Your favorite surahs

[Mudhammam]

I don't think we can force anyone to agree that a particular book is certainly not divine or anywhere near perfect... so it would be ridiculous to suggest that we should treat Muslims different than anyone else. That would solve nothing. That being said, part of what it means to treat Muslims as equals with everyone else is to not pretend that they can hide behind a religious identity, in calling one's self a Muslim and what that implies with regard to the essentials doctrines of the faith, and then treat statements or criticisms of that specific facet of their character as racism or bigotry. Regardless of how anyone wants to interpret the Qur'an, or the Bible, the idea that it is a perfect book, that it is not a relic of human contrivance, is inevitably going to result in some portion of fanatics who interpret it literally (and why shouldn't they based on the logic religion itself employs?)---the reason being that the very notion that Muhammad was God's messenger is a fanatical belief and one that requires both an irrational mode of thought and an intellectually vapid set of ideas, coupled with complete and absolute devotion. So, the war is one of ideas, and this can only be fought if we are honest about not simply the connection between religion and action (nobody thinks that Islam is the only reason for the results we see in the Middle East, or that Christianity and the sort of religious devotion that is nationalism or 'U.S. exceptionalism' is solely responsible for U.S. intervention), but also about the nature of religion itself, and that people who refer to themselves as Muslims must to some extent be held responsible (not via force, but rather argument and even mockery) as complicit in its perpetuation. I would not doubt if many of the truly moderate Muslims---those who do not believe the Qur'an is God's unique message to all of mankind, or that it is flawless, or that Islam is a pathway to heaven and everyone else is doomed to eternal punishment for Adam's sin---retain the name so as to not damage their credibility within the faith and be seen as outsiders or apostates (we know what the Qur'an explicitly teaches about what ought to be done with them).