People say Islam is dangerous & Muslims are terrorists. Is this the truth?
There is a huge degree of animosity from people who feel slighted, offended or even threatened by people on both sides of this argument. One side says Islam is a religion of peace, a seeming contradiction based on the teachings commonly accepted within the majority sects of Islam (who follow Hadith), the other side of the coin would say the Muslims are dangerous and that their religion advocates violence against non-believers. So let's weigh both sides of the argument upon the semblance of truth.
First many Islamic terrorist or extremist groups (violent self-proclaimed Muslims) claim to represent Islam accurately, while many other Muslims distance themselves from these types groups and accurately uphold Islam according to their scriptural interpretation.
It is something to be considered of course that the Quran is the standard upheld to all Muslims, just the same as the Bible is the standard upheld to all Christians. It's noteworthy that extremely violent and barbaric practices are taught in both the Bible and Quran, while rarely upheld by the masses of followers for either book.
An obvious truth of the matter is that the violent nature of teachings in these religious texts rarely upheld by the masses, which are rather upheld by minority groups of nations and cultures. We can find that a minority does not represent a majority accurately at all times, perhaps in some circumstances but hardly ever at all.
As I've noted in the past, to clearly define a word before jumping to conclusions on visceral or emotional responses, let's look to the dictionary.
According to the Oxford dictionary, the origin of the word is "From Arabic 'islām ‘submission’, from 'aslama ‘submit (to God)’. " https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/islam
Clearly defined by the language which it originates, "submission to God" = Islam.
Muslim being a "follower of the religion of Islam" according to Oxford dictionary. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/muslim
This can also mean one who submits to God according to the Arabic origin definition of Islam.
So what we see now is a clearly displayed contradiction, unless we debate this point that the ways of God are violent and bigoted, which history could not argue in favor of or against this point, because man wrote our history books (not God). Or we can display the truth that history makes far more obvious, minorities of all religions or cultures in specific have committed atrocities and other malicious acts of violence all in the name of their deity or their superior dogmatic theocratic position over other human beings.
So here's the cold truth of the situation, hate exists on every side of every argument, in every culture. But also on every side exists understanding, we have a choice. Let's not fall into the same repetitive pattern of hate and ignorance that so many times led us down a dark path in history. Let's rise above this notion that we know better of other people than they do of themselves, let's each of us govern our own and guide each other with compassion. If not in the name of God, in the name of common decency, for a common good.
In conclusion, any and all religions are quite possibly dangerous (equally), when placed in the hands of dangerous people. Like any tool, it can be converted into a weapon, thus it may become dangerous to any who choose to wield it with any degree of malicious intent.