For people that know the history of Islam (without a religious debate) would you

Question:

For people that know the history of Islam (without a religious debate) would you agree with this statement...?

"Islam started with the sword"?...These are really not my words. I took it out of a Christian History book. Is that just the Christian perspective? Was Muhammed really just a man trying to use a new found religion to fally the Arabs to power? Some of the information I have seen on Muhammed and his sucessors make Islam look like a religion of control and terror. What do other History books say about Muhammed and the basics of Islam?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Islam does not mean peace. It means submission.
It didn't start with the sword, but the sword came into it pretty early on.
The Quran enjoins warfare against non-believers and promises its fighters plunder as well as Paradise.
In the century after Mo's death, his successors were far more concerned with conquest than they were with conversion.