The attackers appeared to be targeting Americans, British, Jews and Israelis, although most of the victims were Indians, and nearly all of them, with the exception of Indian security forces slain in combat, were civilians, including women, children and elderly casualties. Clearly, the terrorists' choice of targets was meant to bestow a sense of legitimacy on the attacks, by way of suggesting that they were appropriate acts of revenge for the political wrongdoings of America, the United Kingdom and Israel. But Islam, which values life and commands its followers to protect the innocent, in no way condones such indiscriminately murderous behavior.

While Muslims have every right to express their outrage over the inhumane oppression that is being carried out every day in places like Gaza and Guantanamo Bay under the noses of a politically impotent international community, they have no right to debase the venerated religion of more than a billion peace-loving people around the world by carrying out acts of violence that are clearly unlawful and immoral.

The atrocity that occurred on the streets of Mumbai will unfortunately add to the pressures that ordinary Muslims around the world must face in this age of the global "war on terrorism." There will be those who will point to the attacks as "proof" that Islam is part and parcel with intolerance and barbarity. Muslims will again be forced to correct the ignorance that assumes the worst about Islam by ignoring a simple truth: that no religion in the world would condone such acts of depravity, least of all Islam.