Mercenaries of God

A thought occured to me this morning as an Egyptian Muslim guest, Mohamad told me I should "find the truth" about Islam.

In fact I have learnt much about Islam throughout my life. At school in Egypt, we studied Islamic history, learnt the Quran and Ahadith and studied the life of prophet Mohammad. I have recently re-read the Quran, just to satisfy myself I wasn't being irrational or single minded about this religion.

What stood out to me the most as I was contemplating Mohamad's request for me to find teh truth, was that in Islam, for the first time God suddenly started asking men to fight and kill for Him.

In the Old Testament, which Muslims believe in and believe in all the prohets mentioned in it, when God was displeased with His people's deeds He always dealt with it. He didn't ask Noah to kill the people. He asked him to speak to the people and show them God's way. But when they didn't listen, He told Noah to leave with his family and animals. God sent the flood.

Similarily, Lot was never asked to burn Soddom and Gemorah. He was just asked to leave. God sent the fire. Moses wasn't asked to fight the Egyptians...God sent the 10 plagues.

Suddenly in Islam, God required His people to fight, kill and maim to preserve God's word (read sourat El Tawba or soura 9 for example or refer to Sahih El Boukhari). Why? Why did God suddenly need the help of mercenaries? Is Islam's God so weak that he requires the hands of men to do his bidding?