Making Islam great again

Like 1.6 billion Muslims across the globe, this writer went to the mosque to celebrate Eid, the end of Ramadan, along with his two sons, Isaac, the 'four-year-old Einstein' and Albert, the '13-year-old SAT expert.' While listening to the Imam preaching, he grabbed Isaac and Albert, shivered, and held them close. The person next to this scribe asked, "Are you all right?"
"I'm trying to protect my two sons, because I'm afraid that a terrorist might start shooting," he said.
The person stared as if this writer was paranoid, "You're probably drunk."
He wished that was true.
Every day, the world moves forward. From science to politics, nothing holds still. The US has finally nominated a woman to run for presidency. LIGO (the Caltech observatory in Louisiana) has confirmed the gravitational waves predicted a century ago by Albert Einstein.
But, it seems the Muslim world takes a step backward every day.
This year's Ramadan, instead of being the holiest month, was the bloodiest. Terrorists like Nibras Islam killed innocent people, even children. Snapshots: June 12, Omar Mateen, a 30-year old Muslim, shot 50 people at the Pulse nightclub. On June 28, three Islamic terrorists stormed Istanbul Airport and killed 45 travellers. On July 1, seven Jihadists killed 22 foreigners in a Bangladesh café. On July 3, three Daesh suicide bombers bombed killing more than 250 people in Baghdad. On July 4, four terrorists killed four people at Saudi Arabia mosque.
Here, Isaac and Albert asked, "Daddy, why are you crying?" It was because this writer smelled terror, and it was familiar.
Hate motivated terrorists to chant 'Allahu Akbar' while destroying the Twin Towers, almost killing this scribe's younger brother. Hate drove the Taliban to shoot Malala. Terrorists shouted 'Allahu Akbar' while killing 130 children in a school in Peshawar.  Two hateful brothers recited 'Allahu Akbar' before killing journalists at the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo. Hate allowed terrorists to kill 137 people in the November Paris attacks. On July 1, seven terrorists unleashed hatred on innocent people in Bangladesh, where this writer was born 37 years ago.
Here, at New York University, where he launched the Bari Science Lab anti-Islamic State campaign in 2014, Isaac and he walked to the Bobst Library to solve calculus problem to make him ready for his interview with CUNY Lehman College President Ricardo Fernandez (which is on July 12 at 11:00 am).
As we passed the basement television, we saw a report on terrorists killing hostages in Dhaka. Many of this writer's books that aimed at creating a secular society were published in Dhaka, in Bengali. After his poem Bande Mataram, Bangladesh was printed, he fled Bangladesh, as did Pijush Bondopadhay, in fear after reciting it.
Isaac asked to solve a physics exercise assigned to him by Dr. Daniel Kabat. Instead of answering, he dragged himself to the nearest sofa and faced the TV. There was more blood. The seven terrorists in Dhaka killed almost all the foreign hostages, including Tarishi Jain, 19, and Faraaz Hossain, a 20-year-old Bangladeshi.
Ms. Jain, a Hindu, was studying economics at University of California, Berkeley. Mr. Hossain was an undergraduate of Emory's Oxford College.
The terrorists quizzed the captives. When Faraaz was able to recite a verse from the Quran, they told him he would be allowed to leave, but they shot his friend Tarishi for failing the test, and for being a Hindu. They later killed Faraaz, for having tried to save a Hindu, and 20 other hostages.
These events fit horror movies. One person was forced to watch the beheading of another. The rapid, targeted brutality was photographed, so it could be uploaded to social media.
The next day, this writer went to Lehman College to make a speech about this brutality, but he couldn't finish, because the innocent faces of Faraaz, Tarishi, and many others flashed back in his mind.
These disgusting terrorists are gaining momentum, all around the world. In the holiest month of the year, they unleashed terror in the US, Bangladesh, Turkey, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.
Any rational thinker must ask: Why are terrorists, who claim to be Muslims, hiding bombs inside their bodies to kill other Muslims who are worshipping in mosques? Even Nazis did not kill Nazis, yet Islamic State terrorists and other terrorists kill Muslims time after time.
On social media, many of our Muslim brothers in Bangladesh described the killing of innocent people at the Pulse nightclub as a lesson for Christians and Jews, and denounced this scribe for writing he is a Muslim and he loves gays. Over the years, he's written many articles in the Times of India, the Times of Israel and the Huffington Post to promote his anti-Islamic State campaign. Instead of supporting him, many Bangladeshi Muslims wrote that he was an agent of Israel and America.
This writer asked Albert what he thought when people would call him an agent of Israel. His answer was, "Because sometimes, 14 million people are greater than 1.6 billion."
This quantitative answer stunned him. However, Isaac helped him understand.
Albert had compared the worldwide numbers of Jews, which is 14 million, with the number of Muslims, which is 1.6 billion.
To date, 900 people and organisations have won the Nobel Prize, which is awarded for achievement in sciences and humanities, without regard to race, religion, or country.
If the prize reflected population statistics, Muslims would have been awarded the Nobel Prize 189 times, and Jews, two or three times. Yet, Muslims have won the award only 12 times, and Jews have attained more than 180.
The difference lies in secular education. Some Muslims, angry at America, Europe, and Israel, teach their children at an early age to hate these nations. They send their children to the madrasa, where the Imam teaches them to hate non-Muslims.
We should stop listening to these Imams, and understand poet Nazrul, who wrote, "We are two flowers from the same stalk, Hindu-Musalmaan; Muslim is the sparkle of its eyes, Hindu is its bosom." Faraaz Hossain would have understood Nazrul's poem. He sacrificed his life, trying to save Tarishi Jain, a Hindu girl. Hate is a waste of time, and it cannot make a better Islam. The only sensible plan is secular education: producing Isaac Newtons and Albert Einsteins in every home. That is the only way to make Islam great again.
As a Muslim, this writer is doing his part, by teaching Isaac and Albert that math, algorithms and physics can help us unlock the mysteries of nature. He hopes all Muslim parents will do the same.
The writer teaches Computer Science at Princeton University, mathematics at CUNY-Baruch College and physics at New Visions Charter High School
for Advanced Math & Science.
His website is: www.bari-science-lab.com