A joke of an interview, with near zero skepticism, criticisms, or difficult questions offered -- presumably out of the fear of seeming disrespectful.  You should have read some Hitchens before lobbing softballs in this myopic puff piece of an interview.  This guy's Islam, which is quite reasonably, barely reflects what the "average" belief of Islam entails.<br><br>How about addressing the elephant in the room:  There is a very large, non-trivial population of Muslims that believe in things that are wholly incompatible with what we perceive as "civilized". Statistically speaking, per the Pew Poll, a large enough population that I would consider the interviewee's peaceful stance to be on the "extreme" end of peaceful.  (Eg: The Pew Polls show that there are <b>billions</b> of believers that think these are "sometimes or always justifiable": Sharia Law should be the preferred justice system, death penalty for leaving the religion, honor killings, death penalty for being gay... even among those living in countries that are NOT majority Islam!<br><br>To have a section about Islamophobia, but to ignore the above, as well what <b>actually</b> happens (as to opposed to what is believed) -- eg Charlie Hebdo, suicide bombings, and the thousands of other yearly occurrences of murders due <b>strictly</b> to the intolerance that <b>a very large part of Islam</b> preaches.... it's pathetic.,(reply>), @Penny Ether Likewise, I appreciate your respect during this discussion. Of course I don't wish harm upon you, nor would our Prophet. Respectful discussion is essential.<br><br>I would add however that the majority of people on the internet wish death upon you if you disagree with them, Muslim or otherwise. See the madness on Reddit. Whether you disagree with a faith group, a political leaning/ideology, or even a technology or diet, there are many that would tell you to "kill yourself". Online insults are not unique to Muslims online.<br><br>I would still encourage you to read about Islam, if only to answer the following question: Do certain Muslims' "violence, primitiveness" stem from Islam? Or does it stem from other factors (economic, political, cultural)? <br><br>If you don't want to read, I would encourage you to visit your local mosque. Ask the imam there some questions; verify what you believe to be true. "Is it true that you guys... etc."  Believe me, we're not as scary as the media makes us seem.<br><br>In any case, have a nice day. 👍,(reply>), @ApplePie No offense taken.<br><br>It doesn't matter what you or myself think Sharia law means -- the ramifications of it are polled (take a look at the report, some interesting questions are in it). Interestingly, they even polled for whether or not people believed there were multiple interpretations of Sharia. Turns out a <b>massive</b> percentage thought there's only one true interpretation.<br><br>Tangentially, you mentioned your personal interpretation of Sharia. One wonders what it says about homosexuality, women's rights, and corporal punish for various transgressions.<br><br>As noted, here are some interesting things that were polled:<br><br>- Death penalty for leaving the religion<br>- Severe corporal punishment<br>- Application of Sharia Law to non-Muslims<br>- Whether belief in God is required to be a moral person<br>- What actions are morally wrong (homosexuality, drinking, etc)<br>- Women's rights (omg)<br>- Whether suicide bombing is never/sometimes/always justified<br>- To what degree religion should be involved in politics and justice<br>- Are there one, or more than one, interpretations of Sharia<br>- Is converting others to Islam a moral duty<br><br>Respectfully, I don't have any interest in learning about Sharia Law or Islam, beyond the effect it has on actual people's beliefs, and how those people act upon those beliefs.<br><br>It's great that you seem to have a sensible take on your religion and that you find it helpful in your life. That does not, however, excuse the religion as a whole and it should not excuse criticisms of it from entering an interview about it.<br><br>I'll also add that it's really great that you encourage learning and debate on the matter, and that you (seemingly) do not with to have me killed for criticism it. Sadly, this belief would only marginally (and not overwhelmingly) put you in the majority of Muslims. I come across more instances of violence / killings / riots / etc that stem from criticism of Islam more than any other religion. It does not appear that tolerance is at all a strong suit for a very large population of followers... and it's pathetic that this is not addressed in the interview.,(reply>), @Penny Ether Firstly, at no point did I identify some Muslims as "true" and others as not. Whether someone is a "true" Muslim is not really up to me. Not sure where you got this from.<br><br>Regarding the Pew polls: Sharia means something very different things to Muslim vs non-Muslim populations. Support for Sharia does not necessarily mean support for primitiveness and violence. Recall that 2% of Sharia concerns crime and punishment. These polls don't measure "primitiveness, violence, and intolerance", they measure support for a legal system. Whether or not this legal system is "primitive and violent" is up for debate. Therefore, you cannot come to the conclusion that you did.<br><br>For me, Sharia means interest-free loans and respect/equality for all groups, Muslim or otherwise. <br><br>And for every "daily" act of terrorism, there are thousands of Muslims that condemn it and stand against it. <br><br>Respectfully, whether or not you care about what Prophet Muhammad said is irrelevant. When you want to learn about an idea, you go to its source. When you want to learn about communism, you read Marx and Engels. When you want to learn about Christianity, you read about Jesus. And when you want to learn about Islam, you read about Muhammad. That's why I recommended that book.<br><br>My apologies if anything I said came across as aggressive or insensitive; it's not my intention. It's easy to misinterpret tones when online.,(reply>), @ApplePie The name of the research study was "The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society" -- go take a look at the response %'s to some of the questions there. It's separated by country, and if you take into account the Muslim populations in those countries, you end up with staggering numbers of people with radical beliefs.<br><br>As respectfully as possible, I truly don't care a single bit about what one particular alleged prophet said or did in his lifetime. There are dozens of prophets that are purported to be the sole truth of how I (and others) should live their lives, and I have an equal interest in all of them: zero.<br><br>I hope you can understand that what you interpret from your readings is radically different than what others interpret. Your choice to consider some Muslims "real" and others "not", based on whether or not they believe the same things you do, is exactly what the "others" do.<br><br>The difference is quantitatively expressed in the aforementioned polls, the results of which point towards a religion -- defined as the aggregate beliefs of all that self-identify as that religion -- that is primitive, violent, and intolerable.  Though, it does not take a poll to reach that conclusion -- one simply needs to be aware of daily acts of terrorism and the motivations behind them.<br><br>While you may not agree that such people are "truly" Muslim, they would same the same about you. The fact of the matter is they self-identify as Muslim, and there are a lot of them, and that's a problem with <b>your</b> religion, not my ignorance of it. <br><br>Hence, I would expect some criticisms of the religion to be addressed in the interview, and not ignored.,(reply>), @Penny Ether And what did the Pew Research polls say? Please enlighten me.<br><br>As to this "book" that I consider "most representative": I'm not telling you to read this book specifically, I am merely telling you to read Prophet Muhammad's story, if you really want to learn about Islam's message. <br><br>This book is one of hundreds that tell it. And billions of Muslims have already read it and learned about it. So if you intend on reading, read this book or any of the hundreds that have been published in the last millennium.