My point is, the idea that a text causes these people to suddenly turn into suicide bombers is BS. There are underlying issues here, with the text serving as a skin-deep cover. Think about it, if this were true, then we've already lost the war on terror. All the Islamic fundies have to do is spread the Koran as widely as possible, and they build up their zombie army. Actually, it's more like the other way around. Our media is influencing Islamic countries more than the Koran is influencing Americans.
The problem is that if one believes that Muhammad was the true and last prophet of God, then one must follow his example and words.
The main issue for me is that the truth about what these Haddith texts say is generally kept away from public scrutiny. If more people actually read them, then it would be out in the open that either Muhammad was right that followers are obliged to kill for Islam, or the whole thing is a hoax.
Craig Wynn writes:
"Islam rises and falls on Muhammad. He is the religion's sole prophet, Islam’s solitary example, Allah’s lone conduit. Without Muhammad, Allah, the Qur’an, and Islam would be unknown. Yet the picture the Islamic scriptures paint of this man is not flattering; his words aren’t believable. According to the Qur’an and Hadith, Muhammad was a thief, rapist, and terrorist. It’s hardly the example you’d want your neighbor to emulate.
Muhammad, Allah, Mecca, and the formation of Islam are completely unknown to secular history. All we know of them is derived from the Qur’an and Hadith. The earliest and most important collection of Hadith is called the Sira, or Biography. Compiled by Ibn Ishaq, the Sira provides the only written account of this man, his god, place and religion within two centuries of his death. There is no other valid source from which Muhammad can be seen, or Islam can be interpreted, differently.
To write Prophet of Doom, I analyzed the Sira, the Ta’rikh, or History of al-Tabari, and the topical Hadith collections of Bukhari and Muslim. Using Islam’s most holy books I was able to reorder the Qur’an chronologically and set it into the context of Muhammad’s life. The result is bone chilling. The depiction of the prophet by the most revered Muslim sources reveals behavior that is immoral, criminal, and violent. The five oldest and most trusted Islamic sources don't portray Muhammad as a great and godly man. They confirm that he was a thief, liar, assassin, mass murderer, terrorist, warmonger, and an unrestrained sexual pervert engaged in pedophilia, incest, and rape. He authorized deception, assassinations, torture, slavery, and genocide. He was a pirate, not a prophet. According to the Hadith and the Qur'an, Muhammad and his henchmen plundered their way to power and prosperity. And by putting the Qur'an in chronological order and correlating it with the context of Muhammad's life, we find that Allah mirrored his prophet's character. Muhammad's god condoned immoral and criminal behavior. Allah boasts about being a terrorist. He claims to have deceived men, to have stolen their property, to have enslaved women and children, to having committed acts of murder, genocide, and sadistic tortures. [Continue ...]
http://www.prophetofdoom.net/