The world wants to like America. The guiding values that Thomas Jefferson articulated so eloquently - life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - resonate strongly around the world, transcending countless superficial and cultural differences, not because these are American values, but because they are universal values, embedded in the human heart.

There are always people who will - who will do peculiar things and think that they are doing things in the name of their religion.

Any organization or any individual that targets civilians and kills them for political agenda is a terrorist organization.

I'm not an agent from any government, even if some of you may not believe it. I'm not. I'm a peacemaker.

My life has been devoted to peacemaking.

The fundamental idea which defines a human being as a Muslim is the declaration of faith: that there is a creator, whom we call God - or Allah, in Arabic - and that the creator is one and single. And we declare this faith by the declaration of faith, where we... bear witness that there is no God but God.

Staying chaste until marriage, a commandment of my faith, was one of the most difficult challenges of my young life. I had a powerful sense that if I did not get a grip on my identity, my ethics, and my religion, I would go off the rails.