The Muslim world needs to take serious notice of another incident of the desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden. In a highly provocative and despicable act, a man burned a copy of the sacred book outside a mosque in Stockholm on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha. The incident hurt the sentiments of Muslim across the world.
Many Muslim countries have strongly condemned the incident, notably Turkiye. President Erdogan slammed Sweden over the incident and said Ankara will never bow to a policy of provocation. This also has political repercussions as Sweden seeks to join NATO alliance and needs Turkiye’s support.
There was protests in Baghdad as the man who committed the heinous act was of Iraqi origin and had fled to Sweden a few years ago. Hundreds of Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad and demanded to sever diplomatic ties. Other countries in including Saudi Arabia and Iran also issued condemnations.
The OIC has convened an emergency meeting next week to discuss repeated incident of Holy Quran desecration and hurting religious sentiments. The Muslim world needs to not just condemn the incident but also take a strong stand so that such incidents don’t occur again. European countries need to realize that such incidents cannot take place under the garb of freedom of expression.
Even the European Union was compelled to issue a condemnation statement, saying the incident does not reflect ‘European values’ and racism, xenophobia and intolerance has no place in Europe. Even Sweden distanced itself and blamed the individual but action shows otherwise as the person was given permission and even security when the act was committed.
Pakistan should be taking a leading role in preventing the spread of Islamophobic incidents. Instead, it has issued mere formal statement by the Foreign Office, President, PM and other politicians. There is a trend to boycott Swedish brands which may prove to be a tokenistic measure to prevent such incidents. It is high time that the Muslims countries need to take a tough stand on such issues.
The West cannot understand the immense love Muslims professed for their religion and the extend they could not to extend it. Although violence can never be condoned, such incidents harm the countries as it creates hatred and intolerance. The world need to realize that hurting religious sentiments through such incidents cannot be allowed under the freedom of speech and expression.
