My homeschooled son and I learned something of value regarding Islam more than a year before the events of 9/11/01. We read the entire Koran and Hadith given to us by a local Imam. We also studied Mohammad and Islamic culture with no preconceived ideas about Muslim beliefs. What we learned shocked us.
It is a recent PR myth (and Koran/allah-condoned deception for non-Muslim consumption) that violent acts against non-Muslims and bloody jihad are carried out by only a few Muslim fanatics. The very core of Islamic belief lies in the waging of violence against the infidels--or House of War as non-Muslims are called. Forget that "religion of peace" and "jihad is a personal struggle with allah" hogwash. Jihad means violent force in the name of allah to gain converts or smite the enemy. (The enemy is anyone who isn't a Muslim.)
All truly devout Muslims must engage or support via jihad Islam's end game which is that of a world totally converted or subjugated to a barbaric, medieval series of 7th Century laws known as Sharia. Sharia is a political/religious rule that denies freedom of choice. Under Sharia, people must adhere to a strict set of diciplines interpreted by a bunch of power-hungry, hypocritical Imams and enforced by yet another set of power-hungry, hypocrical religious police.
During jihad and after Sharia is in place, Muslims are allowed by the exhortations within the Koran and Hadith to cheat, loot from, extort, (by means of a religious bribe or ransom) ambush, deceive, (LIE TO) rape, enslave and murder the infidels with impunity. Any Muslim who doesn't agree with these tactics or decides to leave Islam for another faith or denies God altogether is a heretic and is subject to death.
Yeah, there may be more than a few persons who were born into Islam who don't take their religion seriously. These so-called moderate, peace-loving Muslims have, for the most part, remained silent, whine about their own "safety" from the infidels, blame the hated Jews and Western Culture for the acts committed by the terrorist Muslims, and are not taking a very active role in turning in the "few fanatics" who live and OPENLY speak and preach hatred against the infidels among them. I would assume that to do otherwise invites their more devout brethren to punish or kill them for denying the faith...
I hope that you have learned your lesson regarding Islam today. My homeschooled son and I didn't take our study of Islam's obvious roots in Muslim fanaticism very seriously until 9/11.
Excellent work. Such is the value of homeschooling. < /secret homeschool handshake>