The editors of the magazine defend their choice as a hymn to "freedom". Al Azhar says that the publication "incites hatred" and "does not foster peaceful coexistence". A Turkish newspaper publishes the cartoon, but in miniature, black and white. Manuel Valls: France is at war against terrorism and jihadism, not against Islam and Muslims.

Beirut (AsiaNews / Agencies) - High profile Muslim personalities in Egypt, Qatar and France are critical of the "latest provocation" of the Charlie Hebdo weekly magazine which has published a new cartoon of Mohammed, in the same week of the terrorist attacks that killed eight people including the magazine's cartoonists and staff and claimed the lives of around 17 people in France. The attack was motivated as revenge for past publications of cartoons of the prophet, deemed blasphemous.

The magazine was printed in three million copies (instead of the usual 60 thousand) and in different languages including Arabic, Turkish, English.

The first page of the weekly shows Muhammad in tears holding a sign reading "Je suis Charlie", which became the symbol of freedom of expression against terrorism and endorsed by millions of people in recent days.

For the editors of the newspaper, the issue is a hymn to life "that must go on" and a hymn to "freedom". For many Muslim personalities it is a "provocation"

Al-Azhar, the leading authority of Sunni Islam, based in Egypt, said that the new cartoon "incites hatred". This (magazine) edition will result in a new wave of hatred in French and Western society. It does not serve the co-existence and the cultural dialogue Muslims aspire to".

Similar criticisms were made by Shiite Iran, where the "Tabnak" site says Charlie Hebdo is "insulting the prophet again."

The International Union of Muslim ulema, led by Youssef al-Qaradaoui, considered the spiritual father of the Muslim Brotherhood, said that it is "neither reasonable nor logical nor wise to publish the drawings and films that offend the Prophet or the attack 'Islam ".

Perhaps the only exception in the Muslim world, the secular Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet, published the cartoons today, but in miniature and in black and white.

Meanwhile, yesterday the French parliament overwhelmingly voted to continue air strikes against the jihadists of the Islamic State in Iraq.

Recalling the victims in the attack on Charlie Hebdo, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that "France is at war against terrorism, jihadism and radical Islamism. France is not at war against Islam and Muslims".

 

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