Islam, religion of violence or religion of mercifulness

In the name of Allah

Islam, religion of violence or religion of mercifulness

Today we are encountering with two groups of misgivings about the subject of Islam and violence. We should distinct these two groups.
First group are those that claim there is relationship between violence and Islam in a whole (Islamic texts and Islamic injunctions and commandments like Jihad and law of retaliation). They say Moslems and non Moslems have the same potential for violence as others, and Islam as a religion and an ideology seeks to exploit that potential.
Also they claim that in Islam, there is no separation between religion and government -what in Christianity would be called the separation of church and state- and this lead to violence in Moslems.
They bring some evidences from Quran and other Islamic texts in support of their claim .like verses of Jihad and law of retaliation.
The second groups are misgivings about Moslems and Moslem countries and also their actions. This one also can be divided to two branches:
About countries like Palestine, Iraq and other Moslem countries that are occupied and they only defend from their country and family.
About some sects who do some violent actions in the name of Islam like what occurred in September 11, 2001 in America.
The role of media and propaganda -in which the Western world associates Islam more than any other religion with violence, Despite the presence of violence in many regions of the world ranging from Ireland to Lebanon to the Pacific Basin and involving many religions from Christianity to Hinduism- also had a big influence on giving violent face to Islam the religion of mercifulness.
And (O messenger) we have sent you as a mercy for the 'Alamîn (mankind and all that exists). Holy quran 21:107.
We also should study some historical evidences about non Moslem countries occurrences in the past like world war I , and world war II to see how many people were killed in those wars and who was the cause, Islam or other things?
We should consider this question too, if Islam is the religion of violence how Islam prophet attracted so many people in a short time?
In this essay I will investigate these questions and we want God's favor to understand the truth Islam.