Ayn Rand:
Prove to me Islam is more oppressive Christianity using the text of the Qu'ran as your basis.
Hadiths would be much more suitable for this goal.
Full body burqa: Isn't part of the Qu'ran. In the Qu'ran Mohammad only said that women should be modest. A little modesty in dressing isn't a bad idea.
It depends how do you interprete Coran.
the Lesser Jihad, was an invention of one of the Caliphs, Abu Bakr.
Muhammad did engage in fight against unbelievers and forceful conversions already.
Intolerance: Look at Fatimid Egypt, Ummayad Dynasties (Both Damascene and Al-Andalus periods), Ayyubid Egypt, and numerous other Muslim Dynasties across the Middle East during the middle ages.
Muslim tolerance was not anything as great or as unique as some think. Firstly, it was forced by circumstances. If they actually conquered a city by force, they were free to take religious buildings for their own cult, and do with the population as they pleased. If a city capitulated, it was mostly under conditions of religious tolerance. Muslim glory is that they often acted according to the deals they agreed to.
The problem with muslim tolerance is that no-one knows exactly when so-called Umaric Conditions were instituted. Later muslims claimed that it was during the conquest. But modern scholars believe it was a process started by Umar II (early VIII century) and ended in XII-XIII century. The conditions were that no new religious buildings should be built; the old ones could not be repaired; non-muslims should wear special dress, special hairstyle etc; no visible signs of non-muslim worship in public space, blah blah,
in fact there were many other "conditions" added to it by various muslim scholars, sometimes pretty detailed.
So, in fact, the situation of ahl adh-dhimma was not better than the situation of Jews in christian Europe, or at least became so after less than a century of muslim rule. And the conditions seemed to deteriorate with each century. If muslims were more tolerant towards non-muslims than christians, it was mostly at the very beginning of their rule, and I judge it to be result of them not really living in the cities in the early days.
I must add that these Umaric Conditions were not always enforced, but they also weren't always enforced in medieval Europe. The difference I see is that there were actually many christian and jewish state officials before XI century or so, while I'm not sure if this can be said about Jews in Europe, but the reason was that they were inherited from the pre-muslim times, as early Arabs were too primitive to build their own fiscal administration. And the "minorities" were at this time the bulk of population of islamic empire, and also the bulk of educated clerks. Al-Hakim, when he wanted to hire muslim official in the place of christian ones, found that he doesn't have enough muslims for the job. There was always a big pressure to fire those non-muslim officials, and it eventually happened.
You can of course talk about pogroms in Europe, but anti-christian and anti-jewish etc pogroms existed in muslim world as well, and I can provide you with a list of some of the most spectacular, if you like. Fatimids were indeed tolerant, in general, but their reign witnessed not only the rule of Al-Hakim (destruction of every church in the state, including the ones in Jerusalem etc), but even under other caliphs there were pogroms, and they were mostly left unpunished. There was one exception, and in fact it's the only example of muslim authority punishing anti-christian riots I know in muslim history. But the visier that ordered the punishment was christian - and he was killed as soon as the caliph protecting him died. It was also under Fatimids that the special garment rule was finally forced upon christians.
Umayyads? It is also Umar II, who raised taxation with exact intent of converting non-muslims (he was an exception, but in fact he is the only Umayyad caliph who is considered venerable out of the all list, and also for his anti-christian stance), was allegedly the first one to introduce special garments for non-muslims and to try to fire non-muslim officials.
Ayyubids? They actually were the ones who finally succeeded in clearsing the administration of non-muslims.
I must add that Umaric Code is still used today as an excuse to forbid Copts from building new churches in Egypt.
Furthermore, if Islam is so oppressive and violent, why has the majority of the oppression and violence only really emerged in the last 50 years? In Medieval Persia prior to the Safvids (I forget the ruling dynasty. The Buyids?) women were regularly depicted on ceramics without the burqa and so on.
I thought it was mostly in Ilkhanate art, but I'll believe you. But who were the Buyids? half-converts to islam, many of their Daylamites still being zoroastrians.
Islam says kill the Infidel: Mohammad called Jews and Christians 'peoples of the book' and they would be allowed to keep their religion
It is true that Muhammad was mild towards christians, much milder than later rulers, but when it comes to Jews, one should recall the fate of jewish tribes of Medina. Two were expelled, the third one exterminated.
[i mean what's up with that?they are obviously not talented so they make it unholy to hide their weakness
