Islamic Revival

Francois Hollande, the French president said in a speech before the annual meeting of French ambassadors and diplomats on Friday, 16/01/2015:  "We are not fighting a religion in France, but we are fighting terrorism and hatred."  He stressed the commitment of France to  "freedom of expression and will never negotiate it."  This speech by Hollande comes at the wake of the attack, in which two young Muslims avenged the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم and punished the criminals of the Charlie Hebdo Newspaper who insulted the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. In 2007, two Muslim groups in France sued Charlie Hebdo for its decision to publish dozens of Danish caricatures (cartoons) representing Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم; but the French courts dismissed the case on the grounds that "the cartoons come under the laws of freedom of expression, and it is not an attack on Islam."  Also the Judicial Defense of the Muslims' Association filed a law

In the aftermath of the events in Paris, with perpetrators still on the run, the West’s press and politicians have set a narrative across the world – that the journalists at Charlie Hebdo were killed as part of a war on free speech and as such they died as martyrs. We could go around in circles with arguments and counter arguments. ‘Had there been no provocation there would have been no backlash’ versus ‘violence is never justified when insulted’. One thing is for sure, in my view. Had any government in the Muslim world taken a robust stand on the on-going insults to the Prophet – peace be upon him – threatening diplomatic action or to cut trade relations over the insulting depictions – I do not believe individuals would feel the frustration to retaliate. This is one of the reasons why calls for the restoration of a legitimate Islamic polity in the Muslim world continue to resonate so strongly amongst Muslims globally – to return stability and independence to the region.

Following is the comment from Uthman Badar's  facebook  page  - a w ell renowned writer, activist & media representative of Hizb-ut-tahrir Australia: 1. It’s important to judge the provocation and reaction together, separately and in context. Together, because one leads, in part at least, to the other. In context, because neither arise in a vacuum. And separately, in the sense that the justification or otherwise of one does not mean the other is likewise; there is world of understanding and explanation beyond the shallow realm of mere justification or condemnation. Those who stifle discussions of context, by charging those who bring these up with being apologists for terrorism, are in fact themselves the apologists because what they seek to hide exposes a much greater, systematic, persistent terror – the terror of states. 2. All this "we stand for free speech" talk, in this context, actually means "we stand for freedom to insult". This is because the