The Etudiants Musulmans de France, a nearly three-decade-old group representing thousands of Muslim students in France, called the Paris attackers anti-Islamic cowards, and pledged their solidarity to France in a moving video released on Nov. 15.
“They think they are fighting Crusaders, and they invoke the Qur’an, and quote its verses. But shedding the blood of an innocent has no justification… not in Islam or anywhere,” a narrator says.
“They wanted France to be weak, they made our French hearts strong,” he goes on, as Muslim students hold up a placard that says #NousSommmesUnis (“We are and forever will be united”).
Muslims around the world, from political leaders to ordinary citizens, have condemned the attacks. Still, there is widespread concern that they could be targeted in retaliation. After the Charlie Hebdo attacks in the French capital earlier this year, Muslim-owned businesses were burned and mosques attacked. In Ontario, Canada, a mosque was deliberately set on fire on Saturday, police said.
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