Asif Arif, a Parisian lawyer who directs Cultures & Beliefs, writes in the Huffington Post that Muslims stand with Charlie Hebdo after the attacks:
Already on the horizon we see Islamophobes and skeptics of Islam taking great lengths to announce that all of this can be blamed on Islam. But I must emphasize, through this short opinion piece, that Muslims support Charlie Hebdo. They stand with them because they cherish freedom of the press and, more importantly, they have a fundamental and primary respect for life that only God can remove.
Therefore, I am with Charlie Hebdo. I am with the families of the journalists, designers, and employees who were assassinated. With all my heart I share their sorrows, the loss of a loved one is one of most inhuman things that can be done to anyone. But as a Muslim and as a person who has written often on the questions surrounding Islam in France, I have to let you know that Islam, the Prophet of Islam, is not what these people have done: these people have committed murder, period…
These individuals acted in the name of a prophet who was always patient, even when he faced injustices. In this same vein, there is a tradition where the founder of Islam walked in the streets every day and was assaulted by a woman who attacked him with garbage. Even though he had the chance to demand justice, this shows proof of his patience. The day that the woman did not throw garbage at him, he assumed she was sick. He asked her if she was well because he had not been assaulted with filth. Is this not true Islam, the Islam of patience and the battle that rages inside of one’s self? Is this not the message of the founder of tolerance? What beautiful messages people miss when they think that the only Islam is one of coercion, of weapons, and of violence.