The claim: "9:5 says 'kill the polytheists wherever you find them.' The Qur'an gives a general command to kill; Islam spread by the sword."
The verse's context
- 9:5 is about a specific group: the polytheists who broke the treaty (9:1-4); "when the sacred months have passed." The target is not all humanity but the treaty-breaking party at war. The verse ends: if they repent, pray and give zakāh, "let them go their way."
- Immediately after, 9:6: if one of them seeks protection, grant it until he hears God's word, then "convey him to his place of safety." — impossible if it were an unconditional kill order.
The limiting general principles
- "Fight those who fight you; do not transgress." (2:190)
- "There is no compulsion in religion." (2:256)
- "If they incline to peace, incline to it." (8:61)
- "God does not forbid kindness and justice to those who do not fight you." (60:8)
An honest limit
The verse does speak of killing in a context of real war; that cannot be softened. But it is not a command "to everyone, always, unconditionally." Quoting it without its context (9:1-6) and limiting verses (2:190; 60:8) is distortion. The view that "the sword verse abrogates all peace verses" is an interpretation, not the text's necessary outcome; taken whole, the Qur'an bounds war by defence and justice.
Source: Qur'anic verses (M. Okuyan meal). Presented soberly and respectfully, with a text/interpretation distinction.