It's not that simple

This is not to say that the Muslims usually were more brutal or less tolerant than were Christians or Jews, for it was a brutal and intolerant age. It is to say that efforts to portray Muslims as enlightened supporters of multiculturalism are at best ignorant.— The Triumph of Christianity, page 208

<idle musing>
Why do we always insist on importing our current social context into historical interpretation?! We can never learn from history when we do that. Of course we rarely learn from history anyway! But that's another matter all together...
</idle musing>