What most people do not know is that the Islam they mostly see, hear and read about has NOTHING to do with the Koran.
Traditional Islam is based on 2 important sources: Koran & Hadith. Whats Hadith you might ask?
Hadith is a huge hodgepodge collection of the alleged sayings of Muhammad which was compiled 200+ years AFTER the death of Muhammad. Traditional Islam derives most of its laws & rules from THIS body of information. Traditional Muslims believe that these Hadiths are indispensable to their religion & life. So much of importance is paid to these hadiths that very often the Koran is ignored.
And it is from these hadiths that we get extremely nonsensical & barbaric rules & laws like death penalty for adulterers & apostates (although the Koran does not advocate any such punishment), degradation of women, bizarre dress codes for women, killing of those who insult Muhammad, chopping of hands of thieves etc. I must mention that hadiths also contain many beautiful teachings too. As I said, its a hodge-podge collection ridden with internal contradictions.
Criticism of these fanciful stories in hadiths has always existed right from the beginning but very few muslims care to question its authenticity. They believe that anyone who rejects hadiths and accepts ONLY the Koran is an infidel! You must also realise that most translations of the Koran are also done in the light of these hadiths and in some cases the original meaning of the Koran is twisted to bring it in accord with hadith teachings!
