Bismillah
as salam alykom Shamms
Sorry for taking that long to actually touoch upon the important point you brought here.
And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and polytheism, i.e. worshipping others besides Allaah), and the religion (worship) will all be for Allaah Alone [in the whole of the world]. But if they cease (worshipping others besides Allaah), then certainly, Allaah is All-Seer of what they do”
[al-Anfaal 8:39]
With all due respect to the scholar who put down the Fatwa, this Ayah may actually cause some confusion as he explained it. His explanation appears like we are ordained to go around killing non Muslims. No Shamms, if u observed the Ayah say fight and did not say kill. Fighting is a reaction that comes out due to an act, transgression..etc. It is not logical for a Muslim for example to see his money, house, land being taken and stands and applauds the transgressor. The Aysh also prescribes that fighting will be for the objective of eliminating fitnah. Fintah here implies hindering Muslims from practicing their religion, or humiliating them, and by humiliating them Islam will appear weak. In such case we should not also stand still but fight those who fight us to prevent us from practicing our religion. As such, there is not contradiciton what so ever. We are not ordained to fight non Muslims to compel them to become Muslims. We are not ordained to fight Muslims haphazardoly, but the fight must be verified as I explained. But when they fight us we must fight back. The is what the refers to with all due respect to the scholar wallahu A`lam (and Allah Knows best), by Jihad. What is more important, if u actually pursue further info about the Islamic openings of countries during the Muslim State, I can give you one example. For instance, in the case of Egypt, Orthodox Copts who lived in Egypt sent to Omar Ibn Al Khattab (then Muslim Khalifa) seeking his help and rescue against the tyranny of then Roman Empror who was into forcing them to abandon their sect and turn into Catholisim. They were aware that Muslims compel no one to leave their religion. This is not part of Islamic teachings any way. Again, when the Muslim army arrived to the Egyptian borders, they sent with options, they didnt conquor or invade immediately, because they always tried to avoid fighting as much as possible. Not in one single case the sowrd was raised to compel someone to embrace Islam. No it was raised to defend the State, image of Islam and the like.
Again remember the difference between fighting and killing. I also advice you Shamms to read the original post in full including the three sections as divided.
Thank you for your question, it allowed me a chance to further explain this in detail to all.