“And there I stood, the invited speaker, at Harvard. A story that I had read in prison when I was reading a lot of Greek mythology flicked into my head. The boy Icarus. Do you remember the story?

Icarus’ father made some wings that he fastened with wax. 'Never fly but so high with these wings,' the father said. But soaring around, this way, that way, Icarus’ flying pleased him so that he began thinking he was flying on his own merit. Higher, he flew—higher—until the heat of the sun melted the wax holding those wings. And down came Icarus—tumbling.

Standing there by that Harvard window, I silently vowed to Allah that I never would forget that any wings I wore had been put on by the religion of Islam. That fact I never have forgotten…not for one second.”