Will the *real* Muslims please stand up?

These days, the internet's an immensely bewildering, veritable Tower of Babel of Muslim voices, most of them claiming to have the *real* exclusive take on Islam and what Muslims are/ought to be.

Who can blame an outsider (non-Muslim) for looking in and turning away completely confuzzled at the state of the nation? Who's a body to believe?

I tend to steer clear of people/blogs/websites that are steeped in negativity and pessimism or prone to recurrent self-indulgent rants on Muslims and their past, present, future state ...and that's what I'd recommend to others looking to learn about Muslims too.

Above all else, Muslims are supposed to be positive people, exemplifying good manners (adab)and a reasonable nature (akhlaaq) in the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad, may peace and blessings be upon him.

Exploring anything that falls short of that basic test, is not worth one's time, imho.

Like my favourite quote goes: ''Don't waste time debating who/what a good Muslim is, be one.''