Many people think an extremist is a Muslim who simply takes the faith more seriously than others: too much Islam. The Qur’an and the Prophet ﷺ see it differently. They have their own word for going to extremes in religion, ghuluw, and they describe it not as more faith but as a departure from it.
What happened in October
The debate was about views, not about prayer.
On 21 October 2026 the Pakistani scholar Muhammad Taqi Usmani gave a lecture at the Grand Mosque in Reykjavík, run by the Islamic Foundation of Iceland (Stofnun múslima á Íslandi). Usmani sat on the Shariat Appellate Bench of Pakistan’s Supreme Court from 1982 to 2002 and is counted among the most influential Muslim scholars in the world. Morgunblaðið reported that in his writings, among them Takmilat Fath al-Mulhim, he has defended the death penalty for leaving Islam, as well as amputation and stoning.
The lecture itself, 47 minutes in English, is on Facebook. According to Vísir, he spoke there about the joy of meeting Muslims in Iceland, about practising the faith, and about parents’ responsibility for their children’s religious upbringing. Karim Askari, chair of the Islamic Foundation, says Usmani came as a tourist on a private trip around the Nordic countries, that the visit was not organised by the foundation, and that his background was not checked beforehand. He says the foundation does not share his controversial views, respects freedom of religion and follows Icelandic law, and that they would have stopped him had he raised such things in the mosque. The event was, however, advertised on the Grand Mosque’s Facebook page on 19 October, two days in advance: “a scholarly seminar / lecture” with Usmani straight after the Isha prayer, open to all, with a space set aside for women.
The Minister of Justice, the Bishop of Iceland and others said such views have no place in Iceland, and a member of parliament pointed out that most Muslims have nothing in common with them. The parish priest of Bústaðakirkja wrote that Usmani’s views are fringe views among Icelandic Muslims. The aim here is not to judge one man or one congregation, but to answer the question the debate raised: where is the line between devotion and extremism?
The word in the Qur’an
The Qur’an has a word for going beyond the limits of religion.
قُلۡ يَـٰٓأَهۡلَ ٱلۡكِتَٰبِ لَا تَغۡلُواْ فِي دِينِكُمۡ غَيۡرَ ٱلۡحَقِّ وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوٓاْ أَهۡوَآءَ قَوۡمٖ قَدۡ ضَلُّواْ مِن قَبۡلُ وَأَضَلُّواْ كَثِيرٗا وَضَلُّواْ عَن سَوَآءِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ
Say, "O People of the Scripture, do not exceed limits in your religion beyond the truth and do not follow the inclinations of a people who had gone astray before and misled many and have strayed from the soundness of the way
Ghuluw means going past the limits: making the religion stricter, harsher or heavier than God made it. The verse addresses the People of the Book, but the Prophet ﷺ warned his own community of the same thing, with the same word. He did so during the pilgrimage, when Ibn ʿAbbas picked up small pebbles for him to throw. The Prophet ﷺ held them up and said the stones should be this small, then added:
وَإِيَّاكُمْ وَالْغُلُوَّ فِي الدِّينِ فَإِنَّمَا أَهْلَكَ مَنْ كَانَ قَبْلَكُمُ الْغُلُوُّ فِي الدِّينِ
“Beware of going to extremes in religion, for it was going to extremes in religion that destroyed those before you.”
The warning came over a handful of pebbles. Even in so small a matter, someone who thinks more is always better can go too far.
The community of the middle
The religion is easy, and whoever wrestles with it loses.
The Qur’an describes Muslims as a community of the middle, ummatan wasaṭan:
وَكَذَٰلِكَ جَعَلۡنَٰكُمۡ أُمَّةٗ وَسَطٗا لِّتَكُونُواْ شُهَدَآءَ عَلَى ٱلنَّاسِ وَيَكُونَ ٱلرَّسُولُ عَلَيۡكُمۡ شَهِيدٗاۗ وَمَا جَعَلۡنَا ٱلۡقِبۡلَةَ ٱلَّتِي كُنتَ عَلَيۡهَآ إِلَّا لِنَعۡلَمَ مَن يَتَّبِعُ ٱلرَّسُولَ مِمَّن يَنقَلِبُ عَلَىٰ عَقِبَيۡهِۚ وَإِن كَانَتۡ لَكَبِيرَةً إِلَّا عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ هَدَى ٱللَّهُۗ وَمَا كَانَ ٱللَّهُ لِيُضِيعَ إِيمَٰنَكُمۡۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ بِٱلنَّاسِ لَرَءُوفٞ رَّحِيمٞ
And thus we have made you a just community that you will be witnesses over the people and the Messenger will be a witness over you. And We did not make the qiblah which you used to face except that We might make evident who would follow the Messenger from who would turn back on his heels. And indeed, it is difficult except for those whom Allah has guided. And never would Allah have caused you to lose your faith. Indeed Allah is, to the people, Kind and Merciful
And the Prophet ﷺ said:
إِنَّ الدِّينَ يُسْرٌ، وَلَنْ يُشَادَّ الدِّينَ أَحَدٌ إِلاَّ غَلَبَهُ، فَسَدِّدُوا وَقَارِبُوا وَأَبْشِرُوا
“The religion is easy, and no one makes the religion hard on himself without it overpowering him. So keep to what is right, come as close to it as you can, and rejoice.”
The three men
The Prophet ﷺ stopped those who wanted to do more than he did.
Three men asked the Prophet’s ﷺ wives how he worshipped God, and found it little. One decided to pray all night, always. Another to fast every day and never break the fast. The third never to marry. When the Prophet ﷺ heard of it, he came to them:
أَمَا وَاللَّهِ إِنِّي لأَخْشَاكُمْ لِلَّهِ وَأَتْقَاكُمْ لَهُ، لَكِنِّي أَصُومُ وَأُفْطِرُ، وَأُصَلِّي وَأَرْقُدُ وَأَتَزَوَّجُ النِّسَاءَ، فَمَنْ رَغِبَ عَنْ سُنَّتِي فَلَيْسَ مِنِّي
“By God, I am the one among you who fears God most and is most mindful of Him. Yet I fast and I break the fast, I pray and I sleep, and I marry women. Whoever turns away from my Sunnah is not of me.”
They meant no harm. They simply wanted more. But more than the Prophet ﷺ is not more Islam; it is something other than Islam. Of those who turn the religion into hair-splitting he said, three times:
هَلَكَ الْمُتَنَطِّعُونَ
“Ruined are those who go to extremes.”
Make it easy
The instruction to those who teach the religion is four short phrases.
When the Prophet ﷺ sent people out to teach the religion, he said:
يَسِّرُوا وَلاَ تُعَسِّرُوا، وَبَشِّرُوا وَلاَ تُنَفِّرُوا
“Make things easy and do not make them hard, give good news and do not drive people away.”
It is a measure any imam, any teacher and any guest in a mosque can use. Does the message make the religion easier and draw people closer, or does it drive them away?
In Icelandic society
There is no compulsion in religion.
لَآ إِكۡرَاهَ فِي ٱلدِّينِۖ قَد تَّبَيَّنَ ٱلرُّشۡدُ مِنَ ٱلۡغَيِّۚ فَمَن يَكۡفُرۡ بِٱلطَّـٰغُوتِ وَيُؤۡمِنۢ بِٱللَّهِ فَقَدِ ٱسۡتَمۡسَكَ بِٱلۡعُرۡوَةِ ٱلۡوُثۡقَىٰ لَا ٱنفِصَامَ لَهَاۗ وَٱللَّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ
There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion. The right course has become clear from the wrong. So whoever disbelieves in Taghut and believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy handhold with no break in it. And Allah is Hearing and Knowing
Faith that is forced is not faith. In Iceland freedom of religion is protected by the constitution: everyone may practise their religion, no one may lose their rights because of their religion, and everyone is free to stay outside religious associations. Muslims in Iceland enjoy that freedom like everyone else, and it is the same freedom that protects someone who chooses another path.
Scholars have disagreed over the centuries about punishment for apostasy, and many scholars today hold that no one should be punished in this world for belief alone, citing the verse above. But in classical fiqh the power to punish never lay with individuals, congregations or mosques, only with the courts of a state. Muslims in Iceland live under Icelandic law, and keeping the promises and agreements one has entered into is also part of the faith.
So extremism is not too much Islam. It is what the Prophet ﷺ warned against three times. Islam in Iceland is Islam of the middle: the prayer, the fast, the Qur’an, and being a good neighbour.