They say one of the biggest misconceptions about Islam is that it’s connected to the Islamic State.
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But even then we’re stuck in a catch 22. Even if the Syrian civil war ended, the jihadi insurgency would continue feeding on local grievances; Indeed, paradoxically you might see a surge of foreign fighters flocking to Egypt to continue the struggle. They are not those who refuse to collaborate with the Kremlin rather than supporting the Kurds.
Mosques were attacked with graffiti scrawled across their walls and Muslims reported a rise in abuse. “I am a Muslim, but I am told I am a terrorist”.
This is a war between dogmatism and liberalism, between cartoons, books and Kalashnikovs, between games, music and grenades. “They don’t represent Islam, because they don’t represent what we believe in”.
In order to do it, we shouldn’t simply go out again and sip our wine at terraces, it is not enough to dance, play and celebrate again as a form of protest. We have to speak out again, think for ourselves, enjoy pluralism and furthermore, we have to defend out loud our values and not let anyone pervert them.
The attack had “further [brought] division to the world”, the group said, boasting that it had polarized society and “eliminated the grayzone”, representing coexistence between religious groups.
Statements from various committees of Muslim scholars from around the world have condemned such attacks that are in total contradiction with the authentic teachings of Islam. I have been absolutely clear and candid in condemning all acts of terrorism and vigilantism like this one, and I reiterate that Islam stands strongly against extremism of all kinds.
The operation lasted eight hours and was completed at around 12 noon, but the street is still closed down and neighbors were confused as they were evacuated from their homes.
Muslims consist of the largest number of ISIS victims.
Muslim religious authorities are doing the same. “And if you can’t admit that, you’re not really a good Muslim either”, he wrote.
In the past week, terrorists apparently aligned with the Islamic State conducted three savage attacks: The assaults in Paris that killed at least 129 people Friday night were the worst. Two weeks prior to that they were responsible for the death of 224 people onboard a Russian plane over Sinai; this is just to mention a few of their latest atrocities.
As such, it would be both perverse and counterproductive to lump them together with ISIS and blame them for the group’s actions. It was a stunning global display of human resilience and unity, and its inclusion of people from all walks of life ensured that no one was left out.
The hope lies with Muslim reformers such as British activist Maajid Nawaz, who get shamefully attacked as “Islamophobes” and sellouts by Western leftists such as journalist Max Blumenthal.
“Always we hear these questions, where are the leaders of the Muslim community?”
Moderate Muslims and ex-Muslims are the ones whose position can guarantee European secularism. Media figures and public officials have taken to social media and the airwaves to claim Islam is inherently violent and conflate all of Islam with ISIS, disregarding hundreds of millions of Muslims who fight for the cause of freedom and democracy every day.
Terrorist groups flagrantly use religion as a cloak to cover up for their cowardly acts of violence.
Unfortunately tighter rules and increased scrutiny after the Charlie Hebdo attacks did not prevent the latest attacks.
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“All I’m hearing right now is a lot of silence”.
