by Citizen Warrior
“I have been a Muslim all my life. Westerners in general love to take the verses of the Quran out of their historical context and just blindly accuse Islam and the Quran of violence.
For your information, many of the “violent” verses were revealed to prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) when he was at state of war with the pagans of Makkah.
So read the reason of revelation very carefully. Then you will understand what those verses were intended for.”
Citizen Warrior responds:
I have gotten many comments like yours. In fact, I’ve gotten so many that I wrote a “standard” answer which you can read here:
Message to Peaceful Muslims
My more specific response to what you’re saying is this:
1. According to mainstream Islam since the time of Mohammad, the Quran is the perfect, unalterable, eternal word of Allah.
2. It says in the Quran 91 times a Muslim must follow the example of Mohammad.
3. Mohammad was intolerant and violent toward non-Muslims, repeatedly and consistently, as soon as he had the power to do so. He ordered the assassinations of those who insulted him or Islam.
He ordered and personally oversaw the beheading of his political prisoners.
He raided and plundered and conquered for the last ten years of his life. This is not history as told by his enemies, but history as told in the Sira and the Hadith, written by devout Muslim believers.
4. There are not many peaceful passages in the Quran, but what few exist have all been abrogated by more intolerant and even violent verses revealed to Mohammad later in his prophetic career.
Definition of Abrogation:
To abrogate means to abolish, do away with, or annul, especially by authority.
This is a key term in studying the Quran. There are some peaceful, tolerant verses in the Quran. But the violent, intolerant ones have abrogated them. The Quran itself explains what to do with conflicting verses. If two passages conflict, it says, the one written later is better than the one written earlier. The earlier passage has been abrogated by the later one.
The bad news for non-Muslims [and non-Muslims!] is that almost all the peaceful passages were written earlier, and the intolerant, hateful, and violent ones were written later
http://www.citizenwarrior.com/2008/09/definition-of-abrogation.html
And finally, whether you believe the Quran commands you to be intolerant or violent towards non-Muslims, many Muslims do obviously believe it, and they are using the Quran to justify their violence against non-Muslims all over the world, and they have been doing so for 1400 years.