The terminilogy is given meaning by the politicians of the day, i.e. the Mulahs and Clerics who politicize religion for their own agendas, and then exploit their follwers to fulfill their wishes. This has nothing to do necessarily with the text or the wishes of an author. For goodness sakes, we saw Reagan quoting Bruce Springsteen....when Springsteen was clearly not intending to support Reagan's positions, and we know, because Springsteen said so.
Even the plainest of language can have varying interpretations, especially in the hands of social reformers.
So too can religious text have symbolic and spiritual meaning that is interpreted literally and incorrectly by religious fanatics. No one can prove that when Mohammed was speaking, that he was speaking only to his local followers with no intention that others follow those words literally. My own opinion is that he spoke on two levels. On a practical level to the people of that time, and on a spiritual level for coming generations. Infidel in a spiritual sense, is not outside, but within the mind. The infidel mind that seeks materialism versus spirituality. All it takes is such a simple shift in point of view in perception to change the meaning of scripture for a reader. The Jihad is intended to mean, in my opinion, the internal Jihad against materialism....nothing at all political in nature as it is currently understood and practiced.
In general terms, no, such politicizing need not necessarily have anything to do with texts or wishes of authors. In the case of Islam, some commands are written in such plain language that it would require 'politicizing' (of the most extreme kind) to give them a meaning concordant with 21st century principles of tolerance.
So how would you go about convincing fanatics of that? A rather tall order, wouldn't you say, especially when you consider that Islamic legal scholarship has for centuries exercised a literal interpretation? Wouldn't it, in that case, be fair to blame the text, at least a teeny-weeny bit?
Plain...horseshit. As if you have the real understanding of what Mohammed was saying....and what he intended for future generations.
It takes time, and support of non fanatical leadership. Just like dealing with racist sexist bigots like you, it takes time to reach a closed minded person. Islamic legal scholars don't know, they too are guessing. Just like we see with Biblical scholars...non one knows. Those who are spiritual see the spirtual, those who are material see nothing but the materialistic point of view in scripture. We see that in this "Christian" country, where materialsim and greed is rampant, where wealth and greed is put as a target of "Godliness" yet it is clear that wealth is an impediment to spiritual progress and salvation to anyone who reads the "plain" text of the New Testament.