text: The historic Mohammad is not pertinent to a discussion of modern Islam for the same reason its pointless to debate about the historic Jesus. People will believe what they want to believe regardless of what happened centuries ago.
  
  Religion is a two-edged sword. It can be used for personal growth and enlightenment, or it can be used to try to coerce others into conforming to a certain pattern of behavior. Every major religion has been abused at one time or another by those seeking to use it to gain power over others. 
  
  The bottom line is, focusing on Islam is a distraction from the main problem, which is the volatile situation in the Middle East. Most suicide bombers are desperate young people who've been manipulated into radicalization by those, like ISIS, who seek to exploit their hopelessness. Young people with hope, be they Muslims, Christians or whatever, don't engage in terrorism and they certainly don't buy into suicide.