Perhaps it would be more helpful and conducive to these conversations if you told everyone what your sources are for your understanding of the history of Islam. What books have you read? Or what internet articles have you read? Did you read Wikipedia? Or did you read articles from Christian websites, which would clearly have an agenda?
I know that many scholars do believe Muhammad was a warmongerer and possibly a madman, personally I don't know enough myself to make a full judgment of Muhammad, though I can see where those opinions come from based on things I have read online about Muhammad and Islam.
That being said, I believe that all religions have been spread by one form of violence or another, as you already know, so what I would judge a religion by is their message and tenets, as well as their followers. You may say you are doing that, but it seems as though you are focusing only on the extremist outliers. While the extremists are the loudest, they are vastly outnumbered by the peaceful members of the religion who do believe it is a religion of peace and oneness with God.
Helpful how? So, we can all argue over the validity of the sites I used, or the books I read...no thank you. Google for yourself and see that there are websites out there saying what I am saying and then you can decide if you want to believe them or not, considering the situations happening in the world right now....
Who is extreme in islam? Is it extreme or is it pure islam? That is the question I think people really need to ask themselves. Do some research, and not just at approved islam sites, because they may not tell the truth. Because whatever muslims want to say...there is such a thing as taquiya, lying to non muslims in order to continue with islamic goals...which is world domination, really.
I personally, don't want to live in a world that is dominated by muslims or sharia law...don't want to have my freedoms taken from me and live in a tent prison for the rest of my life or see my children live that kind of life. But that is the end game of muslims. Not only do they try to convince people of islam's validity, they have massive amounts of children to drive their numbers up to overwhelm everyone else. You don't have to see it that way, but I do.
Catholicism tried to spread by the sword too....but they don't do that anymore, guess they didn't like the bad press? Anyway, true Christians don't spread that way. We just tell people the Good News and take the ensuing backlash as it comes our way. Knowing that we can only warn people and tell them the truth, we can't make anyone believe or force them, but we sure hope people will believe for their own salvation...I don't want to see anyone thrown in the lake of fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth for eternity....that's rough!
Well, people can deceive others especially if there is a greater plan in place...don't ya think?
