text: Books about Islam are flying off the shelves and selling out in France after the deadly Charlie Hebdo terror attacks in Paris raised questions about the religion. Sales of books about the religion were three times higher in the first quarter of 2015 compared to the same time last year, according to the French National Union of Bookshops. It comes as a special magazine supplement from Philosphie which focused in the Koran also saw a spike in sales following the attacks on the French satirical magazine and a Jewish supermarket, which left 17 dead. Some of the books on sale at the 'Librairie de l'Orient' bookstore on Islam and interpretations of the Koran, which are popular in France . Mansour Mansour, who runs the Al Bouraq publishing house specialising on Islam and the Middle East, said his sales have shot up by 30 per cent since the attacks. He said: 'The same happened after the September 11 attacks in 2001. 'Now the spike is likely to last longer because Islam will continue to pose a geo-political problem.' Experts believe people are buying the books and magazines, because they want a better understanding of the religion some terror groups claim to represent, so that they can make up their own minds. Yvon Gilabert, who runs a bookshop in Nantes, western France, explained: 'A very Catholic lady came to buy a copy of the Koran, because she wanted to understand for herself whether or not (Islam) is violent religion.' Sales of books about Islam were three times higher in the first quarter of 2015 compared to the same time last year, according to the French National Union of Bookshops . Meanwhile, Patrice Besnard, a regular at a Paris bookshop specialising in religions dded: 'I think we have to know how to see past the fundamentalism, in order to see what religions have to offer.' But Mr Mansour warned about people diving into reading the Koran 'unaccompanied' and jumping to conclusions on its highly poetic text. He also added that his company has withdrawn several books that offered 'too literal' an interpretation of Islam from his catalogue. Publishers such as Mr Mansour were already selling more books on Islam even before the Paris terror attacks since the brutality of ISIS created shock waves since its emergence in 2013. A luxury edition of the Koran is displayed at a Paris bookstore. According to publisher Hebdo Livres, twice as many books published in France last year were dedicated to Islam compared to Christianity . According to publisher Hebdo Livres, twice as many books published in France last year were dedicated to Islam than Christianity. And at France's largest book fair in March, a big seller for Le Cerf imprint, which is run by the Catholic Dominican order was 'A Christian Reads The Koran', a reprint of a book first published in 1984. At the fair, US publisher Columbia University Press also snapped up the rights to 'The Silent Koran, the Talking Koran' by Mohammed Ali Amir-Moezzi, as well as the paperback launch of rapper Abd al Malik's bestseller 'May Allah Bless France.' Also featuring highly at the event was Eric Zemmour's book The French Suicide, which has been accused of Islamophobia as well as 'Plea for Fraternity' by the Muslim philosopher Abdennour Bidar.
target: Sales of Islamic books in France three times higher in first quarter of 2015 .
  Increase coincides with the deadly Paris terror attacks where 17 were killed .
  Publisher specialising in Islamic books says sales have shot up by 30% .
  Company says same thing happened in the wake of the September 11 attacks .