Killers do not represent Islam, Irish Muslim leaders stress

Irish Muslim leaders have described the Paris terrorist attacks as an affront to Islam.

In a statement representing the Irish Council of Imams, Dr Ali Selim said: "Murder, the most horrendous act of terrorism, is strictly forbidden in Islam. In a deterring way Allah states that the murder of one person is as evil as killing all people."

Dr Selim said the Dublin-based European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) “stresses that these crimes can by no means be classified as a just struggle”.

The ECRF is headquartered in Clonskeagh, south Dublin, at the mosque of the Islamic Cultural Centre in Ireland.

“As it condemns all types of terrorism; state, individual and extremist groups, the ECFR appeals to the entire world to live in peace, respect human rights and shun violence and create a just society where atrocities like these can not flourish.”

“We share the shock and the horror of what was shown on the internet and television.”

In a separate statement, Shaykh Dr Umar Al-Qadri, Imam of the Islamic educational and cultural centre in Dublin’s Blanchardstown, said: “My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Paris and every other place on earth plagued by sick men with weapons and bombs.

“Terrorists have no religion whatsoever. Their religion is intolerance hatred for Peace. The news from Paris is very frightening.

“May God be with us all against all types of extremism and terrorism.”

Dr al-Qadri, who is chairman of the Irish Muslim Peace and Integration Council, helped to organise a "Not in Our Name" demonstration in Dublin city last July against Islamic state, inviting Muslims from across Ireland to protest against religious extremism.