Muhammad definitely got a lot angrier in his later revelations. Last night's reading of the Qur'an included a lot of ranting about how silly Jews and Christians are.
In his early years, Muhammad had a very idealised view of Judeo-Christian monotheism. He didn't really know all that much about either religion; he thought God had made a covenant with the Jews, then sent Jesus to instruct the Greeks and the Romans, and all the monotheists were friends. He thought God was setting up a colourful mosaic of different religions for different races, all worshipping the One True God. Originally, the Muslims prayed in the direction of Jerusalem.
After he moved to Medina, the three Jewish tribes called bullshit on his revelations. Then he learnt that Jews and Christians didn't like each other. Muhammad's idealised monotheistic vision was shattered. He decided to distance Islam from the other two monotheisms, turning away from Jerusalem to have Muslims pray towards Mecca instead.
One of the Jewish tribes rebelled against Muhammad's rule; they were exiled from Medina. Another Jewish tribe plotted to assassinate Muhammad; they too were exiled. The last of Medina's Jewish tribes decided to side with Mecca in their war to exterminate the Muslims; the men were executed, the women and children enslaved.
This is what Muhammad says about killing:
'He who kills a soul neither in revenge for another, nor to prevent corruption on earth, it is as if he killed the whole of mankind; whereas he who saves a soul, it is as if he has saved the whole of mankind.'
Here are some excerpts from his ranting about Jews and Christians:
'For violating their covenant We cursed them, and hardened their hearts. They twist words from their context, and have forgotten a portion of what they were asked to remember. You will still find them to harbour treachery, except for a few of them. But pardon them and forgive, for God loves those who do good.'
'What has been revealed to you from your Lord will increase many of them in violence and blasphemy. We have sown hostility and hatred among them until the Day of Resurrection; wherever they kindle the flame of war, God shall extinguish it. They roam the earth corrupting it, and God loves not the corrupters.'
'In truth, the punishment of those who make war against God and His Messenger, and roam the earth corrupting it, is that they be killed, or crucified, or have their hands and feet amputated, alternately, or be exiled from the land. This would be their shame in the present life, and in the next a terrible torment awaits them!'
'They have blasphemed - those who say that God is the Christ son of Mary! It is blasphemy they utter, those who say that God is the third of three! There is no god except the One God. If they do not desist from what they say, there shall touch among those among them who blaspheme a painful torment. Christ the son of Mary is only a messenger, and messengers have come and gone before him. His mother was a saintly woman and they both ate food.'
'O believers, do not take for allies those who took your religion as a subject of mockery and entertainment amongst those granted the Book before you, or among the unbelievers. Fear God if your truly believe.'
'You will witness many of them making friends with the unbelievers. God is incensed against them, and in torment they shall remain eternally. And yet, had they believed in God and the Prophet, they would not have adopted them as friends. You will surely find that the most hostile of men to the believers are the Jews and those who ascribe partners to God.'
Muhammad needed to square his view of a omnipotent benevolent God with the realisation that monotheism wasn't all lovey-dovey and peaceful like he thought; why did God's revelations cause the different monotheists to dislike each other?
Similar to the earlier problem of why an omnipotent benevolent God would want to torture a significant portion of his beloved souls literally forever, Muhammad was stumped by this and eventually decided on 'BECAUSE!':
'For every community We decreed a law and a way of life. Had God willed, He could have made you a single community - but in order to test you in what he revealed to you. So vie with one another in virtue. To God is your homecoming, all of you, and He will then acquaint you with that over which you differed.'
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