The Islamic world rose up against the burning of a copy of the Qur’an in Sweden, and reactions escalated from condemnation to warnings and even summoning ambassadors.
The Iraqi, Das Silwan Momica, who fled from his country to Sweden years ago, burned pages of the Noble Qur’an in front of the Grand Mosque in Stockholm, (Wednesday). This crime coincided with the celebration of Muslims around the world Eid al-Adha.
In response, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia condemned the burning of the Quran, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that these hateful and repeated acts cannot be accepted with any justification, and they clearly incite hatred, exclusion and racism.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation affirmed that the blatant and repeated assault on our Islamic faith, under the pretext of freedom of opinion, perpetuates hatred and rivalry, as violating sanctities deepens the value and ideological confrontation, while the League of Arab States said: An abhorrent practice that affects the constants and religious beliefs of Muslims.
Al-Azhar Al-Sharif called on the governments of Islamic and Arab countries to take serious and unified positions towards those violations that cannot be accepted in any way, and which carry criminality and extremism towards Islamic sanctities.
And he called on all Islamic and Arab peoples and people of good conscience to renew the boycott of Swedish products, after repeating the unacceptable violations against the Noble Qur’an and the constant provocations of the masses of Muslims around the world under the false banner of freedom of opinion and expression.
Today (Thursday), the UAE Foreign Ministry summoned the Swedish ambassador to inform her of the state’s strong protest and condemnation.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it had summoned the Swedish ambassador to inform her of the state’s protest and its strong condemnation of the Swedish government’s allowing extremists to burn a copy of the Holy Quran. I informed her of her condemnation of her evading her international responsibility and the lack of respect for social values in this regard, and handed her a protest note.
The UAE memorandum stressed its permanent rejection of all practices aimed at undermining security and stability and contradicting human and moral values and principles, warning that hate speech and extremism could lead to the outbreak, escalation and recurrence of conflicts in the world.
In Amman, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry summoned the Swedish ambassador and informed her of Jordan’s strong protest against the Swedish government’s allowing extremists to burn a copy of the Holy Qur’an in the capital, Stockholm. It condemned the burning of a copy of the Holy Qur’an and considered it a racist act of dangerous hate, and a manifestation of Islamophobia inciting violence and insulting religions, and stressed that such acts cannot be justified in the context of freedom of expression at all. The Ministry renewed its rejection and condemnation of such acts, which are considered a crime and a provocation to the feelings of more than two billion Muslims around the world.
For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan strongly condemned Sweden on Thursday for allowing a demonstrator to burn pages of a copy of the Koran, casting further shadows on the Scandinavian country’s efforts to quickly join NATO.
Erdogan said in televised statements: Sooner or later, we will teach the symbols of Western arrogance that insulting Muslims is not freedom of thought, adding that he condemns the incident in the strongest possible terms.
Iraq condemned the Swedish authorities’ decision to grant an extremist permission to burn a copy of the Qur’an. And the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: This heinous act hurt the feelings of millions of Muslims, but rather offended the Western peoples themselves, who have long boasted of embracing diversity, respecting the beliefs of others, and protecting religions and the rights of their adherents. He emphasized that these actions reflect a hateful, aggressive spirit that has nothing to do with freedom of expression, but rather an act of racism and incitement to violence and hatred.
In turn, the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for a demonstration in front of the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, to demand the expulsion of the ambassador, while Iran considered the burning of the Qur’an a provocative, ill-conceived and unacceptable measure. Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said that the government and people of Iran, like all Muslims and free people in the world, do not tolerate such abuse and strongly condemn it.
Cairo described what happened as a shameful act that provokes the feelings of Muslims around the world while they celebrate Eid al-Adha. In a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Egypt expressed its deep condemnation of an extremist’s burning of a copy of the Holy Qur’an today in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, in an act that contradicts the values and sanctities of respect for others, and fuels feelings of hatred among peoples. And she stressed the responsibility of states to prevent calls for incitement and hate crimes, and to stop those practices that would undermine the security and stability of societies, stressing the need to uphold common denominators of tolerance, acceptance of the other, and peaceful coexistence among peoples.
It called on Kuwait to hold the perpetrators of this act accountable and not allow them to exploit the principle of freedoms as a pretext to offend the true Islamic religion and all other divine religions.
