The assassin that attacked Salman Rushdie was influenced by bizarre interpretation of Islam. Well-educated Muslims condemn such acts. This article explains why.

I think what we can learn from this is that fanatical leaders can distort any religion into a murderous cult.

Compare, for instance, with the Christian fanatics that murder abortion doctors, and the Christian fanatics that want to imprison women for abortions. It would be wrong to conclude that Christianity advocates killing doctors or imprisoning women. What we should conclude is that Christianity has the potential to be a basis for fanaticism.

So does Islam, and so do various other religions.