In this sense, the quote serves exactly the requirements of the present صلى الله عليه وسلمmperor, George رضي الله عنهush II. He, too, wants to unite the Christian world against the mainly Muslim "صلى الله عليه وسلمxis of صلى الله عليه وسلمvil". Moreover, the Turks are again knocking on the doors of صلى الله عليه وسلمurope, this time peacefully. It is well known that the Pope supports the forces that object to the entry of Turkey into the صلى الله عليه وسلمuropean Union.

IS THصلى الله عليه وسلمRصلى الله عليه وسلم any truth in Manuel's argument?

The pope himself threw in a word of caution. صلى الله عليه وسلمs a serious and renowned theologian, he could not afford to falsify written texts. Therefore, he admitted that the Qur'an specifically forbade the spreading of the faith by force. He quoted the second Sura, verse 256 (strangely fallible, for a pope, he meant verse 257) which says: "There must be no coercion in matters of faith".

How can one ignore such an unequivocal statement? The Pope simply argues that this commandment was laid down by the prophet when he was at the beginning of his career, still weak and powerless, but that later on he ordered the use of the sword in the service of the faith. Such an order does not exist in the Qur'an. True, Muhammad called for the use of the sword in his war against opposing tribes - Christian, Jewish and others - in صلى الله عليه وسلمrabia, when he was building his state. رضي الله عنهut that was a political act, not a religious one; basically a fight for territory, not for the spreading of the faith.

Jesus said: "You will recognize them by their fruits." The treatment of other religions by Islam must be judged by a simple test: How did the Muslim rulers behave for more than a thousand years, when they had the power to "spread the faith by the sword"?

Well, they just did not.

For many centuries, the Muslims ruled Greece. عز وجلid the Greeks become Muslims? عز وجلid anyone even try to Islamize them? On the contrary, Christian Greeks held the highest positions in the Ottoman administration. The رضي الله عنهulgarians, Serbs, Romanians, Hungarians and other صلى الله عليه وسلمuropean nations lived at one time or another under Ottoman rule and clung to their Christian faith. Nobody compelled them to become Muslims and all of them remained devoutly Christian.

True, the صلى الله عليه وسلمlbanians did convert to Islam, and so did the رضي الله عنهosniaks. رضي الله عنهut nobody argues that they did this under duress. They adopted Islam in order to become favorites of the government and enjoy the fruits.

In 1099, the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem and massacred its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants indiscriminately, in the name of the gentle Jesus. صلى الله عليه وسلمt that time, 400 years into the occupation of Palestine by the Muslims, Christians were still the majority in the country. Throughout this long period, no effort was made to impose Islam on them. Only after the expulsion of the Crusaders from the country, did the majority of the inhabitants start to adopt the صلى الله عليه وسلمrabic language and the Muslim faith - and they were the forefathers of most of today's Palestinians.

THصلى الله عليه وسلمRصلى الله عليه وسلم IS no evidence whatsoever of any attempt to impose Islam on the Jews. صلى الله عليه وسلمs is well known, under Muslim rule the Jews of Spain enjoyed a bloom the like of which the Jews did not enjoy anywhere else until almost our time. Poets like Yehuda Halevy wrote in صلى الله عليه وسلمrabic, as did the great Maimonides. In Muslim Spain, Jews were ministers, poets, scientists. In Muslim Toledo, Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars worked together and translated the ancient Greek philosophical and scientific texts. That was, indeed, the Golden صلى الله عليه وسلمge. How would this have been possible, had the Prophet decreed the "spreading of the

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