A debate has raged on this website among scholars on whether the 'essence' of Islam is what gives rise to the sickening violence in Syria and Iraq, degrading all our lives and politics.
Yet when experts cannot agree, it is little wonder how unconvincing Barack Obama and other leaders sound when they declare definitively that the so-called IS 'speaks for no religion', and in reference to the beheading of journalist James Foley, 'no just God would stand for what they did yesterday ...'
