In Islam, ?innovation? (bida?a) is a curse word. You cannot improve upon the religion, as it was handed down to and practiced by the Prophet and his companions. You cannot reinterpret it, as ?reinterpretation? to many is a euphemism for innovation. Similarly, all but the most liberal Muslims consider it blasphemous to place the Koran in historical context. Since the Koran was handed down (Muslims say that the revelation was not ?written? but rather ?handed down? by God to the people) during a period of strife, and the Prophet, his companions and the four rightly-guided caliphs who followed him were presiding over wars of self-defense and Islamic expansion, there is much to be found in the Koran and in the Sunna (the main Islamic religious source besides the Koran, consisting of the sayings and deeds of the Prophet and his companions) that justifies violence and instructs as to how to carry it out. In beheading captives, Abu Musa?ab al-Zarqawi has a justifiable argument within the framework of Islamic jurisprudence: The Koran instructs to ?cast terror into the hearts of infidels? by ?striking off their heads? (as well as their fingers and toes). The Prophet, whose deeds Muslims are required to strive to emulate, once beheaded between 600 and 700 Jewish prisoners of war (Intel Report).

The problem is not the religious text itself ? the Old Testament, for instance, contains far more violence than the Koran and Sunna. The problem is a refusal to accept the existence of moral progress. To many Muslims, progress equates to innovation. The most moral being ever to walk the earth between the 7th century and the coming Day of Judgment is the Prophet Mohammed, who was perfect and infallible. For many Muslims, modern norms simply cannot go head to head with that essential religious fact. Thus, women?s rights are an innovation; the idea that a man cannot practice bigamy is an innovation. Another an innovation is the idea that Islam is no longer facing an existential battle to survive in the 7th century Arabian Peninsula, and, thus, the modes of warfare presented by the Prophet and the mandate to fight are irrelevant.