Large-Scale Islamic Belief is Harmful to Society

The first Hadith you are referencing, "He who makes peace between the people by inventing good information or saying good things, is not a liar." is not an order to make up things in order to achieve some type of fabricated peace. Notice the emphasis on "good information" and "saying good things". The intent here is not deception, but the achievement of peace. The fact of the matter is, people are self interested and do not always behave rationally. If you are an arbiter between two parties, and no amount of them talking and arguing their case will stop bloodshed, it is for the benefit of society that you give them something that they can both agree on for peace. To claim that this peace is more harmful than fighting is patently ridiculous. Even if it were to be a temporary fix, that might be all that is needed in order to form a more lasting peace. The Qur'anic scripture you are referencing does not say anything nearly as controversial as you are making it out to be, and I would argue that translation you are using in this instance is also clunky. The scripture says that you shouldn't prefer those who do not follow the deen as friends to those who do follow the deen. If you do have friends who do not practice sincerity of faith, kindness to one another, and charity, it is wise to be prudent around them, as they can both be a corrupting influence, and might not be reliable. It doesn't say that you shouldn't have friends outside of your religion. You reference the assassination of Ka'b bin Al-Ashraf. This man was inciting revolt during war time and making deals with the enemy combatants. He was considered a citizen of Medina, and his actions were treasonous. The fact that the assassin asked for permission to lie is a testament to the level of honesty that was required of Muslims. The man was killed for treason. The United States does not force its citizens to pay taxes because they aren't Protestant or Catholic. The United States does however collect taxes in order to maintain infrastructure and defense. Jizya is a tax on a Dhimmi. A Dhimmi is a "protected person", that is, someone who is protected by the state. A person who is protected by the state is expected to pay a tax in order to help upkeep the state and protect them. It is a type of military exemption tax. If you serve in the military, you would exempted from the Jizya tax. I would also like to point out that no contemporary U.N. recognized Muslim majority state institutes a Jizya tax. If you really need a source to confirm my claim about people paying less in taxes under Muslim rule than Byzantium rule, my source will be The Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress http://countrystudies.us... I will say that all of the information that I am working with here is available and easily confirmed by multiple sources, and I find it rather silly to cherry pick things out of context in order to illustrate a point. I would rather encourage people to do the research themselves. I referenced the Constitution of Medina as a source. I reference the life of the Prophet Mohammed, of which there are many biographies. The Qur'an is my primary source. I realize that for every out of context and misunderstood passage I am shown I can show another out of context passage as a rebuttal. This however, is like fighting fire with fire, and I believe that anyone who honestly studies the Qur'an without the intent to dismantle and destroy it will find that the message is really quite clear. Perhaps "Submission" is bad word to translate "Islam" into, as it carries far too many negative connotations in the west. Another word I would use to mean the same thing is "acceptance". The Qur'an tells us to accept reality, be sincere with our faith, and practice charity. This is the way of life that the Qur'an describes. This is what Islam is about. It is ludicrous to claim that this way of life is harmful to society. In fact, I think that a good case could be made that the people who discourage this way of life are in fact the ones who are harmful to society. I would hope that those viewing have the sense to understand the old biblical proverb, "The prosecution always looks correct until the defense has a chance to speak.". There are many out there who feel threatened by Islam, and they are doing everything in their power to spread their ignorance which is rooted in fear and insecurity. As it is written, Truth stands clear apart from error, and I would hope that more consider this issue with righteous discernment.