For example take the word love. How many words in Arabic mean love and why are their so many words that mean love?

But all in we should remember a general overall concept of Islam and that is being balanced. IF we do not even SPEAK to a nonmuslim or have any form of communication (like some brothers who just read the translation to mean “friend”) then how do we do dawah? Similarly there are some Muslims who trust THUGS more than they trust Muslims. These are 2 extremes.

So when we follow the overall concept of being balanced inshAllah we’ll be right. Ameen

1. Muslims don’t say that the Prophet “fled” from Mecca to Medinah. Fleeing implies cowardice. The Prophet was ORDERED BY REVELATION to leave Mecca.

2. A kaafir is anyone who is a non-Muslim. Anyone who nowadays, and for the past 1,400 years, does not believe in Prophet Muhammad is a kaafir (48: 13). Hence every atheist, Magian, agnostic, Buddhist, Hindu, tribal pagan, Shintoist, Bahai, etc. is a kaafir. And every Christian and Jew (not talking about the Nasraa and Haadoo who genuinely followed the Prophets of their era) is also a kaafir. The issue is one of takleef (legal accountablity), that is, will the person be punished forever in Hell for his/her kufr or not. If the person was sane, pubescent, and heard the call of Islam in a language he understands, his first obligation is to embrace Islam immediately. If the person does not, and then dies–even if soon thereafter–he is condemned to Hell forever. Allah guides whomever He wills, and Allah is not obligated to do anything for us.

3. We don’t make jokes about the Deen, the Sacred Law, or the Sunnah (9: 65). And we don’t say that the Prophet opposed what Allah revealed. This is kufr.

I think that this highlights all the more why Muslims need to learn the matters pertaining to kufr/apostasy, so they don’t commit blasphemy without knowing it and consequently be included in the Hadith of the Prophet:

“The slave [e.g., human being] would utter a word he deems harmless, which causes him to fall for seventy years into the Fire.”

That is, he became a kaafir without realizing it. May Allah protect us from that.

With Allah is the success.

As you may the story of bani Israel of how there were 3 camps.
1. Invited to good and and forbid evil>>they were successful
2.Did nothing minded their own business>>>left alone
3,Wicked people and continued with Haram>>>thus punished.

So Allah only addresses group 1 and 3. Group 1 are Muslims. Group 3 are kaffirs who are heads of states and are in power and who are involved in evil acts.

I hope this makes it a bit more clear.
Salam Walaikum Warakhmatullah

This incident was also mentioned in Tariq Ramadan’s “The Meanings of the Life of Muhammad”.

Secondly, why demonize the Quraysh? Certainly we believe in the message of Muhammad ibn Abdallah (pbuh) but that doesn’t mean that everyone would. If you came across a man in your town who said that an angel was talking to him and he was reciting noble truths to you, would you believe him? May be, may be not. The fact is that the vast majority of the followers were either close friends and companions of the Prophet pbuh (ie Khadija, Abu Bakr, Ali) or they were the poor and the destitute who had something to gain from a message which proclaimed that they were of no lesser value than others and indeed that if they believed they were better than the rest of the people living in Mecca. Over time some wealthy people also joined, even amongst these some were joining because of what they got (ie camels and gifts) rather than simply because they suddenly decided idol worshiped no longer made sense. To top it off, the Quraysh were not always bad people, certainly at times they were horrible, but the same charge could be levied against our own party.

Once we take the blinders off, it becomes simpler to see that this was in fact a historical struggle. There are many passages against Christians and Jews but this is logical because Islam is the new comer religion thats rejected by the established religions of its time. Christianity and Judaism have similar strife with each other in the 1st century of the Gregorian Calander, moreover, the Israelites have similar strife with the Caaninite religion which precedes it in the Old Testament.

What is obvious is that again its a historical struggle. Its only natural to paint your oponent in a negative light but these struggles were temporary. The Quyrash were forgiven. Muslims, Jews and Christians coexisted peacefuly in Andalucia and they do so today in much of the West, Indonesia etc. Only the people who want to always be fighting will focus on fighting others and not taking people as friends.

So much of what passes for religion these days is merely the conditioning of time and space. The heart of the Abrahamic faiths has not truly changed and that heart, that core is to believe in God, love Him, do good in the world and tolove others. Whether one desires to follow the 613 laws of the OT, the teachings of Paul or the fatwas of the scholars thats a personal thing, but the issues do change because unlike scripture, the world is forever changing. There truly isn’t a need to fight each other because everyone will get what they deserve. Not an atoms worth of good will go unrewarded and not an atoms worth of evil unpunished. And we are getting closer to that momment when that will happen every second.

Bringing it back to a down to earth level. Friendship, allegience etc. should be chosen based on character. We laugh when people want to elect Sarah Palin VP or President simply because she represents a certain agenda without realizing that we do the same when we engage in group think and judging people based on affiliations. Judge a man not by the color of his skin (or his creed) but by the content of his character.

Moreover, if Muslims never took non-Muslims as friends then no one would ever convert. Conversion is the byproduct of love. Moreover Muslim men can marry Christian and Jewish women whom are a Mercy from Allah irrespective of their faith and He has enjoined love and mercy between them and their spouses. It should be obvious from everything I’ve said, that Islam does not condone religious bigotry.