>People who actually know what they're talking about: Too goddamn few
One more Mr. Northman, just hear me out.

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First of all I'm an agnostic. Technically I'm half Muslim (mom) half Christian (dad), but I've never been devout in either side. I would say atheist if I didn't believe in some form of higher power, that the whole of life on this planet presents a sum more powerful than any of its parts. But I digress.

In response to the comment i the Mosque thread quoting Deuteronomy:
That's old testament, Jesus came along and negated a bunch of things in the old testament. Jews follow just the old testament, Christians find a balance between the old (wrathful god etc) and the new (forgiving god etc). What you're doing is ignoring Jesus, which makes the comment non-applicable to Christendom.

In response to our friend Ramjet Train, same thread:
One thousand four hundred. They were created when Christianity took foot in the Roman Empire. In fact, Mohammad heard about Christianity because of the Romans and wanted to build his own competing religious system. When they were thinking of a way to call people to prayer, many religions ways were considered including the Christian bell. Mohammad settled on a guy that climbs really high and yells because they didn't have infrastructure and bells to start with in the desert. This was also how they summoned various tribes to battle, so they were used to the call.
Sunni and Shia are different for a non-religious reason, and only the Arabic Koran is accepted as a true source. Even though people who speak Farsi, English or Russian can read the Koran and pray in their own languages (they have to say "ana a la ate kelem arabijah" before praying in a Mosque), the various laws and judgments on what is moral needs to be made by an individual capable of reading the Koran in Arabic. So in order to follow the moral code, you must know Arabic. This is why Arabic is taught in every Muslim country including those whose language is something other.
Highly respected Muslims who go to Mecca and learn Arabic so they can read the Koran are referred to by the prefix "Haji" (which is a old Christian term for those who visit Jerusalem). So if a guy is named Abdul, and he becomes a devout Muslim in this way, he is officially called Haji Abdul.
Muslims who don't know how to speak Arabic or can't travel to Mecca as all Muslims should have to have a reason for this, and this reason is between them and god.

As a child I grew up in a 99% Muslim place, went to school with Muslims and had to read the Koran even though I'm not a Muslim. I've had Muslim girlfriends and I've had to pretend in front of their fathers, uncles and brothers that I was Muslim or they would surely kill her or beat her severely and probably me. You've banned spankings in America even and would think it monstrous if I slapped another persons baby for crying, but understand that beating your own child half to death with a wooden stick and stabbing her infidel friends is the normal thing to do for Muslims. And don't think this is just in the middle east or Africa, I'm from the civilized part of Bosnia.
Trust me when I say from a very long history of being with these people: Every single Musulman is required to follow the Koran, Sura etc to the best of his ability, this includes the extremely objectionable parts. To this rule, there are no exceptions.
There are no moderate Muslims. Their numbers are so few that as far as you're concerned, you'll never meet one, and if you did meet the few deluded believers who are actually tolerant, you wouldn't be able to tell them apart from someone who was simply faking moderation or perhaps his version of moderation doesn't extend to gays or jews (there is always a catch). It's mostly those Muslims who are young and haven't gone to Mecca, or those who are forced by the situation of their life to not follow Koran.
The devout Muslims who hide what they believe in (see up) are performing "takia", which means they hide their true self to escape persecution in any of it's forms (not just physical beatings or verbal criticism). So if a Muslim thinks he would not get a job if he wore the Koran or if she wore a veil, they must hide who they are. Muslims in America feel that they would be persecuted by the society if they acted piously, to some extent they think this because of the history of persecution in America, and this is a good thing because it at least forces them to act tolerant which rubs off on their kids. You can find more on this in the Koran, sura fifteen to twenty (not sure), it's very near the beginning. They can even profess to be Jews or Christians, go to mass, read the bible, sing in choirs and so on all the while being Muslims. I've even caught my own mother doing it.
Some people call it doublethink, but they're just ignorant. The Muslim doesn't believe two things at the same time, he or she believes only in Al lah while outwardly showing something else.

Overall my impression of Islam is a religion that has been stuck in it's own dark ages since it's creation, and of the adult Muslim population as a group of individuals who cannot be trusted unless they think you're Muslim too. I have learned to tolerate them and even appreciate pieces of their culture not tied to their religion (fine foods which come from old polytheistic Persia, fine dancing which comes from the Byzantine empire) but I don't put myself in situations where they have real or implied control over me.

Islam has a chance, but it's going to need something 10 times more powerful than the reformation and reinessance to get out of the fourteen hundred year rut.

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There, you can lock this thread so it doesn't devolve, but I thought you should know about Islam from someone who is not BSing you all.