In this video I interview Professor Juan Cole, the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. We discuss the historicity of Muhammad's raids as well as the picture of the messenger that is obtained when one focuses on the Qur'an alone. The bulk of our discussion concerns the meaning of the word Kafir or the verb kafara in the Qur'an. Professor Cole puts forth his thesis that Kafir in the Qur'an does not mean "infidel" or polytheist in the conventional sense, but rather closer to the Latin meaning of the term Paganus.

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