be safe from you and secure from their own people; as often as they are sent back to the mischief they get thrown into it headlong; therefore if they do not withdraw from you, and (do not) offer you peace and restrain their hands, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them; and against these We have given you a clear authority.
And about your claim that Islam used violence to spread.....
[002:256] Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in God hath grasped the most trustworthy hand- hold, that never breaks. And God heareth and knoweth all things.
Militant Muslims point to numerous texts where Muhammad (as AllahÂ’s spokesman) commands his followers to fight and subdue all who resist islam.
What leads new young male converts to volunteer to die for the privilege of killing others "for the cause of allah"?
It is the fact that Islam offers no certain hope of heaven to any of its adherents, with one exception.
"As for those who are slain in the cause of God, He will not allow their works to perish. ... He will admit them to the Paradise He has made known to them." (47:4-6)
"Let those who would exchange the life of this world for the hereafter, fight for the cause of God; whether he dies or triumphs, We shall richly reward him. ... The true believers fight for the cause of God, but the infidels fight for the devil. Fight then against the friends of Satan ..." (4:74,76)
"The believers who stay at home––apart from those that suffer a grave impediment––are not the equals of those who fight for the cause of God with their goods and their persons. God has given those that fight with their goods and their persons a higher rank than those who stay at home ..." (4:95,96)
"Slay the idolaters wherever you find them. ... lie in ambush everywhere for them. If they repent and take to prayer and render the alms levy, allow them to go their way ..." (9:5)
"Those that make war against God and His apostle and spread disorder in the land shall be put to death or crucified or have their hands and feet cut off on alternate sides, or be banished from the land. They shall be held up to shame in this world and sternly punished in the hereafter: except those that repent before you reduce them ..." (5:34,35)
"Make war on them until idolatry shall cease and GodÂ’s religion shall reign supreme" (8:39)
"Prophet, rouse the faithful to arms. If there are twenty steadfast men among you, they shall vanquish two hundred; and if there are a hundred, they shall rout a thousand unbelievers, for they are devoid of understanding." (8:65)
"Fight against such of those to whom the Scriptures were given ... and do not embrace the true Faith, until they pay tribute out of hand and are utterly subdued." (9:29)
The koran contains quite a few similar verses.
While most muslims decry Saudi Arabia as corrupt—it IS the "keeper of Islam" -Being the religious center toward which more than 1 billion muslims face five times a day as they repeat prayers in arabic.
In Saudi Arabia, freedom of religion is nonexistent. It is illegal to read a Bible or speak a non-muslim prayer in the privacy of your home. Under islamic law, conversion to Christianity by a Saudi citizen is punishable by beheading.
SaudiÂ’s leaders DO NOT support the idea that islam "instructs people on how they may live together in peace and harmony regardless of race, class or beliefs."
Well over a thousand cases have been documented in which Christian foreign workers have been arrested, imprisoned and/or beaten for participating in private worship meetings. Add to that the fact that numerous incidents go unreported, especially among Egyptians, Indians, Koreans, Filipinos and other Third World workers who fear further reprisals against them and their families.
How can it promote true peace when it denies the very means God has provided to establish a lasting peace between God and man, and between man and man?
Jesus"made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight... For [Christ Jesus] Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of division between us ..." (Colossians 1:20-22; Ephesians 2:14)
The reason you are disappointed in me, is because I post fact.