Paris Attacks: Not in the name of Syria

It is not hard to call what happened in Paris on Friday night what it is. It is simply a heinous attack on innocent civilians by extremists. It is a terrorist act.

No matter how hard terror-apologists try to come up with fantastic ‘rationales’ behind such criminal acts, the cowardly attacks cannot be justified. They are a crime not only against France but also against the people and religion those sick terrorists claim to be representing.

Witnesses say the terrorists said they were carrying out their crime “because of what is happening in Syria”. Some said the killers were shouting “Allahu Akbar”.

Islam certainly doesn’t condone terrorism; nor do the people of Syria. The Syrians have been the victims of terrorism for the past five years — terrorised by both a brutal regime and armed terror groups claiming to be fighting that regime.

What happened in Paris on Friday night was not in Syria’s name. It was simply an act of terror perpetrated by sick people who most probably had espoused a weird religious doctrine that has nothing to do with the real Islam. The world must stand united today in the face of terror and Muslim countries need to be at the forefront of that fight.