What are the core tenets of Islam that people should know?

I think it's the same answer as for any religion: The holy book is long enough that you can cherry-pick and reinterpret any desired ideology from it, so you really need to look at a specific sect or an individual believer for a question like that has meaningful and consistently applicable answers.

I don't think anybody NEEDS to know anything about Islam. Just as nobody NEEDS to know anything about Harry Potter.

We could cherry pick some good things, or some bad things, but none of that would be representative of the views of every individual.

We could do the same cherry picking with any religion and paint them in as positive or negative light as we choose. Again, the list would not represent the ideals of all practicing individuals.

If you want to learn more about any religion, there are resources available online. I would recommend reading as many as possible to get more perspectives, but other than wanting to learn more, I don't see any reason why people would NEED to know anything at all.

I think people need to know stuff about religions. I think a lot of politics in america are tied to american christianity and you would go bonkers trying to figure some stuff out if you didnt have that lense to view things.
I looked online about Islam and I know a little bit but sometimes its nice if someone can help understand. Like there's a lot of book reading you can do on christianity but if you wanted I could give an inside perspective on protestant sects in the south. I could also dialogue if you had any questions.
- Personally, I'm a very curious person, and I like to know as much as I can about pretty much anything, so I do understand where you're coming from.
  It could be the phrasing of the question. If you had asked "What are the core tenets of Islam?" or "How is Islam different from (other popular religion)?" You'd probably get the answers you're looking for. Asking what we need to know about Islam sounds like a click bait invitation for hate speech. Much like: "EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS DANGEROUS NEW TICTOC TREND!!!"

The word Islam itself means something like to submit yourself, and that is one of the most difficult parts to understand (especially for a westerner), but also one of the most central parts.

Not to join.

Well, im certainly not considering signing up for any religion in 2025 but what would you say are the major detractors?
- Well for starters (besides every extraordinary claim is a lie), the founder was a pedophile, and clearly unsuited to teach morals.

*tenets

Well, I'd generally point to Wikipedia and say that's as much as most people could ever need to know without a specific reason to go deeper.

Really, all it takes to understand what's being talked about in the news is there, plus details.

For even less stringent uses, you could break it down to being a monotheistic religion that shares roots with judaism and christianty and has wide ranging rules that sometimes conflict with other religions and/or philosophies/moral codes.

Hell, most people, most of the time, all they need to know to get through life is that it's a religion. Even that's only necessary for casual conversations so you don't have to interrupt and ask what that word means.