Worldwide condemnations pour in over Koran burning in Sweden
ISTANBUL
Condemnation continued to pour in from across the Arab and Islamic world over the burning of a copy of the Koran, Islam’s holy book, by a Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist in the Swedish capital, Stockholm.
Rasmus Paludan, the leader of the Stram Kurs (Hard Line) Party, under the protection of the police and with the permission of the government, burned a copy of the Koran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on Saturday.
Saudi Arabia condemned the Swedish authorities for allowing the far-right politician to burn the Koran.
In a statement, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs reaffirmed “the Kingdom’s firm position calling for the importance of spreading the values of dialogue, tolerance and coexistence and rejecting hatred and extremism.”
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry condemned the burning of the Koran as a “shameful act”.
A ministerial statement warned that this “shameful act provokes the sentiments of hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world.”
“These extremist practices are incompatible with the values of respect for others, freedom of belief, human rights and human fundamental freedoms,” it added.
“Elegant Attack”
Qatar also condemned in the strongest terms Sweden’s permission to burn the Koran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
“This heinous incident is an act of incitement and a serious provocation to the sentiments of more than two billion Muslims in the world,” Qatar’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) also condemned the incident and reiterated “its rejection of all methods aimed at destabilizing security and stability contrary to human and moral values and principles.”
The United Arab Emirates renewed its call to refrain from hate speech and violence and underlined the need to respect religious symbols and avoid inciting hatred by insulting religions.
Oman called the burning of the Koran a “provocation against the feelings of Muslims and incitement to violence and hatred, by extremists in Sweden.” It underlined the need for international efforts to consolidate the values of tolerance and coexistence and criminalize all actions that promote the ideology of hate.
Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah also condemned the Koran burning, saying the incident “hurts the sentiments of Muslims worldwide and marks serious provocation.”
The Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned the burning of Islam’s holy book in Stockholm as a “disgusting attack”.
“We condemn in the strongest possible way the heinous attack on our holy book, the Koran, in Sweden today (January 21), despite our repeated warnings before,” the ministry said in a statement.
In response to Sweden’s state of the incident, Ankara canceled Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson’s upcoming visit to Türkiye.
“Senseless Action”
Iran also called the Koran burning an attempt to incite hatred and violence against Muslims. Tehran said that under the false pretext of advocating freedom of speech, some European countries are “allowing extremist and radical elements to spread hatred against Islamic sanctities and values.”
Jordan joined the chorus of condemnations, stressing “the kingdom’s rejection of this hateful act.” Amman underlined the need to spread the culture of peace and acceptance of the other, adding that “condemning extremism is a collective responsibility.”
Morocco said it was “shocked” by Sweden’s permission to burn Islam’s holy book.
“This hateful act, which offends the feelings of more than a billion Muslims, could fuel anger and hatred between religions and peoples,” the Moroccan foreign ministry warned in a statement.
Pakistan called the incident a “senseless and provocative Islamophobic act that hurts the religious sensibilities of over 1.5 billion Muslims around the world.”
Such actions are not covered by any legitimate expression of the right to freedom of expression or opinion, which carries responsibilities under international human rights law, such as the obligation not to utter hate speech and incite people to violence, the foreign ministry said. in a statement.
In a statement, Bangladesh’s foreign minister condemned “the act of insulting the sacred values of Muslims worldwide in the guise of ‘freedom of expression.’
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the interim Taliban government in Afghanistan also “strongly” condemned the burning and desecration of the Holy Quran and called on the Swedish government to punish the perpetrators of this act.
In a statement, the ministry also urged Stockholm not to allow such people to take provocative actions against the Islamic religion and Muslims in the future.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also condemned the Koran burning as a provocative act that “targets Muslims, insults their sacred values and serves as another example of the alarming level that Islamophobia has reached” and asked Sweden to punish those behind a ” hate crime.”
“shameful act”
Egypt’s Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, the highest seat of Sunni Islamic learning, also condemned the burning of the Koran as a “shameful act” and a violation of “all international laws and covenants that stipulate the necessity of respecting the sanctity of peoples, their faith and their religions.”
It called for international legislation to be drafted “to ensure the necessary guarantees to protect the right of Muslims to practice their religious rites in the communities in which they live.”
The International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS) called on the Muslim countries to summon the Swedish ambassadors to demand an apology from the Swedish government for the incident.
At the same time, Azerbaijan also condemned the burning of a copy of the Holy Quran in Sweden.
“We call on the Swedish government to bring the perpetrators of this hate crime to justice as soon as possible,” the Azerbaijani foreign ministry said.
The president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Ersin Tatar, also condemned the act in a written statement, saying: “Such outdated approaches are a threat to all humanity and they threaten world peace.”
At the same time, protests were held in northern Syria against the burning of the Holy Koran.
Thousands of people took to the streets in the towns of B’zaah, Al-Rai and Marea in northern Syria, condemning the hateful act.
The Turkish American National Steering Committee (TASC), which serves as the umbrella organization for nearly 155 Turkish associations in the United States, also condemned the attack.
“Burning a faith’s holy book does nothing but incite society to hatred, violence and conflict,” TASC co-chair Melih Bektas said in a statement.
Turkish minority organizations in Western Thrace also criticized the attack on the Koran.
The Friendship, Equality and Peace Party strongly condemned the heinous act against the Quran in a statement posted on its social media account.
“It is unacceptable for the Swedish authorities to consider the attack on the Koran as freedom of thought,” the mufti (Muslim cleric) of the Turkish minority in the town of Iskcece in western Thrace said in a statement.
In a statement, Iskece Turkish Union said: “We strongly condemn this incident. We are concerned that allowing this attack on Islam’s holy book will further increase the Islamophobia that has deepened in Europe in recent years.”
* Writing by Ahmed Asmar and contributed by SM Najmus Sakib from Dhaka and Zehra Nur Duz from Ankara