surah 9:29
"Fight those who believe not in God and the Last Day, and do not forbid what God and his Messenger have forbidden -- such men as practise not the religion of truth, being of those who have been given the Book -- until they pay the tribute out of hand and have been humbled"
specifically about idolaters, not Christians or Jews. And don't extrapolate this to mean i have anything against people other than jews, christians, or muslims.
And why not quote 4:123
"And who is there that has a fairer religion than he who submits his will to God being a do-gooder, and who follows the creed of Abraham, a man of pure faith? And God took Abraham for a friend."
Or,
"Surely those who believe and do deeds of righteousness -- unto them the All-merciful shall assign love"
"believers" being People of the Book -- christians, Jews, and Muslims.
we could sit here all day quoting and counter-quoting, but that won't get us anywhere.
and the point that i was trying to make is that, while at times non-muslims have been persecuted in islamic lands, there were other times when they were not, when islamic lands were a haven for those persecuted elsewhere. if we are going to look back at history and use it to justify our arguments, we have to look at history as a whole, not just the bits that support our arguments, ignoring those that weaken our stand.
and before you say it, yes, i know it goes both ways.
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