The Murdered Charlie Hebdo Staff Depicted Enjoying Orgy in the Latest Magazine While Muhammed Cried

The latest Charlie Hebdo magazine called “the Survivors’ Issue” sends a message of defiance, but also forgiveness -- and many Muslims responded with similarly mixed emotions.   

It is a magazine cover depicting the Prophet Mohammed with a tear falling from his cheek, holding a sign that says, "Je suis Charlie," the slogan that became a worldwide meme. Above Mohammed are the words "All Is Forgiven." 

Three million copies of the latest edition of Charlie Hebdo were originally printed for distribution.

Copies in France quickly sold out on Wednesday morning. Editors then decided to increase the print run to five million. Normally, only 60,000 are printed each week.

Demand for what is being called the "survivors' issue" of the magazine is high, in part because the proceeds will go to the victims' families, correspondents say.

Wednesday marked the one-week anniversary of the deadly terror attack at the magazine's offices by two brothers, Said and Cherif Kouachi, who claimed to be members of Al Qaeda. Twelve people were killed, including eight staffers, among them the magazine's editor and four staff cartoonists. The survivors, working out of offices borrowed from the left-wing daily Liberation, began production of Wednesday's issue two days after the murder of their colleagues.

"For the past week, Charlie, an atheist newspaper, has achieved more miracles than all the saints and prophets combined," the lead editorial in Wednesday's edition read. "The one we are most proud of is that you have in your hands the newspaper that we always made."

Not everyone has greeted the new issue with acclaim. In particular, the cover cartoon depicting Muhammad holding a "Je Suis Charlie" sign and weeping drew condemnation from Muslim leaders around the world. 

Al Azhar, the prestigious Cairo-based center of learning for Sunni Muslims said Tuesday that the drawings "do not serve the peaceful co-existence between peoples and hinders the integration of Muslims into European and Western societies."

"My initial thought is that the cover is a near perfect response to the tragedy," said Hussein Rashid, a professor of Islamic thought at Hofstra University in New York.

"They are not backing down from the depiction of Mohammed, exercising their free speech rights. At the same time, the message is conciliatory, humble, and will hopefully reduce the anger directed to the Muslim communities of France." 

There's the full-page cartoon of a weeping Muhammad on the front cover, but inside there are no more caricatures of the Prophet.

There are plenty - in the paper's characteristic scurrilous vein - of Muslim extremists. In one cartoon, two terrorists are seen ascending to heaven and asking: "Where are the 70 virgins?" In the background, the murdered staff at Charlie Hebdo are enjoying an orgy.