Dr. Ibrahim Islam
(dribrahimislam914@gmail.com)
Hundreds of people gathered in Sweden’s capital on Sunday to protest the burning of the Muslim holy book, the Quran, last month. Local Muslim associations organized the protest in Stockholm’s Medborgarepaltsen Square, where about 500 demonstrators demanded similar acts be outlawed in the Scandinavian country. In a statement, the group underlined that burning the Quran is an Islamophobic hate crime that offends Muslims and that desecrat-ing holy books should be banned. A large number of women and children also participated in the demonstration, which was a strong protest against the desecration of the Quran. In Sarai Alamgir, citizens protested against Swe-den, and citizens sat on GT Road and recited the Holy Quran. A large number of citizens participated in the Quran Khawani and demanded a diplomatic boycott of Sweden.
On June 28, the day of Eid, the Quran was burned in front of the central mosque in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. This time, with the permission of the court, the miscreants tore the pages of the Holy Quran and set them on fire. About 200 people witnessed the incident. Salman Momika, an immigrant from Iraq, stands in front of the mosque and burns the Quran in the presence of law enforcement officers. The man demanded that the Quran be banned. He applied to the court for that work. The court allowed him. Meanwhile, the Iraqi youth threatened to burn the Quran again. He said, “In 10 days, I will burn the Iraqi flag and the Quran in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm.”
On January 21, 2022, an abominable incident like the burning of the Holy Quran took place in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Rasmus Paludan, the controversial leader of the far-right political party Hardline, set fire to a copy of the Quran while standing amid police security. Before that, he gave an abusive speech attacking Islam and Sweden’s immigration system for about an hour. We believe that the world’s ethnic groups should come forward with the aim of rejecting hatred and extremism and spreading the values of dialogue, tolerance, and coexistence. Desecration of the Holy Quran will lead to increased discrimination, intoler-ance, and violence rather than understanding between members of religious communities in different parts of the world.
The Swedish court said, “The authority said that if the Quran is burned, there may be a problem in terms of se-curity.” According to the current law, this work cannot be prevented. And the issue of security is not so big that it would be right to block it. For that reason, the police authorities should allow this gathering. Quran-burning incidents are happening repeatedly in Sweden. The far right has spearheaded this act in the past to spread hate. Paludan, a politician of this genre, has always been at the centre of controversy for insulting the Quran.
Bangladesh strongly protested by summoning the charge of affairs of the Swedish Embassy in Dhaka over the burning of the Quran in Sweden. In a statement published on the official Facebook page of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemning the incident, it is said, “Bangladesh has expressed deep concern over such heinous acts of in-sulting the sacred values and religious symbols of Muslims in the name of freedom of speech. In the interests of harmony and peaceful coexistence, Bangladesh once again calls on all concerned to stop such unreasonable in-citement. Pope Francis said, “I am angry and disgusted by this action.” Freedom of speech does not mean that you can do things that cause hatred in others. Such activities should be rejected and condemned.
Immediately after the incident, there was a storm of condemnation and anger in the Muslim world. It sparked widespread outrage and condemnation in various Islamic countries, including Turkey, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Ara-bia, Morocco, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Senegal, Morocco, and Mauritania. In this incident, some Muslim countries withdrew their ambassadors from Sweden and protested by calling the Swedish ambassadors. After this incident, Sweden’s chances of becoming a member of NATO decreased. Earlier, there were cases of Quran desecration in Sweden. Turkish President Erdogan then said that he would not tolerate this incident. Turkey will in no way support Sweden becoming a member of NATO. However, Sweden’s prime minister is still optimistic about becoming a NATO member.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has strongly condemned the burning of copies of the Quran by extremists in Sweden, saying such acts by extremists are unacceptable and governments worldwide must come for-ward to take effective measures to prevent the recurrence of such acts. The OIC believes that international law should be used to stop religious hatred. Emphasising adherence to the UN Charter, the OIC emphasises the im-portance of respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms worldwide. The United States has described the act as deeply dishonourable but has not officially condemned it. An organised group is carrying out terrorist activities like insulting Islam, Prophet Muhammad SAW, and burning the Quran in different parts of the world, including Eu-rope. In fact, the progress of religion cannot be stopped by burning scriptures. It is an expression of low mentality. It creates instability in society and the state and makes peaceful coexistence impossible. Desecration of the Quran has been legal in Denmark since 2017. A regular occurrence at the Hardline Party (Danish: Strum Kurs) is the burning of the Quran.
Dr. Hamdan al-Shehri, an international relations researcher, said, “Terrorists and criminals who do not respect other religions and cultures and who want to incite discord and drag the world into religious wars should not be al-lowed to express hatred in any way, regardless of the consequences of their actions.” In the past, we have seen a vicious campaign through traditional or mass media to denigrate Muslims; Muslims represent 2 billion of the world’s population. These campaigns are conducted openly and, in many cases, are carried out in the name of de-mocracy or freedom of expression. Muslims are always keen to respect culture and religion. (Arab News, Jeddah, 19 April 2022)
Politics is behind the repeated burning of the Quran. Finland and Sweden originally agreed with Turkey to join the military alliance NATO in June 2022. According to the terms of that agreement, these two countries cannot make any concessions to Kurdish terrorists. At the same time, fugitive Kurdish terrorists living in Finland and Swe-den should be handed over to Turkey. But Sweden broke those conditions.
However, Sweden allegedly violated those conditions. Turkey joined NATO in 1952, a military alliance founded in 1949. As per the rules, the US-led alliance requires the consent of each country to become a member. In that case, Turkey has the opportunity to exercise veto power by opposing the inclusion of Finland and Sweden in this alliance. Turkey has signalled it will not approve Sweden’s NATO membership in the wake of the burning of the Quran in Stockholm. (Al-Jazeera English, The Guardian, January 23, 2023)
Al-Azhar University’s Fatwa Centre in Egypt has called for a boycott of Swedish products by Muslims around the world on social media. This heinous crime is contrary to international efforts for tolerance, moderation, and the rejection of extremism. There is no doubt about it. The Swedish government must publicly apologise to the Muslim world or boycott all of the country’s products. The hearts of 200 million Muslims around the world have been deep-ly hurt by insults to the Quran. For this, the guilty person must be given exemplary punishment.
Hurting the hearts of people of other religions cannot be freedom of expression in any way. Insulting the sacred values and religious symbols of Muslims is a heinous act. Which cannot be accepted in any way. The actions of the Swedish court that allowed the man to commit such abhorrent acts as desecrating the Quran are also highly repre-hensible. For the sake of harmony and peaceful coexistence between different ethnic groups, the OIC and the Unit-ed Nations should come forward to stop such provocative activities. Pressure should be created on the Swedish gov-ernment for this disgraceful incident. Mere statements are not enough. Peacemakers are deeply concerned by the rise of Islamophobia and blasphemy crimes in European countries. Such actions hinder the establishment of peace-ful coexistence based on rights and mutual respect among the followers of different religions around the world.
Anti-Islamism and violence against Muslims have been on the rise in European countries in recent years. The rise and growing role of extreme right-wing movements, parties, and individuals have played an important role in this regard.
A Danish far-right leader publicly set fire to the Holy Quran in the Swedish town of Linköping earlier this year (April 2022). Recently, in Sweden, there was another incident like the burning of the Quran. The Muslim world has risen against this insult to the Book of Allah. Demonstrations have been going on for about a week in various cities in the northern European country in protest. Many Muslim-majority countries, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, Egypt, and Pakistan, condemned the incident.
The group is called ‘Hard Line’. This organization has long been known as anti-immigration and anti-Islam. The group is led by Rasmus Paludan, a Swedish citizen of Danish origin.
Paludan, a 40-year-old politician and lawyer, founded his hard-line party Sturm Kurs in 2017 with an anti-Muslim and anti-immigration agenda. The group has since campaigned for a ban on Islam in Sweden and the ex-pulsion of non-Westerners.
In a video message in December 2018, Rasmus said, ‘Islam and Muslims are our enemies. It would be great if there was not a single Muslim in this world. Then we will reach the ultimate goal.
Strom Kurs participated in Sweden’s 2019 national election. But did not win a single seat. Rasmus is planning to contest the election again in June 2023. It was under his leadership that the extremist group burned a copy of the Holy Qur’an in the southern Swedish city of Linköping on April 14. Not only that; Rasmus Paludan announced to burn more Qurans in the future.
In a post on Facebook, he said, “Now is the right time to burn the Quran.” (Nauzubillah) He also announced that this time they will pour “pig’s blood” on the holy book. (Nauzubillah)
Protests started in various cities of Sweden, including the capital Stockholm, against the arrogance of Rasmus and are still ongoing. Protesters have been calling for an end to burning the Holy Quran and insulting Muslims.
All scriptures of the world are objects of great dignity and respect to their followers. Therefore desecration of scriptures is condemned in all religions. Al-Quran is the most read scripture in the world. Desecration and disrespect of the Qur’an in Islam is a grave crime and a gross transgression.
The Holy Qur’an is the key to the dignity of the Muslim nation. Whoever has been associated with the Qur’an throughout the ages, Allah has increased his status manifold. Hazrat Gabriel (A.S.) carried the message of the Holy Quran. As a result, Allah made him the most dignified of the angels. The Quran was revealed to Prophet Muham-mad (PBUH). As a result, he became the leader of all people before and after him, even the prophets.
The Holy Qur’an is the eternal word of Allah. So for everyone who participates or participates in the desecration of the Qur’an, there is great suffering and terrible punishment in this world and the hereafter. As it is said in the Qur’an, ‘Woe to every great liar who listens to the recitation of Allah’s verses but remains arrogantly steadfast (in his doctrine). As if he hadn’t heard. So give him the glad tidings of a terrible punishment. (Surah Al-Jathiyah, verses: 7-8)
Almighty Allah created mankind and gave him the status of the best creature in creation. If the Ashraful Ma-khlukat i.e. the best creature in creation forgets his real master and disobeys his commandments, then his master is not only displeased with him, but compelled to punish him. However, since Allah is Most Merciful and Compas-sionate, He does not apply immediate punishment. He gives respite, chance again and again.
Moreover, Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) prayed to Allah Ta’ala that his Ummah should not be destroyed by se-vere natural calamities such as the transformation of the human form into the shape of monkeys, pigs, etc.
The desecration of the Holy Quran of more than nearly 2 billion Muslims in the world has caused bleeding in the hearts of Muslims. I don’t know the language to protest the worst barbarity and cruelty. Almighty Allah, the owner of the Holy Qur’an, is watching. Justice will surely be assured in the Hereafter. The responsibility of the safekeeping of the Holy Quran of Iron Mahfuz is with Allah. We Muslims are giving judgment in the court of Allah by strongly condemning and protesting. May Allah destroy the disbelieving Jews, hypocrites and oppressors. Just as you de-stroyed Pharaoh’s disobedient disobedience in ages.
In this era, the faith of most of the more than two hundred million Muslims in the world is not strong. Even knowing that Satan is a mischief-maker, Muslims cannot escape Satan’s deception. Human life is very short, for a few days the life of the world is a place of testing. May Allah keep you in the custody of the Muslims and keep them in truth and justice. Give Tawfiq a strong protest against the notorious oppressors.We strongly condemn and protest this heinous crime and also condemn the silence of all Muslim countries against it. The group of infidels will be destroyed very soon.
When people transgress the limits in committing sins, Allah’s punishment is revealed. God caught the wicked Pharaoh only when he claimed to be God. Allah Almighty said: ‘O Musa! Go to Pharaoh, he has become very arro-gant.’ (Sura Taha: 24)
Nimrod was punished by God only when he claimed to be Lord. Similarly the nations of Ad, Thamud etc. were destroyed because of their unbounded wickedness.
The Israelites rejected the Torah, the book of God. Instead of good food i.e. manna and salwa, he asked for food produced by the land. Amalek refused to fight with the community. Despite enjoying the innumerable bless-ings of Allah, he remained ungrateful.
As a result, they have fallen into eternal humiliation and wrath of Allah. By discussing these stories of earlier prophets in the Holy Qur’an, Allah Ta’ala meant that if the Ummah of Muhammad (PBUH) and those like them indulged in wrongdoing, then they would have a similar fate and would have to face the same fate.
People of every religion who believe in God should speak out against this act of blasphemy.” We call the Swe-dish government to be accountable in this regard.
Al Quran is the last heavenly book sent by Allah Rabbul Alamin. This book was revealed to the Prophet Mu-hammad (PBUH) to show people the way to liberation. This book is the most sacred book for the Muslim world. Millions of Hafez have memorized this book of Quran and kept it in their hearts. The daily activities of Muslims are conducted according to the provisions of this holy book. However, the Swedish government has done an extremely stupid thing by allowing a racist and Islamophobic person to burn the Holy Quran. It hurt the hearts of Muslims. Allowing such anti-Islamic acts under the guise of freedom of expression cannot be accepted in any way. This is a gross insult to the target and sacred values of Muslims. The Swedish government should immediately Apologize to Muslims and punish the controversial person. Otherwise the Muslim world will boycott Sweden.
Muslim countries must protest against the burning of the Quran. The leaders must immediately call on the Swedish government to apologize to Muslims and punish the controversial figure. Otherwise, the Muslim world must warn that it will boycott Sweden. There is a deep conspiracy against Muslims all over the world. The so-called civilized countries are hurting the liver of Muslims with genocide, occupa-tion, torture and looting. As part of that, the Holy Quran was burned by state-sponsored extremists in Sweden – an affront to Muslims. This perceived act cannot be freedom of expression in any way; Ra-ther, under the guise of freedom of expression, the sacred values of Muslims have been systematical-ly insulted. We call on the OIC, Arab League, United Nations and other conscientious people of the world to take effective measures to stop such abominable acts.