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This is well. But Jesus commanded that there should be no strife; so that none could triumph over another, or injure another. This is better. As for the saying of Mohammed that 'there should be no violence in religion[1],' it was spoken not of war, but of the desire of some of his followers to oblige their sons to take on them the profession of your faith. That the violence of war was allowed by him, there is witness in the battles which he fought, and in the commands which he gave to shed blood. When I read and hear of the slaughter which has been done in the name of your Prophet, and see that the spoils of war are divided among the conquerors, and remember how multitudes have been made slaves, or compelled to profess a religion which they abhorred, I have blessed the name of Jesus, and prayed that all might see in him the greatest of the prophets of God. By him was the blood of no man shed, and to none did he give permission to hurt a hair of the head. He gave pity and not vengeance to his enemies, and prayed for them when he might have destroyed them. He despoiled none of their possessions; but refused the wealth which his nation would have laid at his feet, if he had
- ↑ Koran, chap. 2.
