edina had only pledged themselves to
protect Mohammad from his enemies. They could not, and would not, have
gone forth or allowed Mohammad and his _ansars_ to go forth to plunder
the caravan of the Koreish passing by Medina.

_The Intolerance._

[Sidenote: 34. Mohammad never taught intolerance.]

Those people are greatly mistaken who say, that "the one common duty
laid upon the Faithful is to be the agents of God's vengeance on those
who believe not. These are to be slaughtered until they pay tribute,
when they are allowed to go to Hell in their own way without further
molestation."[185] Mohammad did not wage war against the Koreish and the
Jews because they did not believe in his mission, nor because he was to
be the instrument of God's vengeance on them; on the contrary, he said,
"He was no more than a warner."

"The truth is from your Lord, let him then who will, believe; and let
him who will, be an unbeliever."[186]

"Let there be no compulsion in religion."[187] "Verily, they who
believe, and the Jews, and the Sabeites, and the Christians, whoever of
them believeth in God and in the last day, and doth what is right, on
them shall come no fear, neither shall they be put to grief."[188] Even
during active hostilities, those who did not believe were allowed to
come and hear the preaching, and were then conveyed to their place of
safety.[189] Nor were the wars of Mohammad to exact tribute from the
unbelievers. The tribute was only imposed upon those who had sought his
protection, and even then they were exempted from other regular taxes
which the Moslems paid to their Commonwealth.

On the contrary, as has already been shown, Mohammad merely took up
arms in the instances of self-preservation. Had he neglected to defend
himself after his settlement at Medina against the continued attacks of
the Koreish and their allies, he with his followers would, in all
probability, have been exterminated. They fought in defence of their
lives as well as their moral and religious liberties.

[Sidenote: 35. In what sense the wars were religious wars.]

In this sense the contest might be called a religious war, as the
hostilities were commenced on religious grounds. Because the Koreish
persecuted the Moslems, and expelled them for the reason that they had
forsaken the religion of their forefathers, _i.e._, idolatry, and
embraced the faith of Islam, the worship of One True God; but it was
never a religious war in the sense of