Peace tpofto,
Since I started the discussion with Unite that has led to subsequent discussion with the Believer I felt compelled to chime in.
Wow! Peace Believer,
Are you sure you are offering peace and following Jesus' way in your post? You may want to reread it. The irony is that for a post that is trying to denounce aggression it really does come across as awfully emotional and aggressive.
Best wishes
Emotional, some, maybe. Agressive? Not intended.
Peace Unite, I do appreciate your response and also your other posts very much. Of course history is history and we will never know the exact facts; it is probably much more important that we discuss the principles and you had chosen some excellent verses. From those and a few more the general principles (I maybe restating what you had written) the Quran tells us are that we cannot be the aggressors but we can and should fight aggression towards us. We certainly cannot be the aggressors in spreading God's message. We can only deliver the message. We should seek to have peace agreements and treaties. It is our duty to be prepared, and in fact be prepared to the point that it deters our enemies and they chose to not fight us (deterrent); if they offer peace even if we suspect that they are scheming against us it is better that we do not aggress (no pre-emption; Bush's preemption policy of these days-it creates more problems than it solves; not working well is it? it is not moral and the Quran clearly and flatly rejects it; so have many Christians and Churches by the way)
That's a good philosophy, tpofto.
Why was Muhammed and Umar so agrresive to people?
Muhammed incited his followers to be aggressive and fight Sassanid Persia and Byzantine empire.
Umar actually wrote Yazdgird III a letter threatening him to accept Islam or be defeated.
http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:Q2 ... n&ie=UTF-8
As a favor, I wish for you to comment on what Umar wrote, and the response the King gave.