[billybudd]

I don't buy the conclusion that "All it takes to be infected is to become acquainted with the Quran and take to heart what it says." If this were true, then all Muslims would automatically become terrorists. Obviously this is not true. My guess is that the explanation is simpler. The young men profiled here had some life crisis that they couldn't handle, and they retreated into that aspect of themselves which seemed most authentic and permanent, namely Islam. So they "rediscovered" their Muslim roots, but this is just a cover, a mask, for their inability to cope with social reality. My 2 cents.

[DonaldC]

Not all Muslims are terrorists just as not all Christians are like Christ, because just as many of them are backsliders just like us. :)

[OK]

"I don't buy the conclusion that "All it takes to be infected is to become acquainted with the Quran and take to heart what it says." If this were true, then all Muslims would automatically become terrorists."

You would be surprised how many Muslims have never read the Quran in their native language. Many of them only hear it read in Arabic and have no idea what it says.

Additionally, only a very small minority have ever read the Haddiths, which make up the meat of Islam. These are the "traditions" which are the transcribed oral history of Muhammad's life and actions. The Haddiths are where the true problem Ali Sina identified lies.