Burning the Quran is absolute bigotry!
By: Dr. Ibrahim Islam
Al-Qur’an- the holy book of Muslims, has been, once and again, targeted by people with religious prejudice, bigotry and intolerance running right down their backbones. What they don’t understand is that such unfortunate events, like the recent burning of this holy book, only exposes the shallow mindset and unintelligent behaviours of those who ignorantly believe that a book can be damaged by burning a copy of it while millions and millions copies of the same are being sold across the globe every year.
This Qur’an is the emancipation document of mankind and was revealed during the 23 years of Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) life. Even when this Quran was revealed, some people opposed it though they could never succeed and neither could they bring forth anything like the book. People must remember that the holy book, besides other revelations, also mentions the guarantee of safeguarding the book- “I (Allah) revealed the Quran. And of course, I am its protector” (Surah Hijr-Ayat 9).We have not heard of any other book making such a declaration.
Recently, two people set fire to a copy of the Holy Quran on the holy day of Eid-ul-Azha outside the Central Mosque in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. We do not have the language to condemn this incident. No one can give an example of a Muslim making ugly comments or insults against other religions’ deities or religious books. But thousands of examples can be presented which were done against Islam. Today in Sweden, tomorrow in Denmark, such painful events are happening and the world doesn’t seem to take cognizance of it in a way in which it should. As a result, such elements are taking liberty with peoples emotions and indulging in such events.
Quran, we know, is not only read by Muslims, but also people of other faiths too. One of the miracles of Quran is that besides being recited and read across the globe by millions, it is also the only book memorised by millions of Muslims- young and old. So those elements who think that they can damage the book are living in a fools paradise and have no idea about the authority and love of the book in the hearts and minds of Muslims. Besides, what civilizations treat boos like this! It a matter of shame for those societies that claim to be modern and than indulge in such uncivilized behaviour.
The sad part is that the Swedish court has given permission for the burning of the holy book- a thing not acceptable in any way. A miscreant named SalwanMomika set fire to pages of the Quran in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque on Eid al-Adha on June 28. This incident has hurt all sensible and peace-loving people of the world besides Muslims. The reason why SalwanMomika, a refugee from Iraq, did so needs to be investigated. It remains to be seen whether he did it out of his own ignorance or to fulfil someone else’s agenda. SalwanMomikaalso claimed to burn the Iraqi flag and the Quran in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm in the next 10 days. It is unfathomable how much ignorance is needed for a person to set the Quran on fire and declare to set it on fire again!
In the interests of world peace, the Swedish government should ensure investigation as well as punishment to this miscreant!
No one applauded the burning of the Quran; rather, heads of government of different countries and heads of religious, political as well as social organisations strongly condemned this incident. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) strongly condemned the burning of copies of the Quran. The agency said such acts by extremists are unacceptable and called on governments worldwide to take effective measures to prevent the recurrence of such acts.
Muslims across nations believe in peace. If you look at the history of the golden past of the world, it will be seen that the most beautiful and golden age was during the Muslim rule. There was a Golden Age of Islam, excluding the Caliphate period of the four Caliphs.
World must also know that if Muslims aren’t reacting aggressively, it in no way means that they are ok with the events that insult and denigrate religious figures or texts. What happened in Sweden is not just an attack on the Quran and Muslims; Rather, this attack is an attack on humanity, morals and values. No sane person can insult religious books and insulting religious texts or religion cannot be freedom of expression in any way.
Blaspheming God in the name of freedom of expression is just as inappropriate as it is a heinous crime to burn the Quran, the religious book of Muslims. Burning this book is an insult and insult to all Muslim communities in the world. The emergence of such events is a threat to any religion.
Islam is a religion of peace. Islam talks about humanity, human rights. People of all professions and followers of different religions are safe in Islamic setups. It should be noted that in the great book Al-Qur’an, not only Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is mentioned, but other prophets and messengers are also described. Twenty-five prophets including Hazrat Musa (a.s.) and Hazrat Isa (a.s.) are mentioned. Therefore it is an insult to people believing in any of the prophets.
The writer is a researcher in Islamic studies.
