I Love Life More Than I Love

I Am Grateful To My Father For Sending Me To School, And That We Moved From Somalia To Kenya, Where I Learned English.

I'd Like Muslims To Look At Their Religion As A Set Of Beliefs That They Can Appraise Critically And Pick And Choose From.

This Was Not An Attack By A Mentally Deranged, Lone-wolf Gunman. This Was Not An 'un-islamic' Attack By A Bunch Of Thugs - The Perpetrators Could Be Heard Shouting That They Were Avenging The Prophet Muhammad. Nor Was It Spontaneous. It Was Planned To Inflict Maximum Damage, During A Staff Meeting, With Automatic Weapons And A Getaway Plan. It Was Designed To Sow Terror, And In That It Has Worked.

Infuriatingly Stupid Analysts - Especially People Who Called Themselves Arabists, Yet Who Seemed To Know Next To Nothing About The Reality Of The Islamic World - Wrote Reams Of Commentary [after 9/11]. Their Articles Were All About Islam Saving Aristotle And The Zero, Which Medieval Muslim Scholars Had Done More Than Eight Hundred Years Ago; About Islam Being A Religion Of Peace And Tolerance, Not The Slightest Bit Violent. These Were Fairy Tales, Nothing To Do With The Real World I Knew.

In The Real World, Equal Respect For All Cultures Doesn't Translate Into A Rich Mosaic Of Colorful And Proud Peoples Interacting Peacefully While Maintaining A Delightful Diversity Of Food And Craftwork. It Translates Into Closed Pockets Of Oppression, Ignorance, And Abuse.