The Swedish mosque condemns the desecration of the Koran in the latest anti-Muslim attack
Images from Stockholm’s central mosque of the attack show the Muslims’ damaged holy book chained and hanging from an iron railing outside the mosque.
“The Koran is sacred in Islam; it is the word of God. Burning the Koran is therefore enormously hurtful to us Muslims,” says Imam and head of Stockholm’s Central Mosque. (AA)
A mosque in Stockholm has condemned the latest attack on its premises after a damaged copy of the Koran was left chained and hanging outside the mosque’s entrance.
Images released by Stockholm’s central mosque of the attack on Friday show the damaged Muslim holy book chained and hanging from an iron railing outside the mosque.
The mosque said it often experiences such threats.
Tying a destroyed Koran and hanging it in the garden bars next to the mosque door is humiliating for Muslims, the mosque wrote on Facebook.
“Our mosque and our congregation receive threats to a very large extent. Racists always make another attempt to smear those who are not like themselves,” it said.
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A statement said the mosque decided to share the photographs and information “to capture the attention of both our congregation and the public and to prevent the normalization of hate crimes,” it said.
But the attack is not isolated as the mosque has been subject to anti-Muslim attacks in the past, including when anti-Islamic graffiti and writings were painted on its door.
The Koran has been under attack in Sweden for some time.
Swedish and Danish citizen Rasmus Paludan, who leads the far-right Danish anti-immigration party, regularly organizes Koran burning tours across the two Scandinavian countries despite protests that sparked riots.
Imam and head of Stockholm’s central mosque, Mahmoud Khalfi, told Anadolu Agency that he “personally saw how the Koran burned here in Stockholm” last December, “and I remember how hurtful it was.”
“The Koran is sacred in Islam; it is the word of God. Burning the Koran will therefore be hugely hurtful to us Muslims,” he said.
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Source: AA