I am Muslim, Ask me anything

[Aegon]

For your first question. I personally hate ISIS. I hate the fact that they call themselves muslim and that the media calls them muslims. They have nothing to do with the religion of Islam and cannot say they are killing in the name of Allah because in the quran it says:
“Whoever kills a person [unjustly]…it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind.” (Qur’an, 5:32)
Them being disbelievers is not a reason to kill people because:
1. In the Quran it says believers include the people of the book (Muslims, Jews and Christians), and ISIS kills those.
2. You should not kill anyone for any reason (except if they killed someone of your family purposely, but if you forgive that person it is better and Allah will forgive your bad deeds more easily)

Extremists have justified their actions as retaliation for the killing of their families for quite some time. Read Bin Laden's letter to the U.S. after the 9/11 attacks, which is accessible online. ISIS uses similar arguments today. The problem with billions of people trying to follow the same old text is that different interpretations will spawn across different regions and different peoples. Who are you to say that the extremist interpretation is not the true one? There is no such thing as a "true Muslim"; all interpretations can be considered valid from a certain point of view. That is the problem with following a religion "of the book."

Now on your question on my viewpoint of the treatment of women in many of the more conservative Muslim countries/societies. I believe that what you see on the media is not entirely true because I have a friend from Saudi Arabia and people who have visited there and they say the women are happy. However I understand the treatment is not the best but it is slowly improving and will in the future hopefully be just as in any other country.

Right - the more an Islamic society strays away from the literal laws articulated in the Quran, the better the women are treated. Funny how that works...