Islam and Peace

BeFair wrote:    How is it that the pagan arabs never tried to fight the Jews and Christians off and only persecuted Muhammad ?

Interesting queston. Apparently the Pagan Arabs did not consider the jews and Christians a threat. It may be because thier ideology did not conflct head on with that of the Pagans - nor was thier religion a drastic threat to thier lifestyle and status quo. Whereas, Islam was a drastic threat to thier lifestyle and how they ran things.

• Islam challenged the authority of the Pagan tribal leaders - who 'held the key' to the Kaaba and associated thier tribes' with custodianship of the Kaaba
• Islam challenged the ultimate power of tribal chieftains and suggested that Allah was greater and His law was superior to local customs and Chieftains.
• The Kaaba was the centre of pagan religion at the time, and was full of idols. People came from various places for pagan pilgrimage to the Kaaba - bringing trade with them, as well as offerings. Obviously, removing idolatory would put a stop to these pilgrimages - hence a dent in the pagan pockets.
• Islam introduced equality of genders and races. pagan Arabs considered themselves superior to women, non-arabs and slaves. This social re-order was not welcomed. Infact the chieftains of Mecca would ridicule/comment on how Prophet Muhammad kept the company of the poor and the weak.
• Islam began the process of abolishing slavery - and well, the economy and society was relying heavily on unpaid slave labour.
• Islam was very vocal about the evils in the society and superstitious practises of the Pagans - whereas the Jews and Christians did not voice thier distaste of such acts - hence Islam and Prophet Muhammad became the target, and not the Jews/Christians.
• Islam was new on the horizon and probably came into more notice that age-old religions like Judiasm and Christianity - which were old news by then and part and parcel of the culture.
• Islam threatened the current social order by banning female infanticide, banning forced marriages, limited the number of marriages, introducing women's rights, abolishing slavery, equality of races etc.
• Threatened the economy  by banning gambling, wine, fortune tellers,  slavery, and interest.
• Prophet Muhammad was starting to gain momentum and popularity - something that the Chieftains considered a threat, which is why they tried bribing him with wealth, power and women - but he declined.

etcetera and so forth. The Jews and Christians did not take the above drastic steps.

If the pagan arabs were really as intolerant and violent as stated in the Quran, how come they didnt kill Muhammad when he was preaching against them whilst right in their midst ? Muhammad did not have enough military might then.  It would have been easy for the pagan arabs to kill him if they wanted to, but they didnt !

We Muslims believe Prophet Muhammad was saved by Allah - because he was meant to convey his message, and thus could not die before doing that. Which is why Allah saved him on numerous occasions. Also because his time had not yet come. You as a non-muslim could consider it fate or luck? or bad planning on the part of the pagans.  

• Meccans wanted Abu Talib to hand Muhammad saw over to them to be dealt with. He refused.
• Meccans put a bounty of 100 camels on Prophet Muhammad's life. Interestingly, one of the people who tried, ended up converting to Islam
• Umar - Prophet Muhammad's closest companion, started out by trying to murder him - on his way stopped at his sister's house and ended up converting.
• A Jewess tried to poison Prophet Muhammad by inviting him and his companions for lunch - he survived, one of his companions however passed away as a result.
• Then the Meccans made a grand-murder-plan, in which a young man from each famous tribe would take part in the murder so that one particular tribe could not be held responsible. Prophet Muhammad found out beforehand and left the city with his friend.

Welcome BeFair,

Can you kindly quote the verse, wherein you find that eternal punishment  is for the non-muslims ? Allah swt, is Just. He does n't punish innocent. Infact He is very compasionate and Merciful. That punishment is for DISBELIEVERS. A person, to whom the truth of God being One and Muhammad {Pbuh} is the Prophet, has reached fairly, but still he denies it and does n't embrace it , is a disbeliever. Not all non-muslims are disbelievers.