Ahmed Merabet R.I.P.
A sad irony of the barbarous atrocity at the Charlie Hebdo offices is that one of the policemen shot dead in cold blood by killers who claimed to be acting in the name of Islam was in fact a Muslim himself.
Let me make clear that I am not making any distinction between the victims: none of these murders at the Charlie Hebdo offices or any of the killings of hostages or bystanders over the following two days can be defended in any way, shape or form. All these killings were disgusting and evil, whether the victims were journalists going their jobs, policemen doing their job of trying to defend society, or innocent bystanders.
I highlight this particular indefensible murder among all the other indefensible murders carried out by these extremists in France over the past few days only to make the point that the terrorists who claimed to act on behalf of Islam had no more hesitation in gunning down a Muslim policeman who was just doing his duty than they had in killing those they regarded as their enemies.
It is important that we notice this kind of thing, and that we recognise ordinary Muslims do not support the people who commit this kind of atrocity. The reason this is important is that one of the motives of the terrorists is to drive a wedge between Muslim and non-Muslim and worsen the clash of civilisations. They must not be allowed to succeed.
Ahmet Merabet aged 42, had joined the police partly because he wanted to unite communities and thought Muslims should integrate more with French society as a whole while keeping their faith. He was a motorcycle policeman who bravely confronted the killers outside the Charlie Hebdo offices. His life and death were far closer to the way laid down in the Koran than those of his murderers.
Rest In Peace.
Let me make clear that I am not making any distinction between the victims: none of these murders at the Charlie Hebdo offices or any of the killings of hostages or bystanders over the following two days can be defended in any way, shape or form. All these killings were disgusting and evil, whether the victims were journalists going their jobs, policemen doing their job of trying to defend society, or innocent bystanders.
I highlight this particular indefensible murder among all the other indefensible murders carried out by these extremists in France over the past few days only to make the point that the terrorists who claimed to act on behalf of Islam had no more hesitation in gunning down a Muslim policeman who was just doing his duty than they had in killing those they regarded as their enemies.
It is important that we notice this kind of thing, and that we recognise ordinary Muslims do not support the people who commit this kind of atrocity. The reason this is important is that one of the motives of the terrorists is to drive a wedge between Muslim and non-Muslim and worsen the clash of civilisations. They must not be allowed to succeed.
Ahmet Merabet aged 42, had joined the police partly because he wanted to unite communities and thought Muslims should integrate more with French society as a whole while keeping their faith. He was a motorcycle policeman who bravely confronted the killers outside the Charlie Hebdo offices. His life and death were far closer to the way laid down in the Koran than those of his murderers.
Rest In Peace.
Comments