Self-styled experts on Islam will point to various pieces of evidence from the Qur'an or historical record, of course. The most often-invoked example is the famed verse from the Qur'an which allegedly refers to Jews as "apes and pigs" (5:60). However, a simple look at the surrounding verses, even in common translation, reveals that the Qur'an makes no such insult whatsoever. Much is also made of a single Jewish tribe, the Banu Qurayza, who the Prophet SAW is said to have slaughtered; in reality, the Qurayza betrayed Muhammad SAW in a wartime alliance and conspired with his enemies to have him killed. The Prophet SAW left their fate in the hands of an arbitrator, whom the Qurayza approved. That arbitrator decided the Qurayza men would be beheaded and the women and children spared. It was brutal by our modern standards - but considering the fate of Dresden or Hiroshima, perhaps not as brutal as it could have been.
The evidence of historical Muslim tolerance and pluralism, especially in contrast to Christendom, is not a matter of debate. The historical record of Islamic tolerance towards the Jews is important to reiterate and emphasize, because it shows that a modern articulation of religious pluralism can be made within an Islamic context, and provides ammunition against those Muslims who seek to use hatred and fear of Jews to their own evil ends. This is a battle you would expect Jews to support, as we mainstream Muslims seek to reclaim the language of faith from an extremist minority.
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4:45 AM
Moderate Islamist here
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