I wanted secular, non-Muslim people to stop kidding themselves that Islam is peace and tolerance.

I was a Muslim once, remember, and it was when I was most devout that I was most full of hate.

They decided to let immigrants in and I am an immigrant. They gave us a chance to participate in this country's life and I took it.

There is a huge difference between being tolerant and tolerating intolerance

It was Friday, July 24, 1992, when I stepped on the train. Every year I think of it. I see it as my real birthday: the birth of me as a person, making decisions about my life on my own. I was not running away from Islam, or to democracy. I didn't have any big ideas then. I was just a young girl and wanted some way to be me; so I bolted into the unknown.

Islam is not a race...Islam is simply a set of beliefs, and it is not 'Islamophobic' to say Islam is incompatible with liberal democracy.

Of course, the overwhelming majority of Muslims are not terrorists or sympathetic to terrorists. Equating all Muslims with terrorism is stupid and wrong. But acknowledging that there is a link between Islam and terror is appropriate and necessary.