I'm not that familiar with Islam, but I suspect that most religions have offshoot fringe groups that do not represent the original religion. What comes to mind immediately is the CLDS debacle that is going on now which is in no way indicative of mainstream Mormonism. I found this definition of Islam: Islam


A religion, founded by Muhammad, whose members worship the one God of Jews and Christians (God is called Allah in Arabic) and follow the teachings of the Koran. Islam means “submission to the will of God”; adherents of Islam are called Muslims. The fundamental belief of Islam is “There is only one God, and Muhammad is his prophet.”

Muslims are obliged to pray five times a day, to fast in the daytime during the holy month of Ramadan, to abstain from pork and alcohol, and to make gifts to the poor. All of them are expected to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, Muhammad's birthplace, at least once in their lives.

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I theorize that many of the qualities that people perceive to be those of Muslims, are actually cultural not religious. That said, why are we discussing Islam in this forum? Shouldn't this be in the religious forum?