Islam can't take criticism - and more importantly - can't allow self reflection and self criticism, because in the 12th century it 'closed the Gates of Reason'. Prior to this, Islam used Greek philosophy and other insights to interpret itself, but during a long and sometimes violent internal struggle between various Islamic 'theological schools of thought' from the 9 - 12 centuries, this scholarship and dialogue was eventually forbidden. Hence Islam is now in a cult-de-sac of it's own making.
In 2004 in Lebanon, an Islamic scholar in one of the universities was explaining to his students about the possible development of both Islam and the Koran from an historic, political and literary perspective. Because this did not tally with popular Islamic fundamentalist thought, some of the students rushed him and literally threw him out the window. This kind of thing is not an isolated incident and is symptomatic of the problems facing Islam. A closed system of thought?
