Says Johnnie Moore: “All we want is for what it was like when the Prophet Muhammad himself was alive, which was a very pluralistic region. There were Christians and Jews, there were synagogues and there were churches.”

Yes, but what happened to them?

According to Islamic tradition, there were three Jewish tribes in Medina when Muhammad moved there: the Banu Qurayzah, Banu Qaynuqa and Banu Nadir. Muhammad exiled the Banu Qaynuqa and Banu Nadir, massacred the Banu Qurayza after they (understandably) made a pact with his enemies during the pagan Meccans’ siege of Medina, and then massacred the exiles at the Khaybar oasis, giving Muslims even today a bloodthirsty war chant: “Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews, the army of Muhammad will return.”

A hadith depicts Muhammad saying: “I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslim.” (Sahih Muslim 19.4366)

This is why the Saudis allow no non-Muslim religious observance in their domains.

If Johnnie Moore thinks Muhammad offers a pluralistic model for Muslim countries to emulate today, he has been reading too much deceptive Islamic apologetics, and is whistling in the dark.

“Evangelicals Seek Detente With Mideast Muslim Leaders As Critics Doubt Motives,” by Jerome Socolovsky, NPR, January 2, 2019 (thanks to Magdi):