Late Charlie Hebdo Editor Wrote About Islamophobia Days Before He Was Killed

Stéphane Charbonnier, the Charlie Hebdo editor murdered in a terrorist attack in January, expressed his very strong feelings about standing up for his principles before he died, saying, “I prefer to die standing up than live on my knees.”

And now a book he completed mere days before his death has been released to the general public, with the title translated as Letters to the Swindlers of Islamophobia who play into the Hands of Racists.

He wrote about Muslims who think “caricaturing a jihadist in a ridiculous position insults Islam” and that “a drawing is more dangerous than an American drone.” Charb had some pretty strong thoughts on the idea of “Islamophobia,” calling it a misleading term that should be better replaced by “Muslimophobia” or “racism.”

Charb blamed the media for people “wet[ting] themselves” over mentions of Islamic terror and had this to say about the concept of fearing Islam:

“To be afraid of Islam is without a doubt moronic, absurd and many other things as well, but it’s not an offense. The problem isn’t the Koran, nor the Bible, [two] badly written, incoherent and soporific novels, but the believer who reads the Koran or the Bible like one reads an instruction manual on how to assemble an Ikea shelf.”

[h/t NPR]
[image via Coyau/Wikimedia Commons]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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