The Koran was written in wartime, when most of the disbelievers that Mohamed faced were enemies intent on destroying him. Necessity forces moderation of the more bloodthirsty sayings in the Koran. Mainstream Muslims (which separates such fascists as the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Daesh, and Boko Haram, all generally recognized as heretics to most Muslims) are not at war with 'unbelievers'. There are parts of the Islamic world through which I would not now travel under any circumstances -- but there is also North Korea, which illustrates the principle.
I am not going to excuse subjection or compulsory conversion.
We have plenty of excellent movies from the early 1940s that portray Germans and Japanese in an unflattering light. Do most Americans accept that the unflattering light about America's wartime enemies is relevant today? Of course not. Muslims have had to cope with such powerful entities as the British Raj in India and in turn India.
I am not going to excuse subjection or compulsory conversion.
We have plenty of excellent movies from the early 1940s that portray Germans and Japanese in an unflattering light. Do most Americans accept that the unflattering light about America's wartime enemies is relevant today? Of course not. Muslims have had to cope with such powerful entities as the British Raj in India and in turn India.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.