Islam is peaceful

To begin with, in Islam the life of a non-Muslim is not as sacred as the life of a Muslim. The quote you are does apply to Muslims only. There are other quotes and imperatives used by terrorists in order to invoke their terrorist actions. Saifullah Sheikh Osama bin Laden, best known for the September 11 attacks, used these particular quotes as justification for his deed. Qur'an 9:73: "O prophet! Strive hard against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be harsh against them. Their abode is hell, and an evil destination it is." Qur'an 5:51: "O you who believe! Take not the Jews and Christians for your friends and protectors: they are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily Allah guides not a people unjust." Qur'an 8:39: "And fight them until there"s no fitnah (polytheism) and religion is wholly for Allah." Secondly,I object to your demur at the suggestion of raising Muhammed mischief"s up for this debate. I have already stated the central role that Muhammed has in Islam, so you can't just brush aside him as if he is not relevant to this debate. Because of the horrific acts he is culpable for, I might understand why you would want to alienate yourself from him, but for the purpose of this debate, without no justification from your part as to why Muhammed should not be part of this debate, I see no reason why I shouldn't continue bringing up his misconduct since he, in fact, plays a pivotal role in Islam and, frankly, because there is so much fun in bringing to light what an awful person Muhammed really was. The numerous caravan raids perpetrated by Mohammed of Meccans that passed by Medina, has been used by terrorists for the justification for the attacks of civilians well as military targets. Muhammad (the Uswa Hasana) organised about 64 such raids ranging from 622 CE to 630 CE, of which he personally led 27. Before he engaged in those attacks, Muhammed and his associates arrived and found refuge in Medina in 622. They found shelter because of the hospitality of the three Jewish tribes that lived alongside the Arabs. Muhammed signed a peace treaty with Banu Quarayza and Banu Nadir along with the other Jewish tribes. However the three leaders of the Jewish tribe were accused by him of breaking the treaty. Banu Qaynuqa and the Banu Nadir would be evicted, lose their land and their wealth to the Muslims. Although he claimed that the three leaders alone broke the peace treaty, Muhammed commanded his soldiers to behead all the Jewish men and boys. Those who had not reached adolescence were, however, spared. The non-combatants were slaughtered and the women and children were taken captive by the Muslims and later sold in slave market. As a matter of fact, terrorists to this very day use this hadith as a justification for terrorism against American civilians, among them the notable Omar Bakri who head the islamist organisation Al-Muhajiroun and who has openly supported the London bombings and other terrorists actions. As narrated by Atiyyah al-Qurazi, survivor and a pretty lucky prepubescent boy at the time: "I was among the captives of Banu Qurayzah. They (the Companions) examined us, and those who had begun to grow hair (pubes) were killed, and those who had not were not killed. I was among those who had not grown hair..." (http://en.wikipedia.org...) There are numerous examples of anti-Semitism within Islamic scriptures. In fact Hamas has justified the killing of Jewish Civilians using the hadith that I am about to show you, which also is included in their Charter. Not just Hamas but many other clerics and scholars have referred to this verse as a justification for the killing of Jews. (http://en.wikipedia.org...) (http://docstalk.blogspot.se...) Book 041, Number 6985: "Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews." I am sorry if I created a confusion surrounding the hadith 4:24. First of all, it is not the hadith but the sura 4:24 (which you noticed). The quote is a description by Abu Dawid of that certain event that took place in which Muhammed answered his, companions whom faced a conundrum about what they were going to do with their captive women, with the Sura 4:24. Muhammed, thus, provided the context for the appropriate course of action in that circumstance by referencing to the Quaran. That settles the context. Not only does Allah grant permission for women to be captured and raped, but allows it to even be done in front of their husbands. http://islamqa.info... As for the historical context, I have now provided you with some of it. Help me try to sort out peace and friendship from the callous murder, looting and enslavement and I will happily concede my point to you. Due to time constraints, I'll stop it here.