I've personally seen Mein Kampf being openly sold on the street in Muslim countries, the book is disturbingly popular in some places. When people asked me "where from" I sometimes said "Alemania" (Germany) instead of Switzerland because many people don't know about Switzerland and if they do then they try to overcharge you even more than other tourists because they think you're super rich, and then you'll lose even more time to haggle their bonkers prices down. Anyway, I've had people say to me "Alemania, Hitler good" with a big smile on their faces, and no hint of irony whatsoever. This happened on several occasions. I've also had people tell me that I look like Osama bin Laden and while I don't see that as a compliment at all, I learned that Osama is actually considered handsome by many and has plenty of fans so they meant this as a compliment. Again, not kidding. Of course, this hopefully does not represent the majority view in those countries but unsavory views aren't as fringe as apologists try to make us believe and you can run into such mentalities on a daily base at an unsettling frequency. Most tourists don't even notice because they travel in groups and have minimal contact with the locals, I travel by myself so I talk to people a lot and as an individual people feel less inhibited to talk to me and share their views. I've met many super nice people in Muslim countries but I've met quite a number of people whose views would be completely unacceptable over here.
One thing that made me really sad was when I visited a primary school in Syria - and I must point out that Syrians are in general lovely people whose hospitality is supreme and second to none - however it was sad to see that all the school kids were taught that Israel is by definition a prime evil and they all made drawings of Israeli tanks that "kill the babies". I was thinking, if you learn hate from such an early age, how will there ever be peace in the region? Sure, there have been too many civilian casualties on both sides but to witness institutionalized indoctrination of hate is a real downer.
Strijkbout: We'll see, and please don't come to me if your friend blows your head off next time when you made a joke that didn't fell well on him, but why would you I'm a fake liberal anyway.
My best friend never attacked me when I criticize his religion (Catholicism), on the contrary he's open to discussion. He genuinely forgives me whenever we have a fight regardless of who said what. That is why I greatly respect him even though I give a symbolic -100 respect points penalty to any religious person if they in any way shape or form shove their religion in my face. Because religion is by definition an argument from ignorance and I have exactly zero tolerance when religion passes the barrier from private spiritual matters (which is entirely fine) to public matters where it affects others, often in a decisively negative way. I don't go out of my way to insult religion or those who follow it. For example, if I'm sitting at my friend's table and he prays with his family before meals, I patiently and silently wait and don't mock them. I even say amen because it's his house and praying before eating doesn't threaten me or anyone in any way. In general, I only offend and criticize religion when it crosses the line and/or takes itself too seriously.
When Muslims say I must respect Muhammad, they are absolutely crossing the line. There's not a single reason why I should give any respect whatsoever to Muhammad, he was nothing admirable in my opinion, just a mere mortal like you and me. When I hear people say that he was the perfect human being and then I compare that to what is known about his life, all I experience is a severe disconnect and most severe facepalm. So severe that I think even this primitive silly little crap game is justified in its existence, even if it has no value other than contributing a tiny bit to balance out the ludicrous superiority claims made about one man whose respectability is entirely questionable and whose divine connection is unproven, just like all divine connections. You can believe in it, but don't use it as a pretext to bully and coerce other people into anything. But that's exactly what's happening.