TODAY the slogan of “freedom of speech” is commonly used by everyone in the modern world and widely exercised by media. While it is accepted that the right to freedom of speech is essential, it doesn’t allow us to humiliate others as it is not a licence to ridicule. As a member of the oldest Muslim Association in the UK, I denounce the Paris attacks which left so many dead and injured. It is even more painful that this attack was done in the name of Prophet Muhammad, the messenger of peace and Islam, the religion of peace and reconciliation. The worldwide leader of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, has also categorically condemned the attacks and prayed for peace in the world. Speaking during his weekly Friday sermon, delivered in London, he said: “The perpetrators of this brutal attack may seek to justify their acts in the name of Islam and its Holy Founder Muhammad (peace be upon him), but their acts have no relation whatsoever to the true teachings of Islam.

Nowhere does Islam permit taking the law into one’s own hands or to injure or murder anyone. Yet these so-called Muslims and Muslim groups still do not abstain from such cruelties and atrocities.”

Amtul Karim, Stow Hill, Newport