Is Islam to Blame for the Shooting at Charlie Hebdo in Paris? - NYTimes.comIs Islam to Blame for the Shooting at Charlie Hebdo in Paris? - NYTimes.com






NYTimes.com no longer supports Internet Explorer 8 or earlier. Please upgrade your browser.
LEARN MORE »









Sections


Home
just updated

Search
Skip to content
Skip to navigation
View mobile version









The Opinion Pages|Is Islam to Blame for the Shooting at Charlie Hebdo in Paris?
 





Search


Log In

 0
Settings




Close search

search sponsored by






Search NYTimes.com



Clear this text input



Go






http://nyti.ms/1DyOxdj




Loading...




See next articles





See previous articles













                                Home Page                                                            



                                Home Page                                                            



                                World                                                                    




                                U.S.                                                                    




                                Politics                                                                    




                                New York                                                                    




                                Business                                                                    




                                Business                                                                    




                                Opinion                                                                    




                                Opinion                                                                    




                                Technology                                                                    




                                Science                                                                    




                                Health                                                                    




                                Sports                                                                    




                                Sports                                                                    








                                Arts                                                                    




                                Arts                                                                    




                                Fashion & Style                                                                    




                                Fashion & Style                                                                    




                                Food                                                                    




                                Food                                                                    




                                Home & Garden                                                            



                                Travel                                                            



                                Magazine                                                            



                                Real Estate                                                                    




                                Obituaries                                                            







                                Video                                                                    




                                The Upshot                                                            







                                More                                                                    





 










                                Africa                                                            



                                Americas                                                            



                                Asia Pacific                                                            



                                Europe                                                            



                                Middle East                                                            



                                At War                                                            



                                India Ink                                                            



                                Sinosphere                                                            







                                Education                                                            







                                First Draft                                                            



                                Elections                                                            







                                City Room                                                            



                                ArtsBeat                                                            



                                Events                                                            







                                DealBook                                                            



                                Economy                                                            



                                Energy                                                            



                                Markets                                                            



                                Media                                                            



                                Small Business                                                            



                                Your Money                                                            







                                DealBook                                                            



                                Economy                                                            



                                Energy                                                            



                                Markets                                                            



                                Media                                                            



                                Small Business                                                            



                                Your Money                                                            







                                Op-Ed Columnists                                                                    









                                Editorials                                                            



                                Contributing Writers                                                            



                                Op-Ed Contributors                                                            



                                Opinionator                                                            



                                Letters                                                            



                                Sunday Review                                                            



                                Taking Note                                                            



                                Room for Debate                                                            



                                Public Editor                                                            



                                Cartoons                                                            







                                Op-Ed Columnists                                                                    









                                Editorials                                                            



                                Contributing Writers                                                            



                                Op-Ed Contributors                                                            



                                Opinionator                                                            



                                Letters                                                            



                                Sunday Review                                                            



                                Taking Note                                                            



                                Room for Debate                                                            



                                Public Editor                                                            



                                Cartoons                                                            







                                Bits                                                            



                                Personal Tech                                                            







                                Environment                                                            



                                Space & Cosmos                                                            







                                Well                                                            



                                Health Guide                                                            



                                Fitness & Nutrition                                                            



                                Money & Policy                                                            



                                The New Old Age                                                            



                                Views                                                            







                                Baseball                                                            



                                Basketball: College                                                            



                                Basketball: N.B.A.                                                            



                                Football: College                                                            



                                Football: N.F.L.                                                            



                                Golf                                                            



                                Hockey                                                            



                                Soccer                                                            



                                Tennis                                                            







                                Baseball                                                            



                                Basketball: College                                                            



                                Basketball: N.B.A.                                                            



                                Football: College                                                            



                                Football: N.F.L.                                                            



                                Golf                                                            



                                Hockey                                                            



                                Soccer                                                            



                                Tennis                                                            







                                Art & Design                                                            



                                ArtsBeat                                                            



                                Books                                                            



                                Dance                                                            



                                Movies                                                            



                                Music                                                            



                                N.Y.C. Events Guide                                                            



                                Television                                                            



                                Theater                                                            



                                Video Games                                                            







                                Art & Design                                                            



                                ArtsBeat                                                            



                                Books                                                            



                                Dance                                                            



                                Movies                                                            



                                Music                                                            



                                N.Y.C. Events Guide                                                            



                                Television                                                            



                                Theater                                                            



                                Video Games                                                            







                                T Magazine                                                            



                                Motherlode                                                            



                                On the Runway                                                            



                                Weddings                                                            







                                T Magazine                                                            



                                Motherlode                                                            



                                On the Runway                                                            



                                Weddings                                                            







                                Cooking                                                            



                                Restaurant Search                                                            







                                Cooking                                                            



                                Restaurant Search                                                            







                                Commercial Real Estate                                                            



                                Great Homes & Destinations                                                            



                                My Real Estate                                                            







                                U.S. & Politics                                                            



                                International                                                            



                                New York                                                            



                                Opinion                                                            



                                Times Documentaries                                                            



                                Business                                                            



                                Technology                                                            



                                Culture                                                            



                                Style                                                            



                                Health                                                            



                                Food                                                            



                                Travel                                                            



                                Sports                                                            



                                Real Estate                                                            



                                Science                                                            







                                Crossword                                                            



                                Times Premier                                                            







                                Today's Paper                                                            



                                Automobiles                                                            



                                Corrections                                                            







                                Multimedia                                                            



                                Photography                                                            







                                Classifieds                                                            



                                Tools & Services                                                            



                                Jobs                                                            



                                Times Topics                                                            



                                Blogs                                                            



                                NYT Store                                                            



                                Times Journeys                                                            



                                Subscribe                                                            



                                Manage Account                                                            











                            Charles M. Blow                                                    



                            David Brooks                                                    



                            Frank Bruni                                                    



                            Roger Cohen                                                    



                            Gail Collins                                                    



                            Ross Douthat                                                    



                            Maureen Dowd                                                    



                            Thomas L. Friedman                                                    



                            Nicholas Kristof                                                    



                            Paul Krugman                                                    



                            Joe Nocera                                                    





                            Charles M. Blow                                                    



                            David Brooks                                                    



                            Frank Bruni                                                    



                            Roger Cohen                                                    



                            Gail Collins                                                    



                            Ross Douthat                                                    



                            Maureen Dowd                                                    



                            Thomas L. Friedman                                                    



                            Nicholas Kristof                                                    



                            Paul Krugman                                                    



                            Joe Nocera                                                    


 









 
The Opinion Pages |                        Op-Ed Columnist                                            |​​NYT Now

Is Islam to Blame for the Shooting at Charlie Hebdo in Paris?


JAN. 7, 2015


Inside








Continue reading the main story

Continue reading the main story





 
 


 Nicholas Kristof
 



Continue reading the main story
Share This Page

Continue reading the main story


The French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo skewers people of all faiths and backgrounds. One cartoon showed rolls of toilet paper marked “Bible,” “Torah” and “Quran,” and the explanation: “In the toilet, all religions.”Yet when masked gunmen stormed Charlie Hebdo’s offices in Paris on Wednesday with AK-47s, murdering 12 people in the worst terror attack on French soil in decades, many of us assumed immediately that the perpetrators weren’t Christian or Jewish fanatics but more likely Islamic extremists.Outraged Christians, Jews or atheists might vent frustrations on Facebook or Twitter. Yet it looks as if Islamic extremists once again have expressed their displeasure with bullets.Many ask, Is there something about Islam that leads inexorably to violence, terrorism and subjugation of women? 

Continue reading the main story


                            Related in Opinion











Op-Ed Contributor: The Attack on Charlie Hebdo and the Tradition of Parisian WitJAN. 7, 2015












Editorial: The Charlie Hebdo Massacre in ParisJAN. 7, 2015








The Blasphemy We NeedJAN. 7, 2015












Patrick Chappatte: Massacre at Charlie HebdoJAN. 7, 2015








Charlie Hebdo Shooting Recalls the Paris Magazine’s Previous AttackJAN. 7, 2015







The question arises because fanatical Muslims so often seem to murder in the name of God, from the 2004 Madrid train bombing that killed 191 people to the murder of hostages at a cafe in Sydney, Australia, last month. I wrote last year of a growing strain of intolerance in the Islamic world after a brave Pakistani lawyer friend of mine, Rashid Rehman, was murdered for defending a university professor falsely accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
Photo






Toulouse, France, on Wednesday

Credit
            Fred Scheiber/European Pressphoto Agency        


Some of the most systematic terrorism in the Islamic world has been the daily persecution of Christians and other religious minorities, from the Bahai to the Yazidi to the Ahmadis.Then there’s the oppression of women. Of the bottom 10 countries in the World Economic Forum’s gender gap report, I count nine as majority Muslim.







Nicholas Kristof
Human rights, women’s rights, health, global affairs.







                                Reagan, Obama and Inequality            
JAN 21 







                                Smart Guns Save Lives. So Where Are They?            
JAN 17 







                                An Islamic Reformer, Lashed            
JAN 14 







                                Race, the Police and the Propaganda            
JAN 10 







                                When Readers Do Get It             
DEC 27 





See More »



So, sure, there’s a strain of Islamic intolerance and extremism that is the backdrop to the attack on Charlie Hebdo. The magazine was firebombed in 2011 after a cover depicted Muhammad saying, “100 lashes if you’re not dying of laughter.”Earlier, Charlie Hebdo had published a cartoon showing Muhammad crying and saying, “It’s hard to be loved by idiots.”Terror incidents lead many Westerners to perceive Islam as inherently extremist, but I think that is too glib and simple-minded. Small numbers of terrorists make headlines, but they aren’t representative of a complex and diverse religion of 1.6 billion adherents. My Twitter feed Wednesday brimmed with Muslims denouncing the attack — and noting that fanatical Muslims damage the image of Muhammad far more than the most vituperative cartoonist.
The vast majority of Muslims of course have nothing to do with the insanity of such attacks — except that they are disproportionately the victims of terrorism. Indeed, the Charlie Hebdo murders weren’t even the most lethal terror attack on Wednesday: A car bomb outside a police college in Yemen, possibly planted by Al Qaeda, killed at least 37 people.
One of the things I’ve learned in journalism is to beware of perceiving the world through simple narratives, because then new information is mindlessly plugged into those story lines. In my travels from Mauritania to Saudi Arabia, Pakistan to Indonesia, extremist Muslims have shared with me their own deeply held false narratives of America as an oppressive state controlled by Zionists and determined to crush Islam. That’s an absurd caricature, and we should be wary ourselves of caricaturing a religion as diverse as Islam.
Continue reading the main story







Nicholas Kristof's Newsletter
Sign up to receive my emails about each column and other occasional commentary.




 



Continue reading the main story
Continue reading the main story
So let’s avoid religious profiling. The average Christian had nothing to apologize for when Christian fanatics in the former Yugoslavia engaged in genocide against Muslims. Critics of Islam are not to blame because an anti-Muslim fanatic murdered 77 people in Norway in 2011.
Let’s also acknowledge that the most courageous, peace-loving people in the Middle East who are standing up to Muslim fanatics are themselves often devout Muslims. Some read the Quran and blow up girls’ schools, but more read the Quran and build girls’ schools. The Taliban represents one brand of Islam; the Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai the polar opposite.There’s a humbling story, perhaps apocryphal, that Gandhi was once asked: What do you think of Western civilization? He supposedly responded: I think it would be a good idea.The great divide is not between faiths. Rather it is between terrorists and moderates, between those who are tolerant and those who “otherize.”In Australia after the hostage crisis, some Muslims feared revenge attacks. Then a wave of non-Muslim Australians rose to the occasion, offering to escort Muslims and ensure their safety, using the hashtag #IllRideWithYou on Twitter. More than 250,000 such comments were posted on Twitter — a model of big-hearted compassion after terror attacks.
Bravo! That’s the spirit.Let’s stand with Charlie Hebdo, for the global outpouring of support has been inspiring. Let’s denounce terrorism, oppression and misogyny in the Islamic world — and everywhere else. But let’s be careful not to respond to terrorists’ intolerance with our own.Jan. 8, 2015: This column has been updated to reflect news developments.


I invite you to visit my blog, On the Ground. Please also join me on Facebook and Google+, watch my YouTube videos and follow me on Twitter.
I’m trying something new, an email newsletter. When you sign up, you’ll receive an email about my columns as they’re published and other occasional commentary. Sign up here »
A version of this op-ed appears in print on January 8, 2015, on page A23 of the New York edition with the headline: Satire, Terrorism and Islam.  Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe









More on nytimes.com






Site Index



News


World


U.S.


Politics


New York


Business


Technology


Science


Health


Sports


Education


Obituaries


Today's Paper


Corrections




Opinion


Today's Opinion


Op-Ed Columnists


Editorials


Contributing Writers


Op-Ed Contributors


Opinionator


Letters


Sunday Review


Taking Note


Room for Debate


Public Editor


Video: Opinion




Arts


Today's Arts


Art & Design


ArtsBeat


Books


Dance


Movies


Music


N.Y.C. Events Guide


Television


Theater


Video Games


Video: Arts




Living


Automobiles


Crossword


Food


Education


Fashion & Style


Health


Home & Garden


Jobs


Magazine


N.Y.C. Events Guide


Real Estate


T Magazine


Travel


Weddings & Celebrations




Listings & More


Classifieds


Tools & Services


Times Topics


Public Editor


N.Y.C. Events Guide


TV Listings


Blogs


Cartoons


Multimedia


Photography


Video


NYT Store


Times Journeys


Subscribe


Manage My Account




Subscribe

Subscribe


Times Premier



Home Delivery



Digital Subscriptions



NYT Opinion



Crossword




Email Newsletters


Alerts


Gift Subscriptions


Corporate Subscriptions


Education Rate




Mobile Applications


Replica Edition


International New York Times











                    © 2015 The New York Times Company


Home
Search
Contact Us
Work With Us
Advertise
Your Ad Choices
Privacy
Terms of Service
Terms of Sale




Site Map
Help
Site Feedback
Subscriptions


 











