French Muslims plead: "Do not remain deaf, dumb and blind" to terrorism

"Salam alaykum, people. I am making this video because I'm tired of seeing all these attacks,” says the maker of one Facebook video. Alone, addressing the camera of his smartphone, Akim Bechmella expresses his despair. He’s sick of the “ideological war that could do a lot of damage,” sick of "these pseudo-Muslims who misrepresent two billion Muslims."

After voicing his distress, Bechmella, a resident of Venissieux, in Lyon, makes a plea to fellow Muslims: "I call on all the Muslims of France to protect our beautiful religion, to track down these impostors who pass as Muslims while killing people.”

"The solution will come from us, Muslims of France"

Bechmella posted his video on Facebook on Wednesday, November 18. It took less than 20 hours to go viral, receiving more than a million views on various social networks. In his post, Bechmella implores fellow believers to both condemn Friday’s bloodshed in Paris and to take up the fight against terrorism. This direct appeal to action may be one of the reasons the post has been so popular.

"It is for us – Muslims who go to mosque, Muslims who advocate the values of the Republic – to clean up the image of Islam and to track down these sons of b******,” he said.

“It is up to us, when we see something even slightly suspicious, to report it to the authorities ... It is up to us not to remain deaf, dumb and blind... The solution will come from us, Muslims of France.”

The outcry on social media comes as several French political leaders, like Jean-Pierre Raffarin, called for the "Republic’s Muslims" to raise their voices in opposition to the “un-Islamic” practices and beliefs of the IS group.

"It is essential that there be a signal that radicalism is a disease of Islam, that it is not Islam and moderate Muslims – temperate, secular, who believe in the Republic – need to be heard, to be seen in society. We want to fight this together,” urged Senator Raffarin on Thursday, from Vienna.

Other high profile French Muslim associations didn’t wait for a call from politicians to speak directly to their members. On Tuesday, the Muslim Students of France (EMF) released a video in which they expressed their emotion in the style of a poetry slam. "I am in pain for France, they wanted to weaken France, but they have strengthened the heart of the French" says a voice-over. Many students waved a placard displaying the hashtag #NousSommesUnis, or “we are united”.

In a statement posted on its website, the EMF said that it "strongly condemns the wave of violence that shook the capital. Nothing, no principle, no suffering, no grievance, can justify the inhumanity, violence and acts of terror that were committed." The statement went on to call for a "strengthening in the fight against terrorism."

"We are all victims of this barbarity"

During an interview on FRANCE 24 TV on Wednesday, Chirani Mohamed, a former delegate of the Seine-Saint-Denis prefecture, echoed the call for Muslims to rally against fundamentalist terror.

"Unfortunately, the Muslim and national community is now held hostage by the mob, by criminals, by 'identity bastards’.” He added: "Our model is greater than Daesh (the Arabic word for the Islamic State group), it’s above the sectarianism of Daesh. It is all of civilisation and humanity that must stand up to this barbarity.”

“This isn’t about the West against Muslims or Muslims against the West, because if we look at the statistics, terrorism kills nine out of ten Muslims every day. We must remind our fellow citizens of this, loud and clear.”

Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, on Monday expressed "solidarity", "dismay" and a "rejection of these unspeakable acts" that "targeted innocent victims". He called on imams Friday to participate in a solemn prayer "to show our compassion and share in the grief of the (victims’) families.” Boubakeur, former president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), reiterated the urgency of ensuring unity in times of collective pain. "We, the Muslims of France, stress the need for national unity, and together oppose this evil which attacks us indiscriminately…. We are all victims of this barbarity.”