Muslims, can non-muslims trust muslims to be their friends?

[thedavidwilson]

Mmm…seems to me the hard part is can Muslims trust non-Muslims to be their friends?

Trust is no easy thing, and as a nontheist, I know very well what it is to be on the wrong end of public approval, and even friendship.

The point is that there are some basic doctrinal differences here. You would be able to trust an orthodox Catholic to be your friend even if you are his enemy, because that is what Christ taught. Whereas an orthodox muslim could not be trusted to be your friend because that IS what muhammed taught in the above verses.

This assumes both these individuals are adhering to what their faith teaches.

 

[thedavidwilson]

A muslim will tell you that the Jews and Christians are not referred to unconditionally in this verse. It means the Jews and Christians that oppress you or fight with you. Because if it didn’t it would contradict other verses, and that would be a problem.

They can be friends with “People of the Book,” and they can’t be friends with pagans.

It comes down to your definition of oppression and when self defense is needed. I think this is the major misinterpretation of islam by the West. Many islamic scholars, modern and ancient, hold that anything that does not promote islam is against islam. So me practicing my Catholic faith is an attack on islam becasue it is not spreading islam and working towards islam reigning supreme. In traditional islam the world is divided into two components: dar al-Islam, the house of peace and dar al-Harb, the house of war. We as non-muslims are part of the house of war and dar al-islam must fight against us until there is “peace” everywhere.

So when muslims say islam is a religion of peace and justice, they are refereing to the peace and justice that will exist when islam is the only religion. I would imagine Nazi Germany was a pretty nice place to live (as long as you were German, and your conscience did not bother you). This is true with South Africa and any other supremisist regime, as long as you were part of the ruling class.