France pushes for United Nations declaration of war against Islamic State

By contrast, polls show millions of Muslims have expressed support for ISIS, and many millions more approve of terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.

"But our duty as men of faith, as citizens, as human beings, is to be united". We must pray, spread love, and unite as mankind. "Sympathise, maybe, but we don't need to apologise, because we also lost people in these attacks", he said.

He added: "The aim of terrorists is to create a barrier between Muslims and other members of the community, so it is up to us to defeat this by building bridges, building a dialogue and not letting terrorists shut us off from each other".

The impulse to separate Islam from the sins and crimes of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, is understandable, and it often includes statements such as ISIS has "nothing to do with Islam" or that ISIS is merely "using Islam" as a pretext. After the attacks in Paris, calls have again been raised across the world for Muslims to rise up and speak out against the Islamic State group in all the forms they may take.

In this climate, there have been signs of a worrying backlash against Italy's Muslims. Inadvertently, we become their mouthpiece, casting aspersions on the multitude of Muslim voices telling a much different story of their faith. Il Fatto Quotidiano reported that one 22-year-old Muslim, named only as Melania, had been accused of supporting Isis by a woman who ripped the veil from her head.

Last week, The Local spoke to Sarah Ager, a British-born Muslim and teacher living in Bologna, who explained how her daily life had been affected by the recent attacks.

"The picture is getting increasingly bleak", said Ibrahim Hooper of the US-based Council on American-Islamic relations (CAIR).

Watch the ad below and share your opinion in the comments. "This is against all the teachings of Islam".

NY -Acts if Islamophobia in France are increasing following the Paris terrorist attacks.

A few European analysts believe that Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Islamic State operative who officials say orchestrated last week's Paris killings, saw the January attack as an urgent challenge to do something bigger.

"When I asked them if they thought I was violent because I was a Muslim, they were completely shocked".

Perhaps the best idea of this crowded week emerged from the discussions in Congress, when one of the representatives suggested that the USA declare a time out to rethink the entire Syrian/Muslim refugee situation.

It is understandable why pious Muslims want to shelter their religion from critical examination; the problem is that the world's cultural and political elites have caved to Muslim threats and continue to walk on eggshells when it comes to probing the early history of Islam. Thousands of Sunni Muslims have been killed in the Middle East already, even though it has been only a couple of years ever since they established their geographical presence in the region. Instead of understanding their grief, we are telling them that we are going to violently protest if we are associated with terrorism.