I don't disagree with anything that's been said so far.
Of course Islam is not a violent religion. Indeed, it goes out of its way to advocate harmony with other religions.
Rather, it is we humans who are violent beings. That's the way we evolved. Those who weren't violent just didn't get to reproduce as much as the violent people who were able to dispose of their rivals much more efficiently.

Obviously this point was brought up because of the preponderance of terrorism and suicide bombings associated with dealings in the middle eastat present.
But given that peoples of arab origin justifiably feel oppressed after a millenium of abuse from the Christian world, isn't it reasonable to believe that the frustration being vented now would have happened irrespective of what was their religious persuasion. After all, isn't this the way humans react to incessant oppression and humiliation?