Was he a true Muslim may be as hard to answer as “Is “he” a true man?” of any man today. We know all the things Mohammad was from a practicer of polyandry, polygamy, and pedophile to murderer to liar to almost anything else we have pejorative words for. Was he a multicultural lover of history, art, music, and people? Never.
Why do Muslims revere him? For one reason...from the time they were in their mothers’ wombs they have heard the rhythm and cadence of the Qu’ran and from the time they could mimic words they began mimicking words from the Qu’ran. From the time they could truly memorize oral tradition they spoke the words of the Qu’ran without understanding the meaning. This type of blab school learning goes on continuously from the time they can memorize to and throughout adulthood. Most Muslims have no other education. To what else can they compare the Qo’ran to? Nothing. Therefore it is the be all and end all. They cannot evaluate anything.
How can any Muslim raised thusly begin to use logic to refute such insanity as FGM? Or killing all infidels, or killing all animals-—all swine, cats, dogs, maybe even birds, and using halal “sanitation” to kill and dress cattle. I wonder how they regard horses or odd beasties like kangaroos?
Well said -- we had a president that was raised for several years this way, and who said the Muslim call to prayer is "the prettiest sound on earth" in a NYT interview. His actions as president certainly indicate he was, at a minimum, a Muslim apologist. But most of us think it was worse than that....
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Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it’ll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/opinion/06kristof.html