Sisi also said he firmly rejects any form of violence or terrorism from anyone in the name of defending religion, religious symbols or icons.

“We also have rights. We have the right for our feelings not to be hurt and for our values not to be hurt,” he said during an address to commemorate the Prophet Mohammad’s birthday.

“And if some have the freedom to express what is in their thoughts I imagine that this stops when it comes to offending the feelings of more than 1.5 billion people,” he added in televised remarks.

The Grand Imam of Egypt’s al-Azhar university, one of the world’s most eminent seats of Sunni Muslim learning, also called on the international community to criminalize “anti-Muslim” actions.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, who sits at the head of the thousand-year-old institution, also said that al-Azhar strongly rejects the use of anti-Muslim sentiment to rally votes in elections.

Turkey’s leader Tayyip Erdogan has called for a boycott of French goods and Pakistan’s parliament passed a resolution urging the government to recall its envoy from Paris.

Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted Kingdom’s Foreign Ministry as stating, “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia rejects any attempts to link Islam with terrorism and condemns the offensive cartoons of the Prophet of Guidance and the Messenger of Peace Mohammed bin Abdullah, may God bless him and grant him peace, or any of the messengers, peace be upon them”.

“Saudi Arabia condemns all terrorist attacks and rejects all practices and actions that lead to hatred and violence”, the source said.

Kingdom’s stance has come out amidst the growing anger worldwide over French President Emmanuel Macron’s controversial statements about Prophet Mohammed’s caricatures.

A French teacher was beheaded last week by an Islamist after he had shown the cartoons of the Prophet during a class on free speech.

Meanwhile, Saudi social media users on Sunday have called for a boycott of French products. They argue that free speech does not mean to hurt the sentiments of people and incite hatred. They term such free-speech as hate-speech when it does not care the sensitivity of millions of people.

However, the foreign ministry source has not called to boycott the products.