Muslims around the world have joined Saudi Arabia in condemning the burning of a copy of the Qur\u2019an by an Iraqi national outside Stockholm\u2019s largest mosque on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Under a heavy police presence, Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old who fled to Sweden several years ago, on Wednesday stomped on the Qur\u2019an before setting several pages alight in front of the mosque in the Sweedish capital.<\/p>\n
Police had granted him a permit for the protest in line with free-speech protections, but said later it had opened an investigation into the Qur\u2019an burning which sparked anger across the Muslim world.<\/p>\n
It is not the first time such an act has happened in Sweeden.<\/p>\n
In January, a Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist burned a copy of the Qur\u2019an near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, also triggering outrage in the Muslim world.<\/p>\n
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Momika\u2019s protest was \u201clegal but not appropriate,\u201d and it was up to the police to permit it or not.<\/p>\n
The incident occurred as Muslims around the world marked the Eid al-Adha holiday.<\/p>\n
The Iraqi government in a statement issued late Wednesday strongly condemned \u201cthe repeated acts of burning copies of the holy Qur\u2019an by individuals with extremist and disturbed minds.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese acts demonstrate a hateful and aggressive spirit that goes against the principles of freedom of expression,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are not only racist but also promote violence and hatred.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese irresponsible actions, in direct conflict with the values of respect for diversity and the beliefs of others, are unequivocally condemned.\u201d<\/p>\n
The United Arab Emirates summoned the Swedish ambassador on Thursday to protest against the burning of the holy book, the UAE foreign ministry said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Jordan summoned Sweden’s ambassador in Amman on Thursday, said it considered the act as an \u201cincitement and racism.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Foreign Ministry said burning the Holy Qur\u2019an was an act of \u201cdangerous hate and a manifestation of Islamophobia\u201d that incites violence.<\/p>\n
The Ministry\u2019s statement said burning the Quran \u201ccannot\u201d be considered a form of freedom of expression, adding there is a \u201cneed to stop irresponsible behavior and actions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ministry said hate speech and action must be countered and there must be promotion for a culture of peace and acceptance.<\/p>\n
And Kuwait\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the burning of the Quran offended Muslims around the globe, adding that people needed to promote the values of tolerance and coexistence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis serious provocative move offends Muslims around the world,\u201d the ministry said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe state of Kuwait reminds the international community and all countries concerned of their responsibility for acting against hate and religious extremism, and stopping the hostile acts that target the Muslim\u2019s sanctities.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPerpetrators of such hostile acts should be brought to book and prevented from using the principle of freedoms as a ploy to justify hostility against Islam or any holy faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran joined in the condemnation on Thursday, calling the act \u201cprovocative, ill-considered and unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran… do not tolerate such an insult and strongly condemn it,\u201d said foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Swedish government is expected to seriously consider the principle of responsibility and accountability in this regard, while preventing the repetition of insulting the holy sanctities,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Morocco also condemned the Koran burning and recalled its ambassador to Stockholm late Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis new offensive and irresponsible act disregards the feelings of more than a billion Muslims, at this sacred time of the great pilgrimage to Makkah and the blessed feast of Eid al-Adha,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cFaced with these repeated provocations, committed under the complacent gaze of the Swedish government,\u201d Morocco summoned Sweden\u2019s charge d\u2019affaires in Rabat and recalled its ambassador, it added.<\/p>\n
In January, a Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist burned a copy of the Koran near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, also triggering outrage in the Muslim world.<\/p>\n
And the Muslim World League secretary-general, chairman of the Organization of Muslim Scholars, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa denounced the act which he said was carried out under the protection of the police.<\/p>\n
He said that while it happened \u201cunder the claim of practising freedom of expression,\u201d in reality, it abused, \u201camong many things, the true concept of freedom, which calls for respecting and not provoking others under any pretext.\u201d<\/p>\n
Issa said such acts fueled hatred, provoked religious sentiments, and served only the agendas of extremism.Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also condemned Momika\u2019s protest as despicable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is unacceptable to allow these anti-Islamic actions under the pretext of freedom of expression,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
(With agencies<\/em>)<\/p>\n SOURCE ARAB NEWS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Muslims around the world have joined Saudi Arabia in condemning the burning of a copy of the Qur\u2019an by an Iraqi national outside Stockholm\u2019s largest mosque on Wednesday. Under a heavy police presence, Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old who fled to Sweden several years ago, on Wednesday stomped on the Qur\u2019an before setting several pages alight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":6024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6023"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6025,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6023\/revisions\/6025"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}