The “Muslim elders” decide to sue “Charlie Hebdo” for insulting the Prophet: “The time for words is over.”

Today, Monday, the Sheikh of Al-Azhar, the Grand Imam, Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb, chaired a meeting of the “Council of Muslim Elders” via videoconference.

During the meeting, the Council condemned the systematic campaign that seeks to undermine the Prophet of Islam and mock Islamic sanctities under the banner of “freedom of expression”, and decided to form an international committee of legal experts to file a lawsuit against “Charlie Hebdo “for having insulted the Prophet of Mercy, and affirmed his strong condemnation for the murder of the French teacher, as well as the stabbing attack. And the beginning of the murder of two Muslim women near the Eiffel Tower, and highlighted that all these incidents are abominable terrorism, whoever committed it and whatever their motives.

The Muslim Council of Elders expressed strong opposition to the use of the freedom of expression sign by insulting the Prophet of Islam – may God bless him and grant him peace – and the sanctities of the Islamic religion, emphasizing that freedom of expression must be within a framework of social responsibility that preserves the rights of others and does not allow the trade of religions in political markets. And electoral propaganda.

The Council renewed its call to Muslim citizens in the West to adhere to the values ​​of coexistence, peace and citizenship with all social components of their countries, and to positive integration in those societies, in order to enhance their contributions to the construction and development while preserving its constant and religious and cultural peculiarities, and not being carried away by the provocations of the right wing discourse that aims to distort Islam. And the consolidation of the idea of ​​associating it with terrorism and isolationism, and promoting hostility against Muslims.

The Council stated that addressing these abuses will be through the courts and legal methods, in the Council’s belief in the importance of resisting hate speech and sedition by peaceful, rational and legal means. Noting that the time for words is over and the time for action and action on the ground has come.

The Council called on Muslims to tackle hate speech by enacting international legislation criminalizing insult to religions and their symbols, urging Western sages and their intellectuals to confront the systematic campaign against Islam and its hostility and placing it on the scene of electoral and political conflicts and creating a healthy environment for coexistence and human fraternity.