Consider (my emphasis):
But Muslims who call the Islamic State un-Islamic are typically, as
the Princeton scholar Bernard Haykel, the leading expert on the
group’s theology, told me, “embarrassed and politically correct, with
a cotton-candy view of their own religion” that neglects “what their
religion has historically and legally required.”
(From "What ISIS Really Wants", The Atlantic, March 2015.)
What does a cotton candy view mean?
Best Answer
"Cotton candy" (in some dialects "candy floss" or "fairy floss") is a puffy confection made of very fine strands of spun sugar:
It consists of air, a small amount of sugar, and tiny amounts of flavorings and colorings.
Prof. Haykel thus characterizes this view of the Muslim religion as sugar and air: overly sweet and intellectually vacuous. He believes it is mere candy for its proponents, what they would like to believe and would like others to believe, without theological or historical substance.