The Life of Muhammad:
An Inconvenient Truth
Timeline of Muhammad's Life (A.D)

570 - Born in Mecca
576 - Orphaned upon death of mother
595 - Marries Kadijah - older, wealthy widow
610 - Reports first revelations from angel at age of 40
619 - Protector uncle dies
622 - Emigrates from Mecca to Medina (the Hijra)
623 - Orders raids on Meccan caravans
624 - Battle of Badr (victory)
624 - Evicts Qaynuqa Jews from Medina
624 - Orders the assassination of Abu Afak
624 - Orders the assassination of Asma bint Marwan
624 - Orders the assassination of Ka'b al-Ashraf
625 - Battle of Uhud (defeat)
625 - Evicts Nadir Jews
627 - Battle of the Trench (victory)
627 - Massacre of the Qurayza Jews
628 - Signing of the Treaty of Hudaibiya with Mecca
628 - Destruction and subjugation of the Khaybar Jews
629 - Orders first raid into Christian lands at Muta (defeat)
630 - Conquers Mecca by surprise (along with other tribes)
631 - Leads second raid into Christian territory at Tabuk (no battle)
632 - Dies

"Muhammad is a narcissist, a pedophile, a mass murderer,
a terrorist, a misogynist, a lecher, a cult leader, a madman
a rapist, a torturer, an assassin and a looter."
Former Muslim Ali Sina offered $50,000 to anyone
who could prove otherwise based on Islamic texts.
The reward has gone unclaimed.

To Dan S de Merengue
"In choosing to express oneself, in whatever manner one desires, to achieve a certain goal, is otherwise known as 'free speech' or 'freedom of expression'.

Oh OK - I'd like to express myself by shooting lot's of bad drivers who honk constantly or don't indicate when turning. I'll defend myself in court with your 'free speech' and 'freedom of expression' line. Get real!

If the writer of the piece is myopic you are even more so by failing to read that he states leaders should use English "when speaking in public". If you don't agree with this I suggest you only buy Newspapers in Mandarin, listen only to SBS radio and attend only non-English public performances or rallies. Wait - why aren't you writing in Udu?

An honest study of the Quran shows that groups like ISIS act in complete defiance of the injunctions of Islam. The persecution and disorder on earth as an even worse offense (2:217). It lays emphasis on peace, justice and human rights. It champions freedom of conscience and forbids worldly punishment for apostasy and blasphemy.
A study of the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad also demonstrates that he warned us of the rise of religious extremism in this age in astonishing detail.
1,400 years ago, he prophesized that a time would come when nothing would remain of Islam but its name, nothing of the Quran but its word, and that many "Mosques would be splendidly furnished but destitute of guidance" (Mishkatul Masabih). In these latter days, the true spiritual essence of Islam would be lost, and religion, for the most part, would be reduced to a ritualistic compulsion. He foretold that the clergy would be corrupt and be a source of strife during these times.
How true this is of the extremist clerics in parts of the Muslim world that abuse the pulpit to preach division and hate.
He also went on to describe terrorist groups such as ISIS that would try to hijack the Islamic faith. At this time of dissension, he said there would appear "a group of young people who would be immature in thought and foolish." They would speak beautiful words but commit the most heinous of deeds. They would engage in so much prayer and fasting that the worship of the Muslims would appear insignificant in comparison. They would call people to the Quran but would have nothing to do with it in reality. The Quran would not go beyond their throats, meaning they wouldn't understand its essence at all, merely regurgitating it selectively. The Prophet then went on to describe these people as "the worst of the creation."

Re the Burqa:

Tom Robbins (if you haven't read him you haven't lived) once opined that the women of the ancient middle east must have been the most beautiful, the most licentious, the most lascivious women of all time since their men had to create three religions to keep them in check.

The burqa is a control mechanism. It evolved from the millennium-old practice of veiling women of status into a way for the male 'owners' to remove the women from society. Its sanctioned in Islam but isn't core-Islam. Neither is it cultural since it exists in many different Islamic cultures. If it has to be categorised, its political as in its a way for some in the society to exert control and display control over others in that society.

The problem with an Islamic reformation is that there is no obvious viable path for it.

The fundamental difference between the Bible and the Koran, at least as regards this issue, is that, in the Bible, the parts that a modern liberal society want to reject (the Old Testament) were written first and the more liberal sections (New Testament) later. The Bible's focus (Jesus) was a relatively (for that time) gentle soul who enjoined his followers to "do unto others..", "love one another", "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone" and so on. So the path for the Christian reformers was laid out since much of the old ways were rescinded by the more recent Jesus/Paul and their successors.

Not so with Islam. The opposite in fact. The gentler more liberal parts of the Koran came first. The more war-like, blood-thirsty, doctrinaire parts came later and were the last written. They, according to the Koran itself, supercede the earlier pronouncements.

Christianity could reform without rejecting or downgrading Jesus. But an Islamic reform has to reject vast swaths of their prophet's acts and pronouncements. That's a much tougher call especially since the very core of Islam states that Mohamed was perfect and everything he said and did was both correct and to be emulated.

Hersi Ali calls for Islam to adhere to the Meccan Koran and reject the Medinan Koran and that would be good for Islam and the world. But how Islam gets there is unknowable. How does Islam reject and/or ignore half of its texts, and the most recent half, and remain Islam?

Il existe, dans le monde, un grand nombre de langues différentes, dont aucune n'est dépourvue de sens. Mais si j'ignore le sens des mots utilisés par mon interlocuteur, je serai un étranger pour lui, et lui de même le sera pour moi.

Supposons que je parle les langues des hommes et même celles des anges: si je n'ai pas l'amour, je ne suis rien de plus qu'une trompette claironnante ou une cymbale bruyante.

L'amour est patient, il est plein de bonté, l'amour. Il n'est pas envieux, il ne cherche pas à se faire valoir, il ne s'enfle pas d'orgueil. Il ne fait rien d'inconvenant. Il ne cherche pas son propre intérêt, il ne s'aigrit pas contre les autres, il ne trame pas le mal. L'injustice l'attriste, la vérité le réjouit. En toute occasion, il pardonne, il fait confiance, il espère, il persévère.