The General Secretariat of the Organization
of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has condemned continued attacks and
incitement against Muslim sentiment and insults of Prophet Muhammad, Anadolu
Agency (AA) reported.
A statement by the 57-member pan-Islamic OIC
criticized the "discourse from certain French politicians, which it deems to be
harmful to the Muslim-French relations, hate-mongering and only serving
partisan political interests".
It said the OIC "will always condemn practices of blasphemy and of insulting Prophets of Islam, Christianity and Judaism" as it condemned any crime committed in the name of religion.
The statement rejected the incitement against Islam, its symbols and linking Islam and Muslims with terrorism.
According to AA, the OIC statement also denounced the killing of French teacher Samuel Paty, who was decapitated on October 16 in a Paris suburb.
Teacher Samuel Paty, who had shown students cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed, was beheaded outside his school. The man suspected of the beheading was an 18-year-old Moscow-born Chechnyan. The assailant was shot by police and later died of his injuries.
ErdoÄŸan says Macron needs 'mental treatment'
President Macron's anti-Islam rhetoric sparked a diplomatic crisis between France and Turkey when France recalled its ambassador from Ankara after Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan said Saturday Macron needs "mental treatment" because of his hostility toward Islam.
"What is Macron's problem with Islam and Muslims? He needs mental health treatment," ErdoÄŸan said at the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) congress in central Kayseri province. "What can be said to a head of state that treats millions of members of a religious minority in his country this way? First of all, (he needs) mental check," ErdoÄŸan added.
In response, a French presidential official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Paris was recalling its envoy to Ankara for consultations. Ambassador Herve Magro would meet Macron to discuss the situation, the official said.
France recently launched an extensive witch hunt against the Muslim community following Macron calling Islam a problematic religion that needs to be contained. Many nongovernmental organizations and mosques have been shut down in recent weeks, while assaults against Muslims have peaked.
Macron this month described Islam as a religion "in crisis" worldwide and said the government would present a bill in December to strengthen a 1905 law that officially separated church and state in France. He announced stricter oversight of schooling and better control over foreign funding of mosques.
Tellingly, James McAuley of The Washington Post wrote on Oct 23: Instead of addressing the alienation of French Muslims, especially in France's exurban ghettos, or banlieues - which experts broadly agree is the root cause that leaves some susceptible to radicalization and violence - the government aims to influence the practice of a 1,400-year-old faith, one with almost 2 billion peaceful followers around the world, including tens of millions in the West.
Days after teacher Samuel Paty's beheading, two female attackers stabbed two Muslim women in headscarves and called them "dirty Arabs" as they walked near the Eiffel Tower. "There is a hysterical climate," according to Rachid Benzine, a French political scientist.
Arabs condemn Macron's remarks about Islam
Several Arab countries have condemned the French incitement against the Islam and the Prophet of Islam, warning that these repeated insults fuel hatred among the peoples.
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