Charlie Hebdo is a weekly satirical magazine that used editorial cartoons (caricatures) to criticize and attack every radical and extreme aspect of French and world society–politics, social movements, religion (Islam, Christianity, Judaism, etc.). Their form of satire had no nuance; it was brutal and extremely provocative. Legally, they had the right to say what they said and to draw what they drew. Perhaps they underestimated the level of personal risk; perhaps they felt called to speak out as they did. They chose to brandish raw meat in a society that (sadly) has some wild beasts that cannot pass up a free meal.

But the massacre of the entire editorial staff and two policemen (12 dead and 11 wounded, some seriously) during the weekly editorial meeting was an act of PURE EVIL.

One of the attackers said “We avenged the Prophet.” NO, they did not. They betrayed the fundamental beliefs of Muslims and violated key sections of Shari’ah.

The wholesale killing of many people without due process, without a trial, without knowing if each of them was guilty or innocent of any crime is FORBIDDEN in Islam. God himself, in the Qur’an, says that when Islam is reviled by others, we are to ignore them. The laws against blasphemy and the use of violence by some Muslims against blasphemy are NOT found in the Qur’an. They are man-made laws and extreme actions that go beyond the Qur’an and Shari’ah.

When the caricaturists of Charlie Hebdo played with fired and criticized the radical elements and actions of SOME Muslims (and others in other circumstances), they should have been seen as supporting (not undermining) REAL Islam. Indeed, in attacking extremism and radicalism in all ts forms and among all communities.

The Prophet Muhammad, peace be on him, said, “You must not do evil to those who do evil to you; you must deal with them with forgiveness and kindness.” (Sahih Al-Bukhari)

In its own, ofter over the top way, when Charlie Hebdo attacked the extremists in every sector of French life (religion, politics, economics, etc), it gave meaning to a well known saying of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him):

“The ink of scribes is just as valuable as the blood of martyrs.”

The planners and perpetrators of the Charlie Hebdo massacre are guilty of the shari’ah capital crime of “hirabah”–spreading disruption an mischief in the land. By their EVIL actions, they and all their supporters have shown themselves to be renegades, heretics and blasphemers against Islam.

Those involved with Boko Haram, Da’esh (ISIS), as-Shabbab, al-Qaeda, etc. are NOT representative of the majority of Muslims or the teachings of Islam.The Imam of the mosque in the French town of Drancy (who has been under police protection for several years because of his support for the freedom of Charlie Hebdo to express himself) said tonight that “the Prophet of those who carried out the massacre is not Muhammad; their Prophet is Satan.”

Speaking about extremists, the Prophet Muhammad said:

…when no Alim [knowledgable, learned person in the religion of Islam] is to be found, some people will take ignorant men for teachers. These will be questioned and they will reply without [true] knowledge. They are themselves misguided and they misguide others.”(Sahih al-Bukhari)

In the Qur’an, God ordered the prophet to “show forgiveness, speak for justice and avoid the ignorant.” (7:199)

May Allah the Perfectly Just and the Perfectly Merciful, to whom all humanity belongs and to whom all humanity returns, reward all the soul of every person who dies as may be proper for him or her.

The Muslim Qur’an and the Jewish Talmud both say that to save one human being is as if all humanity had been saved and to unjustly kill one human is as if all humanity had been destroyed.

Nous sommes tous Charlie.