In your discussions about Islam, do you confine your criticism to Islam as a religion, or do you branch off into the political and social roles that Islam plays and their negative contributions towards human development (sorry if I am making assumptions)?

This depends on who I’m talking to. I don’t usually steer the debate towards politics my self because I don’t feel like I’m well enough informed about foreign politics to start that particular debate. However one of my friends with whom I often have deep discussions is from Iran, and he loves debating the political side of what is going on there lately, so when I’m talking to him, the political and social roles of Islam is regularly touched upon. If I’m talking to someone who doesn’t have a greater knowledge of the political side than I do, I try to keep it about the religion. If I’m going to debate something I know little or nothing about, I prefer if the other person does know something about it, so they can correct me if I make dumb assumptions because of my ignorance, and so I can learn a bit more and hopefully become less ignorant with time.

Edit: a word