Have we muddled up the definition of Islamic radical terrorism?

Most Muslims in the world are radicals. They – the truly “radical” Muslims – live by a flexible, relativist interpretation of Islam (“surrender to the will of God”), rather than by strict adherence to the Koran, the central, religious document for their religious life. For the “radicals,” the Koran is not their stand-alone, guiding document for jurisprudence or commercial purposes. These more flexible Muslims are the true “Islamic radicals,” and they make up the secular, majority Muslims.

They are “radical” in the same way that Episcopalians are “radical” (aka liberal) in the eyes of, say, Pentecostal Christians. The minority of Muslims who support, and use, violence against infidels follow original, literal Islam. They’re not “Islamic terrorists” – they’re legacy, Koranic literalists who use terror as a tactic to promote the conversion of non-Muslims who must convert to Islam or die. Pure Islam is not a “religion of peace” and was never designed to be a religion of peace. Instead, Islam is a religion that uses terror to enforce a dogma that defines behavioral practices that comply with the Koran and that define the regulations of daily life.