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.
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