MUSLIM COUNTRIES FUME AFTER SWEDEN ALLOWS QURAN BURNING IN FRONT OF MOSQUE

Salwan Momika holds up a Quran before setting some pages on fire in a protest outside a mosque in Stockholm on June 28, 2023, during the Eid al-Adha holiday. (Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP)

Fri 30 June 2023:

Many Arab countries have condemned the burning of a copy of Muslim Holy Book, the Quran, in front of a mosque in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, on Wednesday, Anadolu Agency reports.

Egypt strongly condemned the burning of a copy of the Holy Quran in Stockholm, Sweden, on the first day of Eid al-Adha. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said the act was “odious” and “contradicts the values of respect for others and their sanctities.” Egypt also expressed deep concern about the repeated incidents of burning the Quran and the growing phenomenon of Islamophobia and religious desecration in some European countries.

Sweden Quran burning: Iraqi protesters storm Swedish embassy in Baghdad*

Dozens of people have stormed the compound of the Swedish embassy in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, after a Quran was burnt during a protest in Sweden. pic.twitter.com/3J8UOnpWrC

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) June 29, 2023

The incident took place during Eid Al-Adha, one of the holiest days of the year for Muslims. The men tore out pages from the Quran, wiped them on their shoes, and set them on fire. They were surrounded by a group of counterprotesters.

Al-Azhar, the highest religious authority in Sunni Islam, also condemned the burning of the Quran. Al-Azhar called for a boycott of Swedish products and urged Islamic governments to take serious and unified positions against violations of the Quran. Al-Azhar also called for fatwas and religious authorities worldwide to issue a fatwa on the obligation to boycott Swedish products..

The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs also expressed its condemnation and denunciation of the burning of the Quran. The Saudi Foreign Ministry said the act was “heinous” and “incites hatred, exclusion, and racism.” The Saudi Foreign Ministry also called on the Swedish government to take action to prevent such incidents from happening in the future.

Turkey condemned a decision by Swedish authorities to approve a small Quran-burning demonstration outside a mosque in Stockholm.

TURKEY SLAMS ‘DESPICABLE’ QURAN BURNING IN SWEDEN

The Iraqi government also strongly condemned the burning of the Quran. The Iraqi government called the act “horrific” and said it “hurt the feelings of millions of Muslims.” The Iraqi government also called on the Swedish government to bring the perpetrators to justice.

United Arab Emirates presidential adviser Anwar Gargash tweeted that the West “must realize that its value system… cannot be imposed on the world.”

Kuwait called for perpetrators of such “hostile acts” to be brought to justice and “prevented from using the principle of freedoms as a ploy to justify hostility against Islam or any holy faith.”

The Quran burning was also condemned by the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council and by Morocco, which recalled its ambassador to Stockholm.

“This new offensive and irresponsible act disregards the feelings of more than a billion Muslims, at this sacred time of the great pilgrimage to Mecca and the blessed feast of Eid al-Adha,” the kingdom said.

“Faced with these repeated provocations, committed under the complacent gaze of the Swedish government,” Morocco summoned Sweden’s charge d’affaires in Rabat and recalled its ambassador, it added.

The 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation called for “effective measures to prevent a recurrence.”

The Palestinian Authority foreign ministry condemned what it said was a “flagrant attack on human rights, values of tolerance, acceptance of others, democracy and peaceful coexistence among followers of all religions.”

Further afield, Afghanistan’s Taliban government, which enforces a strict interpretation of the Quran and Islamic law, also reacted angrily, labeling the Quran burning an act of “utter contempt towards this noble religion.”

The incident has sparked outrage among Muslims around the world. The incident has also raised concerns about the growing problem of Islamophobia in Europe.

On Wednesday, a person identified as Salwan Momika burned a copy of the Quran under police protection in front of Stockholm Mosque.

Representatives of the mosque outside which the protest took place had said on Wednesday that they were disappointed police permitted the protest. They had suggested police could at least divert the demonstration to a less sensitive location — one step that could have been within their powers.

The protest was watched by a crowd of people, including supporters and counterprotesters; police cordoned the protester off from the crowd, apparently for his own protection.

On 12 June, a Swedish appeals court upheld a lower court’s decision to overturn a ban on Quran burning, ruling that police had no legal grounds to prevent two Quran burning protests earlier this year.

The US Census Bureau put Sweden’s Muslim population at 8.1% in 2022. Swedish government figures are often lower as they only count those who are registered with a mosque and regularly attend.

The country also hosts many people from Islamic countries who have since renounced their faith, like Wednesday’s protester, many of whom do not feel safe in their homelands after doing so.