In all honesty, there are no reliable, objective historical sources to prove who was right and who was wrong in the dispute between the Muslims and the Jews of Medina. But the one simple, undisputed fact of the matter is that Mohammed had 600-900 unarmed Jewish prisoners beheaded. By parroting the unfounded claims and pathetic excuses of the apologists of an undeniable act of Islamic genocide, you're doing just as great a disservice as supporters of King Richard explaining away the massacre of 2000 Muslim prisoners at Acre during the Crusades - it wasn't nice, but they must have done plenty of bad things to bring such misfortune upon themselves...

That such horrible things happened in the 7th century is not surprising. Those were rough times, back then. But to claim or believe that Mohammed was anything more progressive or enlightened than just a violent, 7th-century warrior bent on propagating his new Islamic religion by bloody conquest is merely a naive, gullible acceptance of the apologists' propaganda. It's the same with the Muslims' backwards and reprehensible treatment of women, and the issue of polygamy. I can go to any number of Islamic web sites and read how the Koran grants permission to men to have 2, 3, or 4 wives, and how Mohammed set the example and had good reasons and was actually a reformer, and most importantly, why it's actually good for women, not bad for women, even today. But it's a complete, shameless fabrication - outrageous, bald-faced lies by Muslims trying to defend their faith. I know this because I've lived in Muslim countries, I've lived with Muslims, and I know the truth about their treatment and the status of women, and it ain't what the nonsensical "religion of peace" people are telling you...

Personally I view Islam as the single most destructive and harmful force in the world today, much more an unreformed cult of death than a religion of peace, a fascist threat to individual freedoms, and as the availability of WMD grows, the greatest menace to humanity since the Third Reich. This is precisely because Islam hasn't changed all that much since the barbaric days of the 7th century, and it's no coincidence that nearly everywhere in the world where Islamic societies come into contact with non-Muslim communities, whatever their culture, there is bloodshed.