Re: Respecting other religions - difference amongst muslims
That's not the whole story. While in his early years as prophet most converts came from preaching, the spread of Islam didn't really begin in earnest until less tolerant methods were used.
You mean when the Pagans and the Jews of Mecca united in an attempt to cleanse the land of the nescient Muslim population? Zero sum. Even Christ and his followers were not faced with such a proposition from the Romans.
That clearly violates PCG's criteria that others are minding their own business. The Pagans were doing anything but.
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Starting with the accumulation of wealth and power through the raiding of Meccan caravans and the expulsion and killing of the Jewish tribes of Medina.
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The raiding of Meccan caravans did not start until the Meccans broke their treaty with the Muslims, effectively entering a defacto state of war. As for the Jews, they were allied with the Meccans. The Jews for the most part were expelled, with the exception of one tribe where all the men were caught in a subterfuge against the Muslims, which violated any sense of wartime protocol...and they were dealt with as per their own laws. So if you have a problem with that, take it up with the Jews...
Don't even speak of tolerance when such was the historical background for why the Muslims acted the way they did...unless, of course, you supported the Pagan and Jewish attempt at committing Genocide against the Muslims. And that's exactly what your reading of history does...it presumes that Muslims acted, and not reacted. It is the reaction that guides Muslims, to this day...not this revisionist bit of Muslims preemptively striking out against others once they were powerful enough.
There was a regression in relationships with Muslims and those who surrounded them...it is clear that the Pagans simply were not willing to coexist. The Muslims were...Muslims the world over are quite familiar with a Surah in the Quran that is a clear testament of their willingness to coexist in spite of the differences (Surah Kafiroon - 109).
However, as it turned out (and indeed, this history is all captured in the Quran itself) the Pagans had no interest in dealing with Muslims as an independent and distinct group...they had to compromise and essentially adopt Pagan practices (in particular, recognition of Pagan Gods), which of course the Muslims rejected.
As for the assertion that Islam was spread by the forcible conversion of the masses, there are ample proofs against that...from the existence of the Coptic minority, to the fact that Persia remained mostly Zoroastrian until well into the 10th century, to the rather calm dynamic between the early Muslims and the Chinese.