How can one even begin to try to understand such senseless butchery? It matters not what religion the attackers claim to represent, because in reality, those who carried out the heinous acts of cowardice have only one religion, death, and one aim, destruction, and one political agenda, the demise of democracy.

Religion is supposed to be about love, whereas these cold-blooded assassins who brought havoc and destruction to Mumbai, were motivated by unadulterated hate. The attackers killed more than 183 innocent people and wounded several hundred more. Show us the pages in the Koran justifying such blind violence. There can be no glory in shooting at unarmed women and children.

How dare these murderers claim to act in the name of God? The mere mention of God's name by such criminals is in itself blasphemy.

There are two things that need to happen now. First, the Muslim community around the world needs to wake up to the fact that there is no longer room for the silence of the silent majority. It is time for the leaders of the Muslim world – and the people of the Muslin world - to become vociferous. It is time for all Muslims who feel strongly about what happened in Mumbai to speak out against the violence.

There is simply no more luxury to sit idly by and say this is not my concern. This is everyone's concern. The attacks on Mumbai could easily repeat themselves next week, only next time in Budapest, Prague, Antwerp or Munich. Or in Cairo, Jeddah or Karachi.

Which is all the more reason for all Muslims of good faith who remain opposed to terrorism to speak out and let others know that such random acts of violence do not show Islam's true face; quite the contrary, these images only help the enemies of Islam. Indeed, once these madmen run out of "infidels" to kill, they will just as easily turn against their fellow Muslims.

And second, India should learn from the mistakes of the George W. Bush administration in the United States and their post-Sept. 11, 2001 knee-jerk reactions and avoid falling into the same trap that led to the world's remaining superpower to adopt measures that were not in line with the democratic principles they wished to spread around the world.

Anti-Muslim sentiments in India can easily spin out of control, particularly in view of accusations by the Indian government that the attackers came from Pakistan. There is bound to be a growing desire in Delhi to retaliate for the crimes committed in Mumbai.

But this is a time for restraint.

India should not enact laws similar to the USA Patriot Act, establish Guantanamo-like prison camps and turn Pakistan into another "Iraq"; even if the attacks on Mumbai do represent another 9/11.