[Sabertooth]

Who cares about Muhammed?

Usama bin Laden is conducting this war.

After we take care of bin Laden and the rest, we can talk about religion.

The title of this thread, which you posted, is "Understanding Islam And Its Radicals." Islam is a religion. This thread, to a great degree, is about the religion of Islam.

A proposition has been put forth: that Osama bin Laden is an Islamic radical. Is he?

Well, to answer that question we need to understand Islam, as the title of your thread indicates. Yet, how can we separate the undestanding of Islam from an undestanding of Mohammed, who is the founder of Islam?

Osama bin Laden, assuming he's still alive, would hold that his jihad is in the tradition of Mohammed's jihads. If that's true, then bin Laden is no radical; not as far as true Islam is concerned.

Therefore, all of the questions that have been raised here about Mohammed are valid. Not answering them is certainly an option, but will suggest conclusions about the strength of the "bin Laden is a radical" argument.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"Osama bin Laden, assuming he's still alive, would hold that his jihad is in the tradition of Mohammed's jihads."

Lack of knowledge leads to erroneous statements like the above.

There is no Usama bin Laden Jihad, Usama cannot issue a Jihad, Muslim law does not allow for that. Had there been a true Jihad called, our troops would be engaged in many more places than the ones we are engaged in now.

THAT is what makes bin Laden a radical, an there's the "Understanding Islam" part.