Until the advent of materialism and 19th c. dogma, Western Civilisation was superior to anything Islam had developed. Islam has not aided in the development of the modern world; in fact civilisation has only been created in spite of Islam. Proof of this resides in the 'modern' world and the unending political-economic and spiritual poverty of Muslim states and regions. Squatting on richer civilisations is not 'progress'. Islam is pagan, totalitarian, and irrational.
I doubt that many pious Atheists, Marxists and Moslem-lovers have bothered to read Bukhari's Hadith, which is the 2nd most important theological text in the cult of Submission [Islam], after Mein Koran. Mein Hadith are very clear about Jihad – both as a duty and as a moral imperative. Islam was spread by war, pillage, death and violence. Why wouldn't it be the same today as it was 1200 years ago ? Mein Koran and Mein Hadith have not changed in their themes since approximately 800 AD.
Bukhari:53:353 records Muhammad as saying, "Allah guarantees him who strives in His cause and whose motivation for going out is nothing but Jihad in His cause and belief in His word, that He will admit him into Paradise if martyred or bring him back to his dwelling place with what he gains of reward and booty."
Clear enough ? Or maybe one needs a Liberal arts Phd to translate this. In any language this Bukhari Hadith calls for one to strive in Allah's cause and to believe Allah's words and in so doing, to perform Jihad. What is this Jihad? To wage war. Jihad is the striving to go out and kill the Unbelievers, or be killed with rewards of booty or paradise.
Western quackademics and other worthies would probably disagree.
An important Moslem 'scholar' is one Ibn Kathir. In his book Tafsir he comments that Jihad as expressed in Koran 2:191 and buttressed by about 300 Bukhari Hadith is mandatory in Islam. Imams Barry Obama and David Cameron would no doubt disagree.
As Jihad involves death and the killing of men, Allah draws our attention to the fact that the disbelief and polytheism of the disbelievers and their avoidance of Allah's path are far worse than killing. Thus Allah says, "And Fitnah (unbelief) is worse than killing." This is to say that shirk (Polytheism) is more serious and worse than killing (Tafsir, volume 2, page 116)
Clear
enough? Being a polytheist Catholic is the worst crime imaginable –
other than being a devout Jew or Moslem female who renounces her
veils. Kathir is one of the greatest and most respected of scholars
in Islamic history who explained Jihad
just
as Muhammad and his Allah intended it; the fighting and killing of
non-believers. Bukhari's Hadith support this view.