Farhan Khokhar, vice president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Canada saw the news early Wednesday morning when he rose for morning prayers.

“I was literally horrified and shocked. It was beyond disbelief to see such carnage and killing of the innocents,” he said. “So the first reaction was not only to be horrified and shocked, but also our hearts went out to the innocents — people who died and their families.”

Khokhar said there have been three main responses from members of the community.

“One is the general response I mentioned, because loss of innocent life is always tragic,” he said. “[And it] always brings tears to people’s eyes. Just as you’re starting the New Year, this is not how you want to start the New Year. So that’s the first reaction.

“The second part of the reaction is that we do have a large Ahmadiyya Muslim community in France as well. To see the Muslims being associated with such horrendous attacks not only deeply saddened us but also goes to show how people have taken the name of a peaceful religion for their nefarious purposes.

“The third part is more of anger, in the sense that we want every perpetrator not only to be caught as quickly as possible, but that the full force of law should be laid against these people. Not only those that perpetrated the act, but people behind them as well, or people who supported them.”

Imam Yusuf Badat of the Islamic Foundation of Toronto brushed aside concerns that there may be backlash against Muslim communities due to the attacks.

“We haven’t seen any backlash, but the discussion goes on, you know?” he said. “There’s always the, ‘Oh no, another crazy radical group has misused our religion to further their misguided political cause.’”

The Muslim Canadian Congress also… read more at thestar.com