Palm Beach Daily News: We are peaceful practicing Muslims and patriotic Americans

In response to:http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/search/content/arts/2009/03/20/ali0321.html

Aayan Hirsi Ali claims there are two schools of thought: one that believes Muslims can assimilate in the West, and another, to which she belongs, that believes Islam is not a religion of peace.

There is a third school of thought: The assimilation of Muslims in the West is already a reality that many live every day, including myself and millions of my American co-religionists.

For us, our American Muslim identity is not a postulation but a daily reality. We are peaceful practicing Muslims and patriotic Americans — and we do not see a contradiction between the two.

Like Muslim extremists, Ms. Ali (an anti-Muslim extremist) subscribes to absolutism and puritanism, the two basic ingredients of extremism. She is entitled to her belief, but she would be a bit self-centric and self-important to define the world, including me and millions of others, through her bad personal experience.

Copyright © 2009 Palm Beach Daily News