-Essay-
PARIS — I don’t want to know who you are. I refuse to hear why you killed them. You are bastards, and cowards too.
Because you signed up for a one-way trip: This massacre was supposed to be the last stop in your journey toward the world your satanic leaders promised you.
God does not fear caricatures. He does not fear pencils.
What do you care about the families you have torn apart, the orphaned children, the country you have left bewildered, the world you have brought to tears — if heaven comes at that price?
You shouted, “We have avenged the Prophet.” Who is this “prophet” of yours? If it’s my prophet you’re talking about, then you are monsters. If it’s yours, then I don’t know him, and he must be a monster too.
A prophet is someone sent by God, and God, because He is God, does not fear caricatures, nor pencils, nor ink.
You are bastards because you killed the defenseless, you are cowards for the suspicion you leave behind, a suspicion toward millions of Muslims.
Once again, they will have to make clear that their faith has nothing in common with your “god” and your “prophet.”
They will have to apologize for being Muslim.
They will have to swear they mean no harm.
They will have to show how much they despise you, and they will shake like leaves every time a madman uses faith as an excuse for insanity.
Every time a lunatic gets agitated.
Every time some fanatic issues a fatwa.
They will keep on fighting for the unshackled quills and vagabond pencils, for the freest pursuit of thinking.
They will weep with writers Kamel Daoud and all the other champions of freedom, artists and noble spirits who take orders from no one and stand ever ready to defend justice and liberty.
*Saad Khiari is a writer and an expert on Algeria.
