There is a movement in Islam and to be honest I find it highly encouraging. It is the 'Quran Only' movement, and it seeks to shed the influence of the hadiith about Muhammad's life. This is a very good thing. The Quran contains so many different kinds of statements that it can be--with difficulty mind you--interpreted in such a way that it respects human rights to a much greater degree than Islam does in general today.
But just as Christians interpret the Bible through the lens of the Nicene Creed, or the Reformation debates about justification, or what have you, Muslims have (almost) always interpreted the Quran through the lens of the hadiith about Muhammad's life. And that life, unfortunately, was quite bloody and characterized by aggression.
But here is a link to a website of a man who espouses the Quran-only version of Islam. It is a small movement but I hope to grows. Here he is talking about Islam and terrorism, specifically 9/11.
A final note: One of the main things about Quran-only Islam is that it need not insist that the texts of the Bible is corrupted. That is not a teaching in the Quran at all. It is firmly ensconced in the hadiith though.
