Last week’s attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was said to have been carried out in the name of Islam, as the publication made jokes about Islamic leaders and the prophet Muhammad.

Whenever an event such as this occurs, focus tends to turn to the world’s Muslims — and not always in a good way.

NOT ALL THE SAME

“We’re attacked for our religion all the time,” said Kifah Hamdan, a Redmond resident and mother of four.

Hamdan, who was born in Detroit and grew up in New Orleans, said as a Muslim, she shouldn’t have to defend herself and that Islam is a peaceful religion.

“To me, those people are not Muslims,” she said, referring to the terrorists who claim to act in the name of her religion.

Koloud “Kay” Tarapolsi, another Redmond resident, agreed. She said according to Islamic text, the prophet said to pray for those who mocked him — such as the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo — not to kill them.

Mahmood Khadeer, the president and one of the founders of the Muslim Association of Puget Sound (MAPS) in Redmond, echoed this sentiment in a letter he sent out to the mosque’s community. In the letter, Khadeer — who said MAPS condemns the acts carried out by the terrorists last week — said some opponents of the prophet “insulted him, mistreated him, gathered filth at his door and threw camel entrails at him,” while others “taunted him and pelted him with rocks until he bled.” And yet, Muhammad forgave them, Khadeer wrote.

Tarapolsi said the extremists are taking things out of context and “they’re being lumped with (her).” She added that when something such as the Paris shooting happens, people view all Muslims as united when they are not. For example, an 18-year-old Muslim in Indonesia is very different from an 18-year-old Muslim in Kuwait.

“In general, while most people understand that the actions of individuals represent only those particular individuals no matter the race or religion, unfortunately whenever a large media story appears that involves Muslim persons engaging in a negative act and there is mention of the suspects’ race or religion, we do get reports of some people who take action against everyday Muslim persons,” said Arsalan Bukhari, executive director of Council on American-Islamic Relations-Washington (CAIR-WA), the local chapter of the national Muslim civil rights and advocacy group of the same name (which has condemned the Charlie Hebdo attack).

According to the chapter website, the organization deals with civil-rights issues and takes up complaints ranging from bigoted gestures to official discrimination against Muslims. CAIR-WA’s other focuses include political empowerment, monitoring the media and community outreach.

NEVER ENOUGH

While members of the Muslim community — both local and worldwide — will condemn acts of terrorism supposedly committed in the name of Islam and offer their condolences to the victims and their families, Tarapolsi said those messages are usually not heard.

For example, she said several imams — Islamic religion leaders — visited the Charlie Hebdo offices shortly after last week’s attack, but people are still demanding the Muslim community to speak out against the attacks.

Tarapolsi said Muslims “can apologize till they’re blue in the face” for such acts, but it will not matter.

Hamdan said this is because many people have already made up their minds about Islam.

“You cannot argue with them,” she said, adding that the only thing to do is to ignore those individuals and focus on educating others on Islam.

A TIME TO COME TOGETHER

Bukhari said CAIR-WA has received “numerous complaints from mosques statewide” regarding hate messages they have received on their voicemails and emails following events such as the Paris attack or other major news events involving a Muslim person.

“Now more than ever, in these hard times, rather than letting others divide us along racial or religious lines, we must remain united as one nation, one community,” Bukhari said. “Now is the time to work together to make our cities and our nation a great place to raise our children, where we take care of our neighbors and live together in harmony and peace.”

Part of taking care of each other includes reaching out to those who are different from us. Khadeer said this is exactly what happened with MAPS following the Charlie Hebdo shooting. He said after last week’s events, individuals and leaders from other local religion groups have reached out to him and his mosque — unprompted — offering their support and offering help in any way if it is needed.

Lena Tuffaha, a Muslim woman living in Redmond, said she has also been fortunate as she has not come across people who have made generalizations about her based on her religion. She said part of this is because Redmond is a diverse community with intelligent citizens.

CONVERSATIONS AROUND ISLAM

Tuffaha said while she has not had any negative interactions with others regarding her religion personally, like Hamdan, Bukhari and the others, she is concerned with some of the conversations she hears and sees in which Muslims are generalized based on what people see on the news.

She said because of this, it is important to put such stories into context and have discussions about what is happening.

The way the media covers these events is also important.

Bukhari said at CAIR-WA, they see a difference in reporting when individuals “claim a faith other than Islam, when committing a crime, the name of their faith is not mentioned.” Conversely, when an individual is Muslim and commits a crime in the name of their faith, Bukhari said they see that mentioned somewhere in the story, if not at the beginning.

“We see the faith mentioned in the coverage where a person just happens to be Muslim but does not commit the crime in the name of his/her faith,” he said.

Bukhari added that they are now looking at how coverage of events such as the Paris attacks — rather than the event itself — can determine what the public’s response will be.

Hamdan and Tarapolsi both added that while they believe in free speech, publications such as Charlie Hebdo that print offensive content about Islam and Muslims do not help with the Islamophobia they see in the world.

“There’s never going to be peace if you’re teaching hate,” Hamdan said.

This being said, both she and Tarapolsi said they do not believe anyone should die for it and their condolences go out to the victims’ families.