Story highlights The phrase "Allahu Akbar," which means "God is greater" in Arabic, should be known as a celebration of life, not death and destruction, says Imam Omar Suleiman

Imam Omar Suleiman is the founder and president of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research and an adjunct professor of Islamic Studies at Southern Methodist University. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own.

Imam Omar Suleiman is the founder and president of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research and an adjunct professor of Islamic Studies at Southern Methodist University.

(CNN) I'll never forget the day a US army veteran who had fought in Iraq embraced Islam at my former mosque in New Orleans. He arrived in his full uniform, and was overcome with emotion when he heard the congregation shout "Allahu Akbar" after he uttered the Islamic declaration of faith.

The army veteran never thought that the words that had terrified him in Iraq would be the very same that would welcome him to his new faith. They are words that he now uses in prayer.

Contrary to what many people seem to think, the words "Allahu Akbar" simply mean "God is greater." It is a powerful declaration used by Muslims on many occasions and in many prayers. It is a celebration of life, the first words fathers whisper in the ears of their newborns. They are used to indicate gratitude when God bestows something upon you that you would have been incapable of attaining were it not for divine benevolence. It is a prayerful phrase that reminds us that, no matter what our concerns may be, God is greater than them.

Worshipers at a mosque in Quebec reportedly heard the phrase "Allahu Akhbar," the very phrase they recite in morning prayers, uttered by their white supremacist attacker just before he opened fire and killed six Muslims this January. And Muslims at a mosque in Minnesota were reciting "Allahu Akbar" during their morning prayers when their mosque was firebombed this August

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