The patience and tolerance of Muslims around the world were recently put on trial in Sweden, for the second time this year, when an Iraqi national stood outside the largest mosque in Stockholm, Sweden’s capital, to publicly burn a copy of the holy Qur’an. Carrying out his extremely inciting act under heavy police presence on a day about 1,8 billion worshippers in the Muslim world were observing this year’s Eid ul-Kabir (Festival of Sacrifice); the 37-year-old Salwan Momika who fled to Sweden several years ago, stomped on a copy of the Qur’an before setting several pages alight in front of the mosque in the Swedish capital. This new offensive, which is a complete disregard for the feelings of Muslims who constitute more than a quarter of the entire world’s population is, indeed, the height of open provocation deliberately meant to elicit the anger of the entire the Muslim world.
Police had granted Momika a permit for what they describe as “protest” in line with “free speech” protections. There’s nowhere in any part of the world where the definition of free speech extends to desecrating holy Books. After receiving world-wide condemnations of the heinous act, the same Swedish police ridiculously said they have opened an investigation into the matter. In a similar questionable response, the 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. It would be recalled that in January this year (2023), a Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist burned a copy of the Qur’an near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
Reacting to the incident, the United States of America (USA) 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 Qur’an 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.
Aside of the US government and several international organisations, dozens of other world leaders have condemned the attack on the sensibilities of Muslims around the world. The Iraqi government in a statement strongly condemned “the repeated acts of burning copies of the holy Qur’an by individuals with extremist and disturbed minds”; adding that “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.” A day after the incident, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) summoned the Swedish ambassador.
Similarly, Jordan summoned Sweden’s ambassador in Amman; saying it considered the act as an “incitement and racism.” In a statement by the country’s foreign ministry, Jordan said burning the holy Qur’an was an act of “dangerous hate and a manifestation of Islamophobia” designed to incite violence. The ministry’s statement further said that burning the Qur’an cannot be considered a form of freedom of expression”; adding that there is a need to stop irresponsible behaviours and actions. Kuwait’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the burning of the Qur’an offended Muslims around the globe, and that people needed to promote the values of tolerance and coexistence. While Iran called the act “provocative, ill-considered and unacceptable, Morocco immediately recalled its ambassador to Stockholm.
The Secretary-General of the Muslim World League and Chairman of the Organisation of Muslim Scholars, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, said Momika’s act could only fuel hatred, provoke religious sentiments to serve extremists agenda. Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said, “We will eventually teach Western monuments of arrogance that insulting Muslims is not freedom of thought.” The Palestinian foreign ministry said, “The attack on the holy Qur’an 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.”
Given the non-violent reaction from the Muslim world which the desecration of the holy Qur’an was intended to insult, Momika and his supporters failed woefully in their calculated attempt to polarize the world and trigger violence across nations and continents. The overwhelming condemnations that trailed Sweden’s excessive Islamophobia and the choice of Muslim nations to ignore the path of hostility is a clear pointer to the truth that Islam as a religion has developed beyond deploying violence to settle differences with its enemies.
While others think the best way to confront Muslims and their faith is by reviling its followers, Islam which is a religion predicated on peace, warns Muslims in Qur’an 6:108 against insulting those who call upon besides Allah. It is apparent from all the acts of blasphemy carried out in the West in recent years that the more Islamophobics desecrate Islam’s holy Book or its adherents, the more the religion gains acceptance even in places with a long history of aversion for Islam. Allah states in Qur’an 9:32 “Their wish is to extinguish Allah’s Light with their mouth, but Allah will not allow that…” This explains why every day, more and more people discover the divine truth in the religion of Islam.
One would have thought that the June 4, 2009 Cairo speech delivered by the former US President, Barrack Obama, was wise and well-meaning enough to convince the West and the rest of the world that Islam needs to be understood, mutually respected, and tolerated. The speech titled “A New Beginning” is one of the longest speeches made by any world leader. It was intended by Obama to mend the not-too-healthy relations between the US and the West on the one hand and the Muslim world on the other. In the speech, Obama addressed some hard issues that underscored western misconceptions about Islam. Quoting from the holy Qur’an to emphasize piety and the need to always speak the truth, Obama said so much about Muslims’ contributions to Western civilization.
As the Muslim world awaits an apology from Stockholm authorities, we encourage Muslims in all parts of the world to continue to display maturity and exercise restraint in responding to needless provocations. May Allah guide Nigerian (who often see violence as a panacea to all problems) to learn from the world-wide peaceful response to Momika’s Islamophobia, amin.
