By JODI WILGOREN, The New York Times, 10/22/2001

...One expert estimates that 25,000 people a year become Muslims in this country; some clerics say they have seen conversion rates quadruple since Sept. 11...

On September 11th our lives changed forever. We witnessed an act of aggression that in many ways does not have a parallel in past or present times. There are several elements that make this act unique, from the use of civilian planes as weapons of mass destruction to the attack on the most widely recognised skyscrapers in the world. Nor have we ever witnessed the terrible indictment of Islam as having a part to play in such a heinous crime, writes Hamza Yusuf.

"It is about time that we treat the disease and not just the symptoms!"

By Dr. Jamal A. Shurdom

In wake of the barbaric terrorists attack on the World Trade Center building, it is my moral and national obligation to remind Washington that the causes of Middle East terrorism are mainly the result of the unresolved Arab-Israeli conflict.

Any dealings with Middle East terrorism policy, Washington should shed light and seriously consider the following proposed solutions for other closely related problems. In our views, these are the interconnected causes, foundations, realities, conditions, the backbone and the master keys for an "acceptable" everlasting peace and security in the Middle East:

By Abdul Hakim Murad

In what sense were the World Trade Centre bombers members of slam? This question has been sidelined by many Western analysts impatient with the niceties of theology; but it may be the key to understanding the recent attacks, and assessing the long-term prospects for peace in the Muslim world.

HIDDEN AGENDA BEHIND WAR ON TERROR

By John Pilger, Former Mirror chief foreign correspondent

The war against terrorism is a fraud. After three weeks' bombing, not a single terrorist implicated in the attacks on America has been caught or killed in Afghanistan.

Instead, one of the poorest, most stricken nations has been terrorised by the most powerful - to the point where American pilots have run out of dubious "military" targets and are now destroying mud houses, a hospital, Red Cross warehouses, lorries carrying refugees.

Islam's philosophy of life and the values that it wants to promote are all based on a particular point of view regarding the life of this world. Islam holds the life of this world as a temporary testing time for humans.

(Courtesy Daily Nation. PAKISTAN)

The killing of innocent people is terrorism irrespective of the fact whether they are Muslims or not. It is also terrorism to murder the peaceful people regardless of their being in a state of war even if they are not fighting a war with you directly. Victimising the children, the old, the women and also targeting the worship-places and hospitals fall in the domain of terrorism. It also includes the efforts aimed at spreading harassment, creating disturbance, staging sit-ins, forcing people to go on strikes and targeting the worship-places of other religions. Attacking human, religious, political, social and cultural rights is also terrorism.

The Words of The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings upon him)

Inscribed on the hilt of the Prophet's sword: 'Forgive him who wrongs you; join him who cuts you off; do good to him who does evil to you, and speak the truth although it be against yourself.'

Islam

Every religion has a distinctive virtue, and the distinctive virtue of Islam is modesty.

Anyone who walks with a wrong doer in order to strengthen him knowing all the while that he is a wrong doer, has departed from Islam.

A Perfect Muslim

A perfect Muslim is one from whose tongue and hands mankind is safe, and a true emigrant [muhajir] is one who flees from what God has forbidden.

Dr. M. Sa‘id Ramadan Al-Buti

The civilized world is witnessing a train of ferocious terrorism practiced by the American administration, sometimes using Zionist claws and other times grimacing its fangs simulating that it is chasing terrorism.

The world which is witnessing that ferocious terrorism, however, is devided into two parties. The first one is a group of victimized people – deported, slain, maimed and torn between death and life.