Condemnations and denunciations continue in several regions of the Arab and Islamic world and beyond, for the burning of the Noble Qur’an at the hands of extremists in Sweden and the Netherlands.
Today, Tuesday, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Egypt, Jordan and Palestine condemned the extremist Edwin Wagensfeld’s tearing and burning of the Holy Qur’an in the Dutch city of The Hague on Monday.
Wagensfeld – who is the leader of the extremist anti-Islam “Pegida” movement in the Netherlands – tore up a copy of the Holy Qur’an, just two days after the Swedish extremist Rasmus Paludan burned the Holy Qur’an near the Turkish embassy in the Swedish capital, Stockholm.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the Dutch ambassador to Ankara, Jopp Wijnands, to protest against the attack on the Holy Quran in The Hague, warning against such practices.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that Sweden should not expect from now on Turkey’s support for its membership file in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), after the incident of burning the Koran in front of its embassy.
“If you do not respect the religious beliefs of Turkey or Muslims, do not expect any support from us regarding your membership in NATO,” Erdogan said.
In a statement today, the Saudi Foreign Ministry expressed the Kingdom’s “condemnation and denunciation” of the arson incident in The Hague, stressing that it was a “provocative step to the feelings of millions of Muslims.”
In a statement, the UAE Foreign Ministry condemned the incident, stressing “the need to respect religious symbols and sanctities and to avoid incitement and polarization.”
In turn, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the condemnation of the incident, considering that what was done “a blatant act that goes beyond the limits of freedom of expression, and violates the sanctities of Muslims,” stressing that European countries witnessing the rise of Islamophobia are responsible for preventing the recurrence of such incidents.
For its part, the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the incident – in a statement condemning it – as “extremist practices that fuel hatred and violence, threaten peaceful coexistence, and destabilize security and stability,” calling for “respect for religious symbols and the cessation of hatred.”
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry also stressed that what happened was a “flagrant attack on the feelings of millions of Muslims,” calling for international action to stop these practices and criminalize the perpetrators of these violations.
And in Mauritania, the head of the Center for the Training of Scholars, Sheikh Muhammad al-Hassan al-Dado, issued a fatwa today, Tuesday, in which he stressed the necessity of Muslim peoples boycotting all Swedish products, until Stockholm officially apologizes.
In his fatwa on his Facebook page, Al-Dado also called on all Muslims to take action as permitted by the laws of their countries to protest against this crime, calling on media professionals and mosque preachers to defame this crime and raise awareness of its danger.
The Association of African Sahel Scholars – the largest gathering of scholars and sheikhs in the Sahel region – described the burning of the Holy Qur’an as “a despicable and cowardly act protected by the official authorities.”
The League said, in a statement, that it “strongly condemns the act of a gang of the extreme right to burn copies of the Holy Qur’an with the protection, license and complicity of the public authorities in their countries.”
American Russian condemnation
Today, Tuesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s comments on the incident of burning the Holy Qur’an in the Swedish capital, when he considered it merely an “indecent and illegal act.”
Zakharova said – on Telegram – that respecting people’s religious opinions and beliefs is “a duty, not an option,” stressing that the West is “simply obligated to respect the right of hundreds of millions of people to their sacred beliefs.”
The United States also condemned the burning of a copy of the Holy Qur’an in Stockholm, noting that this action may be targeting unity within NATO.
US State Department spokesman Ned Brass said – yesterday, Monday, at a press conference – that “burning books considered sacred to many is an extremely insulting act,” as he described it as an abhorrent, hateful and disgusting act.
Breaks and demonstrations
Several Turkish states witnessed protests against the burning of the Holy Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
Hundreds of people also demonstrated Tuesday in Lahore, the largest city in Pakistan, and the demonstrators, who gathered at the invitation of local political parties, chanted: “Shame on Sweden.”
“The cover of freedom of expression cannot be used to offend the beliefs of 1.5 billion Muslims around the world. This is unacceptable,” Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote on Twitter on Sunday.
In the city of Khost, in eastern Afghanistan, hundreds of angry Afghans demonstrated and chanted in the city’s main square, “Death to the Swedish government, death to such politicians.”
Video recordings showed protesters, many carrying the Koran, burning the Swedish flag and shouting slogans condemning Baludan.
One of the organizers of the demonstration said, “The people of Khost condemn the burning of the Koran in Sweden, and call on Islamic countries to raise their voice against this evil and obscene politician.”
In the besieged Palestinian Gaza Strip, dozens of students denounced the burning of the Noble Qur’an, during vigils organized by the Palestinian Ministry of Education inside its schools and in front of its headquarters.
The students demanded accountability in Al-Wadan, holding up copies of the Qur’an and chanting slogans denouncing its burning. They also carried banners on which they wrote, “Our constitution is the Qur’an,” “Except the Book of God,” and “My Qur’an is my life.”
