Outrage over Quran desecration in Sweden

Muslims around the world have condemned the burning of a copy of the Qur’an by an Iraqi national outside Stockholm’s largest mosque in Sweden.

Under heavy police presence, Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old who fled to Sweden several years ago, on Wednesday stomped on the Qur’an before setting several pages alight in front of the mosque in the Swedish capital.

Police had granted him a permit for the protest in line with free speech protections, but said later it had opened an investigation into the Qur’an burning which sparked anger across the Muslim world.

It is not the first time such an act has happened in Sweden. In January, a Swedish-Danish right wing extremist burned a copy of the Qur’an near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, also triggering outrage in the Muslim world.

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Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, said Momika’s protest was “legal but not appropriate” and that it was up to the police to permit it or not.

The incident occurred as Muslims around the world marked the Eid al-Adha holiday.

The Iraqi government in a statement issued late Wednesday strongly condemned “the repeated acts of burning copies of the Holy Qur’an by individuals with extremist and disturbed minds.

“These acts demonstrate a hateful and aggressive spirit that goes against the principles of freedom of expression. They are not only racist, but also promote violence and hatred.”

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) summoned the Swedish ambassador on Thursday to protest against the burning of the holy book, the UAE foreign ministry said in a statement.

Jordan summoned Sweden’s ambassador in Amman on Thursday and said it considered the act as an “incitement and racism.”

The foreign ministry said burning the Holy Qur’an was an act of “dangerous hate and a manifestation of Islamophobia” that incited violence.

The ministry’s statement said burning the Quran “cannot” be considered a form of freedom of expression, adding there is a “need to stop irresponsible behaviour and actions.”

Kuwait’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the burning of the Quran offended Muslims around the globe, adding that people needed to promote the values of tolerance and coexistence.

Iran called the act “provocative, ill-considered and unacceptable, while Morocco recalled its ambassador to Stockholm late Wednesday.

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

The Muslim World League Secretary-General and Chairman of the Organisation of Muslim Scholars, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, said such act fueled hatred, provoked religious sentiments and served only the agenda of extremism.

Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said, “We will eventually teach Western monuments of arrogance that insulting Muslims is not freedom of thought.”

The United States said it was “disrespectful” to burn religious texts. “We’ve said consistently that the burning of religious texts is disrespectful and hurtful, and what might be legal is certainly not necessarily appropriate,” State Department’s Deputy spokesman, Vedant Patel, said.

Russian President, Vladimir Putin, condemned the act of burning the Quran and vowed to protect Muslims from hatred.

“It is a crime to incite religious hatred. We will always follow these rules of law,” the Russian leader said.

The Palestinian foreign ministry said, “The attack on the Holy Quran by a hateful extremist is an expression of hatred and racism and a flagrant attack on the values of tolerance, acceptance of the order, democracy, and peaceful coexistence among followers of all religions.”

The International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) described the act in a statement as “racism and savagery backed by (Swedish) official bodies.” (Arab News, TRT World)