Mohammad never professed to have followed the footsteps of Moses and Joshua in waging war of extermination and proselytism. He only appealed to the sword in his and his followers' defence. Never he seems to have been anxious to copy the practice of the surrounding nations, Christians, Jews, and Egyptians. His wars of defence, as they certainly all were, were very mild, specially with regard to the treatment of children, women, and old men who were never to be attacked; and above all, in the mildness shown towards the captives of war who were either to be set free or ransomed,--but were never to be enslaved,--contrary to the practice of all the surrounding nations. This virtual abolition of slavery (_vide_ Sura XLVII, 5, and Appendix B) has been a great boon to mankind in general as a beneficial result of Mohmamad's wars of defence. [Sidenote: 117. The Revd. Stephens quoted.] The Reverend Mr. Stephens writes:-- "In the Koran, the Mussulman is absolutely and positively commanded to make war upon all those who decline to acknowledge the Prophet until they submit, or, in the case of Jews and Christians, purchase exemption from the conformity by the payment of tribute. The mission of the Mussulman, as declared in the Koran, is distinctly aggressive. We might say that Mahomet bequeathed to his disciples a roving commission to propagate his faith by the employment of force where persuasion failed. 'O Prophet, fight for the religion of God'--'Stir up the faithful to war,' such are commands which Mahomet believed to be given him by God. 'Fight against them who believe not a God, nor the last day,' 'attack the idolatrous in all the months,' such are his own exhortations to his disciples."[310] The Reverend gentleman is very much mistaken in his assertions against the Koran. There is no absolute or positive command in the Koran for a war of aggression or compulsory proselytism. The sentences quoted by Mr. Stephens are but mutilated verses forcibly dislocated from their context. A disjointed portion of a verse, or a single sentence of it cannot be brought forth to prove any doctrine or theory. Due regard must be made for the context, the general scope, and parallel passages. The verses referred to by Mr. Stephens are Sura IV, 86, and Sura IX, 29, 36. All these have been quoted in full and discussed elsewhere.[311] They relate only to defensive wars. [Sidenote: 118. Mr. Bosworth Smith quoted.] Mr. Bosworth Smith says:-- "The free toleration of the purer among the creeds around him, which the Prophet had at first enjoined, gradually changes into intolerance. Persecuted no longer, Mohammed becomes a persecutor himself; with the Koran in one hand, the scymitar in the other, he goes forth to offer to the nations the threefold alternative of conversion, tribute, death."[312]