Note 159 — ALL THE WARS OF MOHAMMAD WERE DEFENSIVE.
Reading edition
Islam and its Founder, by J.W.H. Stobart, B.A., page 76.
But, in fact, there was no such permission. The verse quoted above says, that the wrath and punishment of God will be on those who deny God, except those who do so by being forced. The latter were not put on the same footing as the former; in short, those who denied God under compulsion were not counted unbelievers.