Message

I cannot help but feel that Islam is being sadly - and ironically -

misrepresented in all this. For what is (was) the message of the Prophet.

Islam takes up the deistic message of surrounding religions and presents

its own version of submission. This involves a struggle within oneself, a life

hygiene of prayer, and a duty to others. I would expect that, at the time of its

inception, this was a salutary way of expressing the values of civilization in a portable

manner. Portable to whom: to the groups and tribes not on board.

Spread the message it did, all over the globe. 1300 years later, the work goes on

but not without an accumulation of ironies and reversals along the way.

Jihad indeed.