A French Muslim who declared “spiritual jihad” against Isis after the Paris attacks has said he has not been deterred by the death threats he has received from the extremist group.
Mohammed Chirani, a specialist in religious de-radicalisation who works in some of Pairs’s most deprived arrondissements, went on national French television following the attacks that killed 130 people to tell Isis militants their God would not protect them.
Brandishing a Quran and his French passport, Mr Chirani told the terrorists “our dead, the innocent French citizens, are in paradise”.
“And your dead, the terrorists, are in hell.”
Following the address, Mr Chirani said while he had received an outpouring of support from French citizens of all religions, he had also received a number of death threats - but he had “no regrets” over his decision.
“As French Muslims we are [being] taking hostage by terrorists and fanatics,” he said. “In the face of terrorism we have to stand up.”
Mr Chirani also said he was not under any police protection. “I believe in God, I trust in God, I love God and I leave my destiny in the hands of God,” he told ABC’s Lateline.
He continued: “We are at a crossroads: we have two choices. We can go the way of hate to accuse Muslims in general of being responsible of terrorism.”
Or, he said, people of France could chose “fraternité”. He called on “friendship between all French people. “Muslims, Jews, Christians, non-believers, artists, atheists, Buddhists… altogether against all kinds of hate movements.”
The Paris attacks, which killed 130 people in multiple attacks across the capital on 13 November, were later claimed by Isis. A number of the suspected assailants are either Belgian or French citizens.
