A specious objection and its refutation:
Certain missionary-minded Western writers allege that Islam was founded upon violence and tyranny, that it spread by the sword, and that it forced people to enter it through coercion and compulsion.
The reply is as follows: this claim is false. It stems either from ignorance of Islam—its teachings, its conquests, its campaigns, and its texts—or from partisan bias and enmity toward the faith.
In reality, Islam was established upon inviting people with wisdom and good exhortation. It proclaimed peace and called mankind to it, for the very word “Islam” is derived from salam (peace).
Whoever examines the verses of the Noble Quran and the purified Sunnah—including the Prophet’s ﷺ instructions to the commanders of his armies and his conduct in battle—will realize that Islam came with wisdom, mercy, peace, and harmony, and that it was sent to bring about reform, not corruption.
Consider His statement: “There is no compulsion in religion; truth stands clear from error” (Al-Baqarah 2:256).
Also, His statement: “Had your Lord willed, everyone on earth would have believed—all of them together. So will you compel people until they become believers?” (Yunus 10:99).
And His statement: “Allah does not forbid you—regarding those who do not fight you on account of religion nor drive you out of your homes—from showing them kindness and dealing justly with them, for Allah loves those who deal justly” (Al-Mumtahanah 60:8); and His statement: “Fight in the path of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress” (Al-Baqarah 2:190). There are many other verses that bear the same meaning.
As for the Sunnah, the Prophet’s ﷺ entire conduct in warfare and his directives to his commanders affirm this principle.
Muslim narrates in his Ṣaḥīḥ, on the authority of Buraydah (may Allah be pleased with him), that whenever the Prophet ﷺ appointed a commander over a detachment or an army, he would advise him, first and foremost, to fear Allah and to treat the Muslims under his command well, and then would say: “Set out in the name of Allah, in the path of Allah; fight those who disbelieve …”