Islam is an Abrahamic religion. It reiterates the previous revelations. It rectifies a range of misunderstandings that proliferated regarding them. Islam is a monotheistic religion. However, the treatment of tradition as "revelation," as a "partner" and even "judge" of revelation, tainted the knowledge of Islam with shirk. Allah is the Lawgiver in religious matters. Persons are free to legislate in non-religious matters, for example regarding traffic laws. It is necessary to return to the Book of Allah from the bellicose teachings encountered in traditions and the writings of hawkish ulama. It is necessary to retrieve the defensive teaching of jihad, important to abandon the jihad al talab. It is also necessary to abandon the teaching of the alleged abrogation of the peace verses by the verse of the sword. The purification of religion requires freeing the sharia of extremists tendencies. It requires being brought in line with the teaching of the Quran. Attachment to militant misinterpretations of Islam places the umma at risk of retaliation for acts of aggression by a few extremists. The Muslim past is strewn with clashes. Political struggles between Muawiya and Ali, as well as between Yazid and Hussein, emerged with the passing of the prophet. The Battle of the Camel pitted Aisha against Ali while the Battle of Siffin pitted Muawiya against Ali. These were fratricidal wars. Up to fifteen thousand companions died in these two battles. There was also a war between Ali and the Kharijites. A range of alternative perceptions emerged during this turbulence. The Murjiates wished to remain neutral. Disagreements emerged not just regarding succession but also about the way to approach revelation. A few wanted to understand revelation with the assistance of reasoning. A different sect wanted to adhere to tradition, assuming that tradition encompassed revelation. The two sects were the rationalists and the traditionists. Traditionists accorded greater credence to following their predecessors, recorded in the prophetic traditions. The two groups comprised the Mutazilites and the ahl al-kalam on the one hand, and the traditionists or the ahl al-hadith on the other. The rationalists followed Abu Hanifa, while the ahl al-haith followed Malik, al-Shafi'i and ibn Hanbal. The rationalists asserted that understanding revelation required recourse to reason. Traditionists preferred to understand revelation through the lens of tradition. Traditionists became enchanted with the ways of their predecessors, while the rationalists were less prone to follow tradition. The encounters between the two groups reached a political expression in the mihna, launched by al-Mahdi in 780. Five thousand philosophers were killed by Musa al-Hadi, the son of al-Mahdi, in 786. After a brief reign of the rationalists from 809 to 849, al-Mutawakkil resumed the persecution of the rationalists. But the trauma of the umma is due to having strayed from the right path. This transpired because the umma misunderstood revelation as well as the tradition of the prophet. The misunderstanding is due to the reluctance to use reason and an infatuation with tradition. Traditions attributed to the prophet were treated as revelation. Following Bukhari was understood as following the traditions of the prophet. But the tradition of the prophet was to follow the Book of Allah, not books of traditions. By turning from the Book of Allah to the books of traditions, the umma drifted from the Book of Allah under the misapprehension that it was getting nearer to Allah by following books of traditions. This was a tragedy. It explains the state of the umma and highlights the need to return to the path of Allah.