In 612 A.D., a man told his people they needed to change their ways. Those people had practiced pagan, tribal rituals like burying baby girls at birth and letting widows and orphans starve. The man said women deserved equal rights, that they should keep their maiden names because they were not property to be passed from one man to another. He managed to eradicate the killing of baby girls. He propagated a progressive message, although he lived 1,400 years ago and was an orphan who did not know how to read or write.

Jerry Falwell also tells us we need to change our ways. About a year ago, he said America deserved the tragic 9/11 attacks because we Americans engage in abhorrent, subversive behavior - like equal rights for women and free legal counsel to poor criminal defendants - exactly the kind of justice that the man described above stood up for 1,400 years ago. Falwell thinks 3,000 people died on 9/11 because women are exercising their God-given right to control their bodies. Falwell wants widows' last dime for his "ministry," and he'll say anything to take it from them.

The 1,400-year-old man grew up as the kid everyone picked on. He was forced to do the worst chores. When he began to spread the message of justice, he was attacked by pagans who wanted to continue the culture of hate that dragged their society down viciously. He was threatening their world order. For 13 years, this man did not fight back, becoming the first person in recorded history to practice non-violence as a means of retaliation. When he did finally fight back, he was careful not to harm civilians. And when he prevailed, he forgave everyone, including many who only days earlier had tried to assassinate him. He admonished his followers not to take booty from the people they had defeated. Many pagans were impressed by this leader who treated them so well, who said that every person - poor, widowed, enemy - has value in God's eyes.

In Falwell's analysis, the 9/11 hijackers were not terrorists but actually instruments of God's will, exacting justice on abortion-loving Americans. Most people, including Muslims, would say the opposite - that the 9/11 hijackers were terrorists - like the pagans of 1,400 years ago. But Falwell sees the hijackers as God's soldiers.

The man who lived 1,400 years ago risked his life to overcome the attitudes of people like the 9/11 hijackers, not to herald them as Falwell does. The holy book of the belief system this man founded 1,400 years ago says that killing even one person, and not in self-defense or retaliation in a military setting, is the same as killing all of humankind. This holy book also says that saving one person - even just one - is the same as saving all of humankind.

Falwell and some of his cohorts demonize Islam for their own personal gain - donations and fame based on propagating hate. They attack my religion, citing some unknown scholarly writings. Falwell calls my prophet, Muhammad, a terrorist, yet he basically endorses the actions of the 9/11 hijackers as God's work. The man who lived 1,400 years ago, the man whom Falwell calls a terrorist, made a name for himself by doing the opposite of Falwell - standing for justice, loving even his enemies, reaching out to those who were picked on.

Little Muslim and Christian boys and girls, here in America and abroad, will be picked on like Muhammad was because Falwell wanted more donations and notoriety. They will not be able to grow up as my parents did in Pakistan, loving the Christians who devoted their lives to that country. The National Council of Churches has issued a resolution condemning Falwell's stunts as endangering Christian aid workers abroad. Falwell's words kill humanity. Muhammad fought to save humanity. For that reason, Muslims, to this day, always follow the writing or saying of Muhammad's name with the phrase "Peace be upon him."

Falwell thinks the man who lived 1,400 years ago was a terrorist and America deserved the 9/11 attacks. Who do you think the terrorist is?

Asma Gull Hasan is the author of the book AMERICAN MUSLIMS: THE NEW GENERATION. Excerpts of her  book are available at www.asmahasan.com  She is a frequent IslamiCity visitor.