Bestselling Brazilian author of books such as "The Alchemist" and "Veronica Decides to Die" Paulo Coelho came to the defense of Islam on Facebook, after posting a picture of the Quran with the caption: "Exhibition 'Books that changed the world.'"
While the post generated mostly positive reactions from the author's fans – with almost 40,000 likes and more than 4,500 shares, one Facebook user wasn't too happy.
Heba Burkan wrote: "Really!!! This book is the source of violence and murder."
Coelho replied: "Not true. I am Christian, and for centuries we tried to imposed our religion by the force of the sword - check "cruzades"in the dictionary.. We murdered women - calling them witches, and we tried to stop science - like in the case of Galileu Galilei. So, it is not to blame a religion, but how people manipulate it."
Coelho's comment received more than 7,000 likes – scoring a victory for a balanced look at Islam and religion in general.