According to Mike Robinson, Associated Press, “A Muslim convert who talked about his desire to wage jihad against civilians was charged Friday in a plot to set off hand grenades at a shopping mall at the height of the Christmas rush, authorities said.

“Investigators said Derrick Shareef, 22, an American citizen from Rockford,…was arrested Wednesday when he met with an undercover agent in a parking lot to trade a set of stereo speakers for four hand grenades and a gun, authorities said.  ‘He fixed on a day of December 22nd on Friday ... because it was the Friday before Christmas and thought that would be the highest concentration of shoppers that he could kill and injure,’ said Robert Grant, the agent in charge of the Chicago FBI office.

“Authorities said Shareef had been under investigation since September, when he told an acquaintance that ‘he wanted to commit acts of violent jihad against targets in the United States as well as commit other crimes.’  The acquaintance immediately informed the FBI, officials said.

“Shareef was born in the United States and converted to Islam, officials said. They believe he might have learned about jihad through videos and Web sites.”

People convert to Judaism and Christianity every day.  Rarely do they immediately decide to try to kill lots of their fellow citizens in the name of their religion.  And yet, we read every day about people who convert to Islam with the goal of destroying everything and everybody in this country.  Here is the question…If Islam is such a peaceful religion, WHY IS THAT?