News / France

Paris attackers ‘did not follow Islam’

Friday, 20 November 2015 10:47 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 21 November 2015 7:28 AM ]

A French gendarme enforcing the Vigipirate plan, France's national security alert system, patrols in a railway station the capital, Paris, November 19, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

New details about two of the suspects in the attacks on the French capital last week indicate that despite the generalized characterization of the duo as Muslims, they not only did not follow Islam but also grossly strayed from Islamic teachings.

New reports showed Thursday that the Abdeslam brothers, Brahim and Salah, ran a bar in the Belgian capital, Brussels, and used a lot of drugs and drank alcohol, which are forbidden in Islam.

Police had reportedly shut their Les Beguines bar, where people consumed “banned hallucinogenic substances.”

Local residents said the two brothers did not comply with the Islamic principles and had never been seen at a mosque.

“On Fridays (when Muslims hold their main weekly prayers), they would stay smoking on the terrace. I never saw them at the mosque,” said Karim, a young man who lived above the bar.

Another friend of the brothers also said the men weren’t practicing Muslims and that they used to drink.

The new details corroborate the earlier description of Ibrahim Abdeslam by his ex-wife as a non-believer who smoked drugs every day and never went to the mosque. Speaking to Belgian media, Ibrahim’s 36-year-old wife, Naima, said she was unaware Brahim had become a Daesh member.

“I only knew that at the time he was not religious. His parents had to force him to take part in Ramadan,” she said in reference to the Muslim fasting month.

People light candles to pay tribute to victims near the site of the last Friday attack at Le Carillon cafe in Paris, November 19, 2015. (Photo by Reuters)

At least 129 people were killed and 352 others injured when assailants, including Brahim and Salah, struck at least six different venues in and around Paris on November 13.

In a statement the day after, the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The Abdeslam brothers apparently attacked people in Paris’ 10th and 11th districts. Brahim later blew himself up outside a cafe on Boulevard Voltaire before police could apprehend him, while Salah still remains at large.

French officials say the suspected mastermind of the Paris attacks, Abdel Hamid Abaaoud, was killed during a police operation early Wednesday.

It was initially thought that Abaaoud was in Syria, but further investigations revealed that he was based in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, where the Wednesday police raid.

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