....What people have to remember about Islam is that it is a non-hierarchical religion. (Especially true of Sunni Islam.) There is no pope, no cardinals, bishops, etc. Any imam can issue a "fatwa" (religious declaration). However, the authority and power of that fatwa is only determined by however many Muslims respond to it by crying "Allah u Akbar!" and following the guidance it spells out.....
....there's no shortage of Muslim scholars who don't agree with what ISIS and AQ are preaching....
....So who's to rule on whether the Taliban is right or the Saudis and the Iranians are right on the subject? Answer: Whoever has the power to enforce the rules.
It's seeming here like the lone wolf/work place violence crime narrative doesn't hold water. I think it's important to note that you gave examples, but you did not exclude the US.
If dissenting 'Muslin scholars' are not in power at the local mosque, then it doesn't matter if they gather and disagree. They are wrong.
Why aren't 'we', the US, profiling imams and giving them the full procto exam? When a rotten egg is found, shouldn't the doors be shut down and the entire congregation criminally investigated/arrested? Islam is no more a cult than Christianity or Judaism? Individual humans, known as imams, can have the ideology of the taliban and be completely 'right' if they hold power? If not many cults, what are you describing, community organizations?
Seems like the more you claim the bad apple is to blame, the more you demonstrate that the whole, at the minimum locally, is to blame. Maybe, it's the answer to prayers. All shooting and hunting clubs should set up a mosque on site, then we'd always be right.
