Salaamu alaykum I have heard that insulting the Messenger is punishable by death, but i have been attacked by nonmuslims who say this is unfair that if someone were to insult Jesus nothing would happen to them. How can i respond to this? How can i respond to the claim that they make that this ruling we have makes us so intolerant, especially when i hear its permissible to insult other religions?

AAWW,

The status of insulting Jesus (PBUH) is like insulting Mohamad (PBUH) or any other prophet or messenger. It is an apostasy! A part of our faith is to believe in all prophets and messengers without differentiating between them. Allah described our belief in this regard by saying what is translated as, "We do not differentiate between any of His messengers."

Also, insulting other Divine Religions is the same- it is an apostasy! When we Muslims criticize the contemporary Christianity or Judaism, we do not-in reality- criticize the religions themselves, rather we criticize the intentional corruption people made in their original religions. For instance, claiming that Jesus is God, or the son of God, or a part of the trinity.