Hezbollah Leader Says That Extremists, More Than Cartoonists, Have Attacked Islam

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese leader of a Hezbollah group, condemned Islamic extremists, declaring that violent actions by some Muslim militants have hurt Islam more than the people they attacked.

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah was delivering a video address to southern Beirut, and was firm that radicals were bringing down the name of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, much more than journalists who had published satirical cartoons that mocked the religion, in a condemnation on the Charlie Bebdo attack, according to thinkprogress.com.

The Sheikh had condemned the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, though many claimed that he had kept "silent" over the Pentagon attacks. He said that extremists who murdered people had done a lot of harm to the Muslims in history. Without mentioning names, he seems to be condemning all extremist organizations, such as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, also called the Islamic State, which is ruthlessly killing people in Syria and Iraq.

Unlike the French killers who are linked to the Sunni Muslim terrorist group Al-Qaeda, Nasrallah's group is comprised of Shia Muslims. This group is not so touchy about the depictions of Muhammad as the Sunnis. The Hezbollah branch is currently fighting in Syria along with President Bashar Assad.

Hence, his remarks are in contrast to the Sunni militants belonging to the IS group and al-Qaeda, who had called for attacks on western countries, according to abcnews.com.

According to vox.com, the condemnation by the Sheikh was serving his geopolitical designs, rather than his support for Islam. As Hezbollah is at war with ISIS and al-Qaeda over Syria, he is targeting them.

There have been many condemnatory sentences by dozens of other, more moderate Muslim groups, such as Dalil Boubakeur, the head of the Great Mosque of Paris, who put out a quick reaction to the killings.

"I want to denounce the horror and the unspeakable and show our compassion," he said. "We condemn what just [happened] in the name of all Muslims. This is an act of war in the middle of Paris."

The Arab League also added its voice, and "strongly condemns the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris." Al-Azhar, another important school of learning for Sunni Muslims, also rebuked the killers, declaring that "Islam denounces any violence."

Globally, Muslims have spread the condemnation through social media, to denounce the actions as well as the religious declarations of the terrorists. They said that the tragic deeds assault Islam and free speech. Dozens of Muslim organizations, leaders, and individuals have also abused the attackers.