The Qur'an: Litteral or Allegorical???

Does the Qur'an mean what it says? Is it to be taken literally or is it metaphorical or allegorical? Tafsir are explanations of verses from the Qur'an, written by experts who compare verses and hadith, matching up their meanings. qtafsir.com has the only practical tafsir search engine known to me. In these tafsir topics, Ibn Kathir uses other ayat and ahadith to explain the meaning of ayat. The headings below are the search terms used in an exact search. These tafsir explain the following ayat:

1. 9:29
2. 4:77
3. 8:39
4. 2:193

Order to fight

1. The Order to fight People of the Scriptures until They give the Jizyah
(9. Surah At-Tawbah/Topics)

...knowledge not the religion of truth among the People of the Scripture,) This honorable Ayah was revealed with the order to fight the People of the Book, after the pagans were defeated, the people ente...

2. The Situation of the True Believer and the Sick-Hearted when the Command for Jihad was revealed
(47. Surah Muhammad/Topics)

...12;﴾ (Those who believe say: "Why is not a Surah sent down (for us)'') means, a Surah containing an order to fight. Then He says, ﴿فَإِذَ...

3. The Order to fight to eradicate Shirk and Kufr
(8. Surah Al-Anfal/Topics)

Allah said, ﴿وَقَـتِلُوهُمْ حَتَّى لاَ تَ

4. The Order to fight until there is no more Fitnah
(2. Surah Al Baqarah/Topics)

Allah then commanded fighting the disbelievers when He said: ﴿حَتَّى لاَ ت

1. 4:77
2. 3:121
3. 9:5

Command to fight

1. The Wish that the Order for Jihad be Delayed
(4. Surah An-Nisa/Topics)

...umerous enemies. The Muslims' city was a sacred one and the most honored area on the earth, and this is why the command to fight was not revealed in Makkah. Later on when the Muslims controlled a ...

2. The Reason Behind the Battle of Uhud
(3. Surah Al `Imran/Topics)

...75;لْقِتَال» (No one starts fighting until I issue the command to fight.) The Messenger prepared his forces for battle, and his army...

3. The Command to fight Those Who fight Muslims and killing Them wherever They are found
(2. Surah Al Baqarah/Topics)

Abu Ja`far Ar-Razi said that Ar-Rabi` bin Anas said that Abu Al-`Aliyah commented on what Allah said: ﴿وَقَـتِلُواْ

Click the links above and read those tafsir topics. See what Allah commanded Muslims to do. See what Muhammad did. Muslims & Dhimmis will tell you that the Qur'an does not mean what it says, ignoring 3:7, which informs them that the Qur'an contains commands expressed in clear verses.

If " fight them..." & "fight those who"... "until"... do not mean exactly what they say, then:

1. Why did Muhammad confirm it ?

   Sahih Bukhari Volume 1, Book 8, Number 387:
   Narrated Anas bin Malik:
   Allah's Apostle said, "I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.' And if they say so, pray like our prayers, face our Qibla and slaughter as we slaughter, then their blood and property will be sacred to us and we will not interfere with them except legally and their reckoning will be with Allah." Narrated Maimun ibn Siyah that he asked Anas bin Malik, "O Abu Hamza! What makes the life and property of a person sacred?" He replied, "Whoever says, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah', faces our Qibla during the prayers, prays like us and eats our slaughtered animal, then he is a Muslim, and has got the same rights and obligations as other Muslims have."
   

2. Why is 9:29 used as the basis of Islamic law? I quote from Reliance of the Traveler, which is described here. [Emphasis added.]
   

   O-9.8: The Objectives of Jihad
   The caliph (o-25) makes war upon Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians (N: provided he has first invited them to enter Islam in faith and practice, and if they will not, then invited them to enter the social order of Islam by paying the non-Muslim poll tax (jizya, def: o-11.4) -which is the significance of their paying it, not the money itself-while remaining in their ancestral religions) (O: and the war continues) until they become Muslim or else pay the non-Muslim poll tax (O: in accordance with the word of Allah Most High,
   "Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day and who forbid not what Allah and His messenger have forbidden-who do not practice the religion of truth, being of those who have been given the Book-until they pay the poll tax out of hand and are humbled" (Koran 9.29),