Islam is a religion of hate and violence

I will not hesitate to put forth definitions and rules in order to avoid debating anything off-topic. I look forward to making it evident that Islam is not a religion of hatred and violence, and I hope that both we debaters and you readers will enjoy following the debate. -- Definitions -- Hate: To feel hostility or animosity toward. [D] Violence: Physical force exerted for the purpose of violating, damaging, or abusing. [D2] -- Rules -- 1. No semantical arguments. 2. No violation of definitions. 3. No insults. We need a civilized debate. -- Arguments -- 1. Hate and violence It is very important for people to understand that violence itself does not necessarily constitute hate. If a person who you love tries to jump out of a window to harm himself severely, you do nothing hateful in pulling him/her and maybe dealing a few hits in order to prevent him from moving. It may be violent, but absolutely not hateful. Logically speaking it is violent, but relatively speaking, it is less violent than if he/she jump out of the window and died. In this case, saving the person using violence is the best option and is, in fact, peaceful rather than violent. That is because the long-term effect is very important indeed. 2. Islamic violence Islam has never preached hatred and violence against any innocent people. My opponent mentioned the interpretation of extremists, which, I presume, means that according to them, Islam does preach hatred and violence in the sense that it does it against innocent people, not just the criminal ones. My role is to prove that it does not do such a thing against innocent people at all. 3. The Qur'an The Qur'an is a book that is deliberately misinterpreted by people who want to prove that Islam is a religion of hate and violence. However, those people do it by quoting verses out of context or without their historical meaning. I will give examples. [Qur'an 2:190] "Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loveth not transgressors. " We see fighting being prescribed in the Qur'an being about defense. There is no doubt about that when this verse is read. [Qur'an 2:191] "And slay them wherever ye catch them, and turn them out from where they have Turned you out; for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter; but fight them not at the Sacred Mosque, unless they (first) fight you there; but if they fight you, slay them. Such is the reward of those who suppress faith. " But it happens that people take e. g. this verse to prove that Islam tells you to kill all non-believers no matter of what. This is indeed a monstrous thing to do. Attacking a major religion and religious group in the world through deliberate misinterpretation is a terrible thing to do. Why do they also not quote the next verses to people? [Qur'an 2:192] "But if they cease, Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful. " [Qur'an 2:193] "And fight them on until there is no more Tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah; but if they cease, Let there be no hostility except to those who practice oppression. " Is this a religion of anger, violence, and hate? Is this religion all those things because it tells its followers to fight oppression? Another example is 8:60 of the Qur'an: "Against them [non-Muslims] make ready your strength to the utmost of your power. .. " This is speaking of a historical context. However, even if we ignore it, we know that it speaks of defense. All we have to do is read the next verse, 8:61: "But if the enemy incline towards peace, do thou (also) incline towards peace, and trust in Allah: for He is One that heareth and knoweth (all things). " Where are people to quote this? Moving on, the Qur'an promotes love and peace between Muslims and non-Muslims across all of the earth. [Qur'an 25:63] "And the servants of (Allah) Most Gracious are those who walk on the earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them, they say, 'Peace! '" [Qur'an 4:90] "Exempt those who join a people with whom you have concluded a peace treaty, and those who come to you with hearts unwilling to fight you, nor to fight their relatives. Had God willed, he could have placed them in power over you and they would have made war on you. Therefore, if they leave you alone, refrain from fighting you, and offer you peace, then God gives you no way to go against them. " [Qur'an 60:8] "God does not forbid you to be kind and equitable to those who have neither fought against your faith nor driven you out of your homes. In fact God loves the equitable. " [Qur'an 49:13] "O mankind! We created you from a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes that you may know and honor each other (not that you should despise one another). Indeed the most honorable of you in the sight of God is the most righteous. " The last verse among the ones above is extraordinary peaceful. God creates us and divided us into nations, groups, etc. so that we can learn from each other share good deeds with each other through wisdom that we have acquired in our own ways. Had the Qur'an been wanting everyone to be under one nation and live under oppression, it would never have mentioned something it did in 49:13. I can come with numerous other verses. However, I will leave it to my opponent for now because I want him to present his arguments, which I will analyze. I thank him in advance. -- References -- [D] . http://www.thefreedictionary.com... [D2] . http://www.thefreedictionary.com... Qur'an: . http://www.usc.edu...