A child holds a photograph of France’s President Emmanuel Macron, stamped with a shoe mark, during a protest against France in Istanbul. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Faizel Patel – 30/10/2020
The United Ulama Council of South Africa (UUCSA) says the gruesome murder of a 47-year-old history teacher Samuel Patty gave French President Emmanuel Macron the perfect opportunity to divert attention from his failed domestic policies.
Uucsa was responding to Macron’s critique of Islam and the beheading of Patty who had shown caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) previously published by satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo,
Macron 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.
In a statement, Uucsa says instead of Macron condemning the man accused of killing Patty, the French president singled out an entire religion, referring to Islam.
“He chose to denigrate Islam by labelling it as a religion in crisis and by projecting the provocative cartoons onto government buildings in France.”
Uucsa says the caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) are deeply hurtful to the sensibilities of the 1.8 billion Muslims across the globe.
“As Muslims we do not endorse, sanction or encourage extra-judicial killings.”
Uucsa says France refuses to acknowledge the fact that Islam is a religion in France and that the country has done little to address job and housing discrimination, police brutality, poverty and racism as yet accuses the French Muslim community of failing to integrate.
Below is the full statement from UUCSA
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