Puritans and Sincerity in Amal

People have been asking; Is there something intrinsic in Islam that either directly or indirectly condones extremism and militant actions? If not then why are they so prominent and seemingly able to fill the vacuum of authority in defining Islam in this modern age?

Chim, super chim question, but, Professor Abou Khaled El-Fadl says in his "The Great Theft, Wrestling Islam from Extremists" says as such;

There is this Jewish sect, the Karaites, founded in the 8th century and is a minority today. It rejects the Talmud and rabbanical teachings and claims to base their actions on literal and strict Torah reading. They also aspire to achive no human intervention in implementing God's Law. History has shown their implementation of that law to be severe and harsh.

Now supposed that this sact is currently being generouslysponsored by an affluent Jewish nation which controls the two holiest sites in judaism. Surely then it would not be difficult to fathom as to why the Karaites could have such great extent of influence and attention, on top of being a serious contender with other Jewish sects in defining what true Jewish Orthodoxy really is.

Balance and Moderation are among the Core values in God's creation. Ibn Arabi in his Misykatul Anwar quotes a hadith which reads "Life is about Balance, whosoever finds the right balanceinlife will enter paradise"

Two of God's Attributes, Jalal(Majesty) and Jamal(Beauty), seem to be opposing one another but God's Prefection integrates them.
Similary, at times, as His servant, we can feel an intense mix of emotions, thus leading to a feeling of total dependence on Him. For example, when we err, we fear His not being pleased at us and His Punishments, but at the same time we feel a little rejoiced upon knowing that He is Loving and Forgiving, despite our shortcomings.we ought to feel fearful and hopeful. It's really a complex relationship which makes it all the more "interesting" and somehow make us feel complete dependence on Him, whichever way you are talking about. Such mushy issues ae hard to explain in words, it has to be experienced, it's just, beautiful...

Puritans have this mindset when it comes to Amal, that our actions are perfectly quantifiable and that on the Judgment Day our good and bad actions will be weighed on a scale such that even if our bad actions are a tiny morsel heavier than our good actions, then hell we go. The thing is, we can't quantify our actions, plus there are a lot of other factors involved as well, such as, how could you measure sincerity in such a quantifiable manner? So don't expect to use a calculator to count all the pahala and dosa even though for certain actions, there are hadiths that proclaims a certain NUMBER of pahala or dosa. It is precisely for this reacon that we are not allowed to judge anyone. i recall a story of one sahaba who drank after the alcohol prohibition has come. The other companions were beating him but Prophet said "Stop, Verily he loves Allah and His Messenger"

Some extremists take a gun and shoot a couple having intimacy in their cars, in public, and say "i have executed the Hudud, God's Will" Hello, since when the Prophet mentioned a gun? similarly, honor killings are equally disgusting. Male family members will want to kill their female relatives upon knowing that she has fornicated and claim that this is God's Justice when in reality it is more like wanting to save the family from shame, ie selfish reasons under the guise of religion. by the way, just for information, finding the circumstances to allow for hudud is not easy at all, and there are a lot of mitigating factors. we are urged to look for reasons to throw the case out instead of zealously looking forward to punish, even simple reasons such as lack of thinking clarity can be a mitigating factor.

speaking about selfish reasons, my mind comes to this;
Sometimes people do good just because they want paradise and they avoid evil to avoid the torments of hell. where exactly is the sincerity in all these? It's just an empty, self-benefitting way of doing things that just revolves around the notion of human self-interest, "I wanna survive and live free" kinda attitude you know. I guess that is why Rabia once said " O my Lord, if i do something for your Paradise, then keep me out of it, if i do something for fear of hell, then throw me in it, but if i do something to get to You, then don't disappoint me."
Even so, we can't exactly say " Oh then, if i have done this for the Love of God, then i have done something great, a magnificent contribution on my part" Get my point? see how much we need to balance our feelings? it's a real topsy-turvy rollercoaster ride lah!

May Allah guide us all