Nope, sorry dude. I'm still holding onto the claim that Muhammed and Osama can be compared is completely absurd.
You can hold on to the claim all you like, but that doesn't make it true.
You go on to assert that Islam did not spread by the sword and compare Muhammad to Jesus. Those are two outrageously bogus claims that can only be made by someone who doesn't know the facts of history. Set aside for a moment that fact that I'm obviously not a big fan of Muhammad's and just look at it objectively: the only reason anyone claims Muhammad was a prophet "in the same way as Jesus" is because he said so. But was he? Look at his actions. Compare the messages. How many Jewish tribes did Jesus have beheaded? How many nine year olds did he marry? How many battles did he lead? Not to mention the difference of divinity; Jesus' followers claim he was divine, while Muslims may think Muhammad was "the perfect man," but he was still a man. There is no meaningful way to compare Jesus to Muhammad when their actions, purpose and natures were so fundamentally opposed.
Show me where Jesus ever said anything as ghoulish as Muhammad did after the battle of Wadi Bedr in 623, quoted by the Islamic biographer Ibn Ishaq: "The other chieftains were killed, their bodies tossed in a pit, whereupon Muhammad, in his joy, said: 'O people of the pit, have you found what God threatened is true? For I have found what my Lord promised me is true.'" Given Muhammad's notorious violence and bloodthirst, comparing him to bin Laden makes a lot more sense then comparing him to Jesus.
As for "Islam didn't spread by the sword," with all due respect, that's just foolish. Read a book. Better yet, read a Muslim book. Read Sirat Rasul Allah. "A prophet must slaughter before collecting captives. A slaughtered enemy is driven from the land. Muhammad, you craved the desires of this world, its goods and the ransom captives would bring. But Allah desires killing them to manifest the religion." (Ibn Ishaq (Guillaume) p. 327)
Islam spread through the conquest first of local tribes, then the city of Mecca, then Egypt, etc. etc. Islam has never been only a faith. It has always been simultaneously political. If there is a predominantly Muslim country that didn't become so without being conquored first, I haven't heard of it. Perhaps you can enlighten me.
Then you go through a numbers excercise to comapre the violence of the Bible with the violence of the Qur'an. Unfortunately, without context, this is a pointless excercise.
Briefly, there is a lot of disagreement among suras in the Qur'an -- peaceful versus warlike, etc. The Islam doctrine of naskh (abrogation) was developed to reconcile them. Naskh states that when two suras conflict, it's the more recent one that takes precedence, as it reflects Allah's latest thinking on a subject.
There are also conflicting passages in the Bible, and Christianity has a form of abrogation as well. There is no shortage of laws in the Old Testament that modern believers consider repressive, brutal and unthinkable to 21st century societies. Leviticus in particular contains many of these. But Jesus proclaimed himself the "fulfillment of the law" and thereby brought a new law – love your enemy, turn the other cheek, treat your neighbor as you would like to be treated. Thus the progression of Christian scripture is from harsh legalism to love, forgiveness and long suffering.
Islam, however, tracks the exact inverse course. The suras dealing with peace and tolerance uniformly date from the early days of the Islamic movement, with the revelations becoming more warlike and aggressive as Muhammad gathered strength and consolidated Muslim power. There is no such thing as the Golden Rule in Islam. There is no equivilent to "turn the other cheek."
You also assert that the Qur'an has not been changed over the centuries. I know Muslims believe that, and they would like us too, but it's simply impossible to buy that.
From wikipedia:
The Qu'ranic revelations were originally memorised by Muhammad's companions as Muhammad spoke them, with some being written down by one or more companions on whatever was at hand, from stones to pieces of bark. Compilations of the Qu'ran began under the Caliph Umar, but it was Uthman who decided upon a definitive copy and destroyed all other versions. All Muslims use the same Qur'an with no differences among the sects. The Qu'ran has never changed in substance since.Two problems with that -- first, who knows how many changes it went through before it was codified. Muhammad's child wife Aisha even tells a story of one of the prophets revelations which she'd written down being eaten by a goat. Second, there is no history of textual criticism in Islam -- even questioning the validity of a sura or the example of the prophet is punishable by death. Under those circumstances, I find it very hard to swallow that anyone can say with certainty that the Qur'an has never been altered -- maybe it has and maybe it hasn't, but saying it had been would get you killed. That's a very effective way to silence critique.
You end by saying: "Everybody has different beliefs. Respect them." To which I ask: why? Do you respect everyone's beliefs, even ones you think are wrong or dangerous? Do you respect fascism? Do you respect Kali worshippers?
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