Question for Muslims

[Chas]

Alright. Well Quran has general verses and specific verses.

When it comes to verses regarding war, there are more general, then there are more specific. But over all, they are specific verses with a general application.

What I mean by that is take for example the verse saying "And if they incline to peace, you too incline to peace". This is a verse, but if it's universal, then enemies of Mohammad would've been able to take advantage of it, and incline to peace whenever it suits them and fight back when it suits them. So it has interpretation that there must be somewhat of a sincere inclination to peace.

The verses you are thinking of that talks about killing polytheists or disbelievers, the same Surah says those who remained true to their treaties were not to be fought.

So while it says disbelievers or polytheists, it's referring to particular people in a region in a certain time.

That said, the over all spirit of Quran with regards to war seems to prefer peace over war but fight when needed too as well. When and why they fought when they did is situational, and the war ethics in Islam to me, seems to remain like that, it remains situational and open to the situation and is not anything set in stone, but the general spirit is that of peace.

If it speaks to a small group of people at a particular time, then that's a serious strike against it being the word of Allah.

Sounds more like a product of humans.

Besides, it contains clear statements about doing violence to infidels. So there's that.

If you have to twist yourself into a pretzel to justify what's written, then there is the clear stink of intellectual dishonesty. Same for Christians and their Bible.

Those books are products of their times. They are certainly not to be taken literally (talking donkeys? flying horses?), but once you start interpreting them, there are as many meanings as there are readers.