Muslims Advocate Peace
Sohail Husain - New Haven, CT.

Last week Mumbai, the largest city in India, was paralyzed by terror as militants triggered a network of bombs and raided several key public and tourist locations. While their identities are being sorted out, members of groups of this type generally claim to represent Islam and the body of Muslims.

I am an American Muslim of Indian descent, and I strongly disagree. Voices of dissent such as mine and many other Muslims have long been drowned out by the clamor on prime-time news of these misguided and ignorant extremists. They not only took hostage tourists in their hotels, but they also, in effect, have taken hostage the wider Muslim communities that they claim to lead by proxy.

Well, enough is enough. Islam does not condone your acts of terror, and we are not with you.

In fact, our religion condemns your cowardly violence on civilians, and we implore you to stop.

The prayers of this Muslim and former Indian national go out to the victims of Mumbai. The only extremism we can tolerate is peace, as stated last week in southern India by Mirza Masroor Ahmad, a prominent Muslim and head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.