Islam is not only a religion but also a way of life, which tells Muslims how to live peacefully with themselves and their brothers and sisters.

The key word is peacefully.

Yes, of course there are extremists in Islam, but there are extremists in almost every religion.

One of the major misconceptions about Islam is that once you hear the words Islam or Muslim, they are automatically considered to refer to all Muslims.

That is a stereotype we must all rid ourselves of.

There are five basic pillars in Islam: declaration, prayer, fasting, giving to the poor and pilgrimage.

Often the word jihad comes up whenever the pillars are mentioned.

The concept of jihad has been improperly translated as "holy war" when in fact refers to "struggle" and the greatest jihad (struggle) being with our own hearts in deciding what is right and what is wrong.

Unfortunately, with such misconceptions about Islam there has been some hostility towards Muslims; yet during this time, America calls for unity.

It is time we put away our differences and realize that we are all human, struggling the same battles.

The military actions that have been initiated by the United States are taking place in order to protect the United States.

Hopefully their targets will remain military targets seeing that we have already lost our innocent brothers and sisters here, hopefully we do not lose our innocent brothers or sisters anywhere else.