Prior to September 11th we heard the Greatest Generation statement "I remember where I was on the day Pearl Harbor was attacked." Sadly our generation has the memories of where we were when 9/11 happened. The world at a personal and global level has changed forever; we live in the post 9/11 era.

America was the victim of terrorist attacks that day and we lost almost 3000 innocent lives. Prior to the attacks, we had a notion that such attacks could not happen here. We lost our innocence on 9/11. It is sometimes hard to remember what life used to be like before 9/11; over the last decade we have been involved in two wars, seen drastic changes at our airports and other facilities, find huge cement blocks in front of major buildings, and hear warnings of terrorist threat levels when we start to slip into our patterns of normal life.

The biggest question we face is whether we are now safer after all the efforts our nation has put forth over the last decade. I am not so sure; politics aside, I believe we should not have gone to war in Iraq. The terrorists responsible for 9/11were based in Afghanistan and we let our attention be diverted to a different front. In the process we lost so many lives on both sides. We lost the huge amount of support in the world which had been generated after 9/11. This anti-American sentiment was very high, and has slowly started to improve. Unfortunately so much good that our government and public do for the world is lost due to these negative feelings found around the world, and especially in Muslim countries. Millions of dollars which are donated for different calamities in the world fail to register on the radar of an ordinary person, as the images from the war fronts are much stronger. Previously we commanded a great deal of respect from people all across the world and it will take a much longer time before we can regain it.

Though Osama Bin Laden is dead and apparently Al-Qaeda is much weaker, the ideology of terrorism is not. The world is so inter-connected that in a split second a person in a remote place can receive information and messages. Sadly there are Muslims who are twisting the faith of Islam and using the electronic media to get their message out. Unfortunately the images of the misery and deaths of ordinary people in Iraq and Afghanistan are used as a recruiting tool by people who want to encourage even further violence..

As an American Muslim, I have come across lots of support from our non-Muslim friends. I have also seen the ignorance of some. In last few years we have seen burnings of the Quran, opposition to the building a Muslim community center in New York (presented by opponents as the "Ground Zero Mosque"), legislation targeting the supposed threat of Sharia in our courts, and the opposition of a project to build a mosque in Murpheesboro Tennessee by labeling the project as a sinister plan to bring radicalism to that community. The words "terrorism" and "Islam" are used as if they are synonymous, forgetting that the overwhelming majority of 1.5 billion Muslims are peace loving people who have the same aspirations in life as people of other faiths. American Muslims were among the first responders at the twin towers, serve in our military, and are loyal and hardworking Americans. It is also important to remember that thousands of Muslims in other countries have lost their lives due to terrorist attacks as their nations have joined the fight to eradicate the terrorism.

September 11th will bring back the sad memories of loss that we went through as a nation, and remind us to be grateful to our law enforcement and homeland security agencies for their sacrifices and hard work. I very much hope that we increasingly work together towards eradicating ignorance and bias against Islam and American Muslims. As a nation, we have gone through numerous difficult times during our history, and often ethnic and religious groups have been the target of "suspicion" from their fellow citizens. I am confident that we will overcome the suspicions and ignorance that we find against the American Muslim community.