[headsonpikes]

I confess to the charge of snarkiness, although I absolutely cannot recall any Islamist restricting himself to mere bloodless snark, as contrasted with holy book affirmations and bloodshed.

[Vanders9]

Oh its a cult of rules and regulations and "good works" all right. They're trying to pull themselves into heaven by their own bootlaces, which never works of course. They dont have any of the Christian hangups about the motives and intentions of God. To a muslim Allah is Allah, and his only true prophet is Mohammed, and his decrees are not to be questioned, under any circumstances. There are internal disputations about HOW some of the decrees are to be interpreted, but no muslim denies them.

That's the point of contention. A Christian does something because his understanding of God's will leads him to it, and if whatever it is doesnt work out, he collapses into a paroxym of doubt and self-examination. A Muslim does it because Allah commands him to do it, and that command in and of itself makes what he does right. That's why you cannot reason with Islamists.