" 
 :::::::look, no one is denying that ""some modern Muslims"" may something. The question, however, is about the views that were and are (if no longer, then show me the evidence) dominant in Islam. In addition, no one is saying that Islam can only be spread by the sword, but please go beyond the quotes. Pick any reasonably scholarly text on jihad, and you will see that it's overwhelimngly about warfare: how it commences, how it's funded and conducted, what are the duties of the fighters and ocmmanders, how to divide booty, how to conclude a truce and how long to keep it, what conditions of surrender to demand from infidels etc. By turning the section into a piece on ""jihad-is-not-what-you-thought-but-a-spiritual-struggle-for-self-perfection"" ths article invades deeply into Esposito's territory.   "