War and Peace — and Deceit — in Islam (Part 1)  

A friend forwarded this very thought provoking article and I thought I would share with you all...over the years I've been repeatedly told that I don't "understand Islam" that terrorists and the west are misconstruing the Quran and Hadith and therefore giving Muslims a bad name. But one particular paragraph in the following article really stood out for me, because of all the world's religions, Islam is by far the least ambiguous. Every aspect of a Muslim's life is controlled by the Quran and the Hadith and therefore there can be little to misunderstand.

http://pajamasmedia.com/b...


one must first appreciate the thoroughly legalistic nature of mainstream (Sunni) Islam. Amazingly, for all the talk that Islam is constantly being “misunderstood” or “misinterpreted” by “radicals,” the fact is, as opposed to most other religions, Islam is a clearly defined faith admitting of no ambiguity: indeed, according to Sharia (i.e., “Islam’s way of life,” more commonly translated as “Islamic law”) every conceivable human act is categorized as being either forbidden, discouraged, permissible, recommended, or obligatory. “Common sense” or “universal opinion” has little to do with Islam’s notions of right and wrong. All that matters is what Allah (via the Koran) and his prophet Muhammad (through the hadith) have to say about any given subject, and how Islam’s greatest theologians and jurists — collectively known as the ulema, literally, the “ones who know” — have articulated it.

Now, unlike Christianity, which has many beliefs and sects and can be interpreted in many ways, Islam is pretty much walled off and there is very little room for personal interpretation. In fact, this narrowness is what hurts Islam the most and lends itself to fanaticism. Islam is a narrowminded religion that breeds narrowmindedness in its followers.