There seems to be a certain amount of bombs falling outside. I guess the Muslims are upset. My feeling about this is this. What does a Jew do when he wants to serve God? [I mean he wants to do the highest service] He learns Torah. A Christian who wants to serve God decides to build a hospital or school,- or some other act of kindness. A Muslim who wants to serve God goes on a jihad mission. The reason is that the highest service he can do is holy war. [At least that is the simple sense of the verses. There are scholars who say jihad is not war in the normal sense but rather the eternal struggle to improve oneself.] [That might be true but still I think many Muslims take the meaning to be as it seems at first glance.
So I would say that there does seem to be a tendency in Islam to encourage violence.
