Journal Article 1: Distorting Islam to justify crueltyPaul Sheehan in his piece entitled 'Distorting Islam to justify cruelty' appearing in the Sydney Morning Herald (27 /05/2013) responds to the 2013 murder of drummer Lee Rigby, a British soldier, and explores the Islamic position on the killing of non-Muslims. Sheehan argues that Islam supports the killing of non-Muslims and substantiates this view using the opinions of a Muslim cleric, Omar Bakri Mohammed, selected verses from the Quran, and statistics from thereligionofpeace.com. Sheehan's perspective, while evidently well-founded, generalizes the Muslim population and fails to recognize the complexity of Islam and its followers. Firstly, the writer is overly simplistic in his approach to the Muslim population, as he presents the views of Omar Bakri Mohammed, as representative of a large percentage (thousands of Muslims) of the Muslim community. In doing so, it overlooks or ignores the numerous groups and subgroups that exist in Islamic society, including Sunni, Shia, Salafi, Sufi, Wahhabi, etc. These various subclasses have different perspectives on the fight against infidels and its permissibility in Islam; therefore, his perspective does not cover the variety of views present on the issue of killing non-Muslims existing in the Islamic community. Secondly, the writer's highly selective use of quotations again generalizes the issues at hand and Sheehan distills the Holy Quran, a very intricate, dense and complex text, until it becomes, more or less, a mere collection of fragmented quotes. In order for impartial meaning to be derived from the Quran, a certain degree of academic knowledge about the historical context of particular verses, understanding of the process of revelation (wahy), kn...... middle of paper... ...la distinction between modesty and immodesty is easily confused. While the majority, like Zulfiye Tufa, understand that “fashion is a means of expressing…inner beliefs,” other individuals tread a fine line. For this reason, “hijabistas”, especially fashion bloggers with thousands of followers, receive criticism both from inside and outside the Muslim sphere, regarding their promotion, conscious or involuntary, of the coexistence of the hijab with a sexual self adorned, flaunting beauty to the public sphere. The article explores the different forms or interpretations of hijab that are emerging, but underlying the text is the concept that, although it may be a means of individualism, hijab is inevitably a public manifestation, but at the same time very intimate, of one's relationship with God and has great spiritual significance for the individual.