Another atrocity carried out by a young Muslim. And as usual the Owen Joneses of this world miss the point entirely.
In a world where stupid generalisations are frowned upon, it is depressing that generalising about ‘Muslims’ is standard fare for non-Muslims – both ‘Islamophobic’ chauvinists and their equally irrational, ‘Islamophilic’ opposites.
It is as unintelligent to assert Islam is inherently peaceful and tolerant as it is to assert the opposite. From US presidents to Guardian writers, so many make claims of what ‘real’ Islam is. Yet this denies the truth apparent – this massively diverse ideology, drawn from vast, complicated and often disputed texts, has no single interpretation. What’s more, there is no universally accepted hierarchy in Islam. We don’t have the equivalent of the Pope, Archbishop or Chief Rabbi.
Therefore, to all practical purposes, Islam is whatever the individual Muslim believes it is.
Those beliefs will be shaped by what that individual is told, taught and shown. They are moulded by the individual’s ancestral culture, their parents, their mosque and/or madrassa, their Islamic society, their peers, their ‘community’ and the Islamic channels they watch at home. The prominent Muslim figures they listen to. The blogs and internet forums they access online.
That’s why focusing on what Muslims actually believe is so much more pertinent than the usual ‘verse-quoting’ and quibbling over what is, and is not, ‘real’ Islam.
http://hurryupharry.org/2016/06/13/...oneses-of-this-world-miss-the-point-entirely/
