Muslims strongly condemn Paris terror attacks

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/11/14/muslims-strongly-condemn-paris-attacks/75772102/

Jane Onyanga-Omara, USA TODAY 10:42 a.m. EST November 14, 2015
Contributing: Angela Waters and Aida Alami

Muslims worldwide on Saturday strongly condemned the terrorist attacks by the Islamic State that killed at least 127 people in Paris.

Shuja Shafi, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, an umbrella body that represents more than 500 organizations including mosques, schools and charities, described the killings as "horrific and abhorrent."

"My thoughts and prayers for the families of those killed and injured and for the people of France, our neighbours," he said in a statement.

"This attack is being claimed by the group calling themselves 'Islamic State'. There is nothing Islamic about such people and their actions are evil, and outside the boundaries set by our faith."

Tariq Ramadan, a professor of Islamic Studies at Oxford University in England and president of the European Muslim Network think tank said in a statement: “Absolute and immediate condemnation. They shouted, we are told, ‘Allahu akbar” (God [is] the greatest) to support and justify their inhuman actions.

“With this they told a lie and a truth. Their lie is related to Islam and its message as not even one of its teachings, ever, can justify their actions. These acts are the result of minds inhabited by the worst, or minds without minds, manipulated or manipulators.”

Fateh Kimouche, 38, founder of the prominent French Muslim blog Al Kanz, said it was important for the whole country to put up a "united front against terrorists." But he also expressed concern about a backlash against Muslims following this "atrocious act."

Kimouche said that "Muslims suffer a double punishment: massively victims in the Middle East and around the world," as well as being the targets of Islamophobia. "The Muslim community is in mourning like the rest of the French, but also in the anxiety of retaliation," he said.

Yahya Adel Ibrahim, an Islamic teacher and imam in Perth, Australia, said in a Facebook post: “This criminal barbarity is Godlessness. Terrorism has no faith & cannot be condoned by any means, rationale or ideology. We must commit to each other to defeat it. Godless cowards attack unarmed, randomly selected, innocent people. Terrorists are Sinful, immoral, barbaric criminals. My thoughts & prayers are with the innocent victims, their families and communities."