Why Jihad?: Religious Violence in Islamic History, Theology, and Jurisprudence

Time and time again people are compelled to ask whether Islam truly is a religion of peace, as Muslims all over the world claim it to be. Muslim scholars such as Aysha Jalal argues that "it is paradoxical that Islam, whose very meaning is salam, or peace, has come to be seen as a belligerent religion with fanatical adherents determined to wage perpetual war against unbelievers." If Islam were a religion of peace, then why is it that in the long stretch of time, since the life of Muhammad, t...