( CNN ) After the deadly shooting at Charlie Hebdo , the message from one of the most decorated athletes in U.S. sports history -- who is Muslim -- was clear . `` Most Muslims do not become Muslims to indulge in murder and mayhem , '' Kareem Abdul-Jabbar , the leading point scorer in NBA history , told CNN 's World Sport on Wednesday . `` It 's not what Islam is about . `` We try to live lives of peace and harmony within ourselves and with our neighbors . '' Abdul-Jabbar -- also a best-selling author who was in London promoting a pair of new books including a fictional work about Sherlock Holmes ' brother -- was speaking a week after brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi killed 12 people at the French satirical magazine . French media reported that the gunmen yelled , `` We have avenged the Prophet '' while carrying out the attack , referring to the Prophet Mohammed . Amedy Coulibaly , who reportedly had ties to the brothers , killed four hostages at a kosher grocery store two days later . Abdul-Jabbar , in a column for the website of Time magazine last week , said he was looking forward to the day when `` these terrorists praising the Prophet ( Mohammed ) or Allah 's name as they debase their actual teachings are instantly recognized as thugs disguising themselves as Muslims . '' He added to CNN that poverty or lack of opportunities in education are factors in people committing such acts . `` They become radicalized by the lack of opportunity and anything in their future that has any promise , '' he said . `` They embrace violence . They try to use religion as something to justify that . But nothing justifies that . '' As someone who was in the public eye through sports , Abdul-Jabbar feels sports can play a role in bringing people from different backgrounds together . `` Sport absolutely plays a part in that , '' he said . `` When you spend all of your time trying to develop the talent for a sport and you see people doing the same thing from a different culture and you have the same interests , there 's common ground there . `` And you can go from that to find more common ground . I think sport has gone a great way to doing that . Look at the U.S.-China relationship -- ping-pong was the thing that opened the door . A sporting event . '' But Abdul-Jabbar also said it was down to the media to understand Islam better . `` I 'd just like to see a better understanding by the media as to what Islam is all about as opposed to what the terrorists say it 's about , '' he continued . `` I think that is the key issue here . Once those things get cleared up , I think we can make some progress . ''
Abdul-Jabbar says `` most Muslim do not become Muslims to indulge in murder and mayhem '' His words come after last week 's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar attack and hostage crisis in London . Sports can play a role in bridging the gap between people , says Charlie Hebdo .