While Muhammad's warring was clearly at times brutal, he is supposed to have said of Hinduism that 'the idol temple is similar to the churches of the Christians, (to the synagogues) of the Jews and to the fire temples of the Zoroastrians' ("mā al-budd illā ka-kanāʾis al-naṣārā wa ’l-yahūd wa-buyūt nīrān al-madjūs"). This 'seems to be the earliest statement justifying the inclusion of the Hindus in the category of "ahl al-dhimma", leading Muhammad to be viewed by many modern Muslims as a paragon of religious tolerance.