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muse, it would be disingenuous of me to claim that Islam specifically directs the faithful and go forth and prey on white children but I do feel there is a fundamental problem in how doctrinal Islam is understood currently that contributes to shaping Muslim perceptions in a manner that fosters intolerance, misogyny and contempt for the infidel. Although this does not automatically cause individuals to engage in violence or criminal activity, those who are criminally inclined could regard it as divine justification for their behaviour and,more importantly, it also encourages the wider Muslim community to ignore atrocities committed by the criminal minority among them.
I see the current crisis in the Muslim world and the fraught relationship between Islam and the West, which occasionally manifests through acts of terror against each other as well as criminal activity that clearly illustrate the contempt with which many Muslims regard non believers, as the direct consequence of the continuing ambiguity about Islam's place within the faithful's personal and public space. The West, no doubt informed by its own views on faith and its role in an individual's life in a secular tradition, continues to regard Islam as a religion i.e. a personal relationship between a Muslim and Allah whereas Muslims are encouraged by their clergy to treat Islam as a 'complete system' which governs every aspect of their life and determines their relationships with wider society.
I feel early Islam, despite its absolutist doctrine, was more tolerant of syncretic versions of the faith that emerged in its domain, for instance Sufism, since it was expanding from a position of strength, militarily, spiritually and scientifically and had this trend continued, one would have expected mainstream Islam to develop a more secular world view in due course.
For various real and imagined reasons contemporary Muslim society views itself as being under perpetual threat and the 'second coming' of Islam, fuelled by demographic explosion, petro dollars and the Faustian pact between the House of Saud and the Wahabbis has seen it challenging the West from a position of ideological weakness, leading to the ascendancy of the literalists and the consequent rise of bigotry, racism and misogyny across the Muslim world. Needless to say this has played into the hands of the Saudis who feel promoting their brand of the faith, essentially a form of Arab imperialism, would create a global Islamic identity that closely resembles the Saudi model of Islam and cast the kingdom as a 'model Islamic state', thereby burnishing their status as 'custodians of the faith' and further legitimising their oppressive regime.
Unfortunately literalists seem to be dominating the public discourse around Islam at present and as long as there aren't genuine attempts at introspection and reform from within, I expect racist and intolerant attitudes that eventually give rise to such crimes to continue gaining traction within Muslim societies.
