The Muslim holy book Quran carries both peace-inspiring and war-inciting guidance. For example, while verse 5.5 declares Jews and Christians are "People of the Book" with whom Muslims can eat and inter-marry, verse 5.51 prohibits trusting them. Why? Unfortunately, the Quran does not clarify.

Consequently, some Muslims select verses that support their predetermined agenda. The Islamic Society of North America's July 28, 2005, press release quotes more than 50 verses to underscore Islam as religion of peace. But a former Saudi chief justice, Sheikh Abdullah, quotes more than 50 other verses to incite Muslims to continuously fight "Jews, Christians and pagans."

Hard-liners use these filtered Quranic verses to transform zealots into suicide bombers.

To make sense out of these apparent "contradictions" requires three levels of understanding: First: the Quran, revealed to prophet Muhammad over 23 years (610-632 CE), carries two messages: 1) An unchanging spiritual message on God's attributes and wonders of creation; 2) A changing temporal message guiding Muhammad's actions in the evolving socio-political situation. His own status changed from fugitive in Mecca seeking followers to statesman in Medina leading a nation.

Second: Being illiterate, Muhammad relied on followers to transcribe incoming revelations. While Muhammad lived, these remained in assorted collections, and were consolidated in one volume over the next decade. But the Quran's 6,300-plus verses are not arranged chronologically. Why? We don't know. The Quran also does not explain the context in which these "mixed signals" were revealed.

Third: Verse 2:106 clarifies that, whenever God abrogates a verse, He replaces it with something similar or better. But, since the Quran is not arranged chronologically, how do we know which verse abrogates which verse? Fortunately Ibn Ishaq's book on Muhammad, written within 150 years of the prophet's death, provides significant information. From this, I learned that verse 5.51 was revealed shortly after Muhammad fled from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE. Furious at this escape, his Meccan enemies sought alliance with those in Medina who likewise did not like Muhammad's message. Thus, verse 5.51 cautioned Muhammad against sharing strategic secrets with strangers. And verse 5.5 was part of the last revelation Muhammad received, shortly before his death in 632 CE. By then, he had conquered Arabia and no longer faced danger.

We can thus conclude that verse 5.5 encouraging Muslims to befriend Jews and Christians (revealed around 632 CE) superseded verse 5.51 cautioning Muslims against trusting them (revealed a decade earlier). Similarly, gender equality superseded misogyny, forgiveness superseded punishment, and a "similar as thou" attitude superseded "holier than thou." Then, Islam emerges as religion of peace.

There is also a fourth realization, based on the Quran's affirmation that God sent messengers to all nations, and Muhammad's clarification that there were 124,000 such messengers. While the Quran names only 25 (including Moses and Jesus), Muslims are to honor all — equally.

A recent survey by All Believers Network revealed that followers of many religions perceive the reality they worship to be eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, formless, genderless, wise and compassionate. Are there as many "realities" as religions? Or is it the same reality called by different names and honored through different rituals? This exploration led to the formation of the Hawaii-based All Believers Network (Belnet).

Endorsed by the Hawaii Legislature, Belnet is planning an international interfaith conference in Honolulu in mid-2011 under the theme "One Reality, One Humanity, Converging Paths." www.AllBelievers.net will provide periodic updates.

By our objective exploration, we are also promoting Hawaii as the world's interfaith harmony capital. Please join us.

Reach Saleem Ahmed, president of Belnet and the author of "Islam: A Religion of Peace?" (2009), at ahmedinhawaii@aol.com.