U.S. Muslim groups denounce French terror, say free speech must be protected

American Muslim groups, concerned about potential backlash from the recent terrorist killings in France, are scrambling to get out a dual message to the American public: Muslims in the U.S. may be offended by images that ridicule the prophet Muhammad, but they condemn violence and support the principle of free speech.

“The caricatures of the Prophet are offensive, but the violent assault on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was a complete affront to Islamic principles and values,” the Los Angeles-based Muslim American Public Affairs Council said in a statement Wednesday.

Officials at the Council on American Islamic Relations, headquartered on Capitol Hill, said they had received death threats and calls from fearful American Muslims in the wake of last week’s attack on the Paris magazine, which left 12 dead. The two attackers shouted that they were avenging the prophet for the publication’s provocative depictions of Islam’s holiest figure.

“The mindset of Muslims is against graven images of any religious figure, including our prophet, but it is also a cornerstone of Islam not to condone violence,” Nihad Awad, the council’s president, said after a news conference Wednesday. “These killers were not avenging the prophet — they were avenging their egos and religious illiteracy.”

Muslim leaders in the area said the killings and the accompanying debate about anti-Islamic cartoons had raised the sensitive issue of free speech among Muslims in the U.S., who may feel personally insulted by such cartoons but also live in a society where free speech is a basic legal right. They noted that the prophet Muhammad had responded to insults with mercy and prayer.

“As Muslims we encourage responsible speech and reject hate speech in any form, but we firmly believe that all speech, even if mocking and satirical, and even if deeply offensive, should and must be protected,” said a statement from the All-Dulles Area Muslim Society in Sterling, one of the region’s largest mosques.

Rizwan Jaka, a spokesman for the mosque, called the attack on Charlie Hebdo “a crime against humanity and people of all faiths,” and pointed out that in the series of attacks, one Muslim policeman was killed and a Muslim clerk helped customers hide in the basement of the kosher market.

Jaka said that even though the attackers claimed to act in the name of Islam, “nothing could be further from the truth. When the prophet was stoned, his reaction was to pray for those who stoned him.” Read More at Washingtonpost