Questions about Islam from a non-muslim

Hello everyone here on the forum


I will excuse myself upfront for asking questions that you may have had to answer too many times in your life. But, I believe it is important for me, to know how muslims today, think about these issues.
I sense that in my family -with everything happening in the world- most of them are changing their attitudes toward muslims in general and Islam, to a very negative attitude. Even though I feel none of them are truly racist or bigoted towards others in general.
Since I have studied cultural anthropology, I tend to look at other cultures, religions in a different way and try to understand the underlying mechanisms and the history behind many of the problems the world faces today. Which ofcourse doesn't mean one should overlook all practises under a sense of cultural relativism...


Anyway, I started a discussion with a family member about 'the nature of Islam' and whether or not it is inherently peaceful and in which way reforming Islam is (at all) possible. One of the main arguments that were brought up was the point of the Quran being the literal word of Allah, according to muslims. To my knowledge, this is indeed true. But I am inclined to believe that the word 'literal' does not imply that you can not interpret the texts in the Quran itself. Instead that it means that the words written down in the Quran are to be considered 'literal' in the sense that it is for muslims, truly the word of God, but it is not always a 100 percent clear what the meaning behind it is. Maybe I am wrong (please correct me if so).
The discussionn from here after came to the point of discussing what the implications are if muslims do consider the Quran truly 'literal' in the sense that there is no interpretation possible. You can ofcourse point to many peaceful and beautiful verses the prophet has written down, but it is also a fact that there are several violent passages in there. Passages that can be used to approve of violent acts against another. As we can see today with what ISIS is doing in the name of Islam in the world.
What I am also wondering about is, how many divergent opinions are there on this matter? Is there a consensus between people? And, what are some institutions, theological person with some form of authority about these subjects?


Other arguments that were brought up were the ability of Islam to survive within a democratic state, the separation of church and state, womens' rights and so on. I will not go deeper into these arguments since you've probably heard them all before. Feel free to react to them though.


I ask all this because I believe it will only become more important in the near future, to argue with people on this matter with solid arguments and sources to back your claims. These thing have become increasingly more difficult since the internet has made everyone a specialist on all subjects and information-bias has become so widespread.


Thank you for reading my text.