One of the earliest records on Islam, written soon after Muhammad’s death, the “Doctrina Iacobi nuper baptizati [,] also implies that Muslims tried, on threat of death, to make Christians abjure Christianity and accept Islam” (Kaegi 1995, 109). As for the much touted Koran 2:256—“there is no compulsion in religion”—this seems more of an assertion, a statement of fact, than an imperative for Muslims to uphold. After all, it is true: no Muslim can make a non-Muslim convert. But that does not mean they cannot entice, cajole, and reward on the one hand, and enslave, extort, and slaughter on the
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