i've been asked on several occasions "how many muslims do you actually know?" after saying something critical about *islam*.
being asked how many muslims i know is actually irrelevant, confuses the issues and is actually an invitation to speak in generalizations about a group of people.
i can criticize islam because it is defined in text: the koran (and other
islamic writings which some believe to be holy and some don't).
all muslims share at least a belief in the koran. you can't be a muslim and not believe that the koran is the holy word of allah.
i can also criticize individual muslims who do or say things publicly, e.g. Indian/Muslim Cleric Ashraf Mohamedy, on *Peace TV*, saying that "I would stress that every Muslim should be a terrorist. I repeat: Every Muslim should be a terrorist. A terrorist is a person who terrifies others, who terrorizes others."
even though he might be talking about "bad" people like rapists, robbers, etc, it is still a case of interpretation. what if he interprets bad (his words: "anti-social") as homosexual? or a woman who doesn't cover her head?
here's a more obvious example one may criticize:
"I am informing all brave Muslims of the world that the author of The Satanic Verses, a text written, edited, and published against Islam, the Prophet of Islam, and the Koran, along with all the editors and publishers aware of its contents, are condemned to death. I call on all valiant Muslims wherever they may be in the world to kill them without delay, so that no one will dare insult the sacred beliefs of Muslims henceforth. And whoever is killed in this cause will be a martyr, God Willing."
bottom line:
islam may be criticized, along with actions and quotes by individual muslims, without the need to personally know any muslims, because after all, it is impossible and wrong to criticize and generalize about a group of people, unless everyone in that group has made some public statement/action that can be documented and analyzed.
