Desecrating or Burning the Qur’an in Sweden Creates Hysteria in Dar al-Islam

All Muslim countries have laws banning “blasphemy,” which includes, among other things, setting fire or otherwise treating with disrespect the Qur’an. Recently an Iraqi Christian, identified as Salwan Momika, has been testing the consequences of his “Islamic blasphemy.” In June, he set fire to a first Qur’an outside a Stockholm mosque during the major Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which triggered widespread condemnation throughout the Muslim world. In July, the same man stomped on and kicked a Qur’an in front of the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm. In retaliation, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador from Iraq and the withdrawal of the Iraqi charge d’affaires from Sweden. He also forced Ericsson, a Swedish company, to halt work in Iraq. But that was not enough to calm angry Iraqis; another protest was held on Friday afternoon, and then another on Sunday. Calm has not returned, either to Iraq or to other Muslim countries.

Here are some of the reactions from around the Muslim world. “Countries summon Sweden’s envoys to protest against Quran burning,” Al Jazeera, July 21, 2023:

Iran’s foreign ministry summoned Sweden’s ambassador in Tehran on Thursday to “strongly protest against the desecration of the holy Quran”, state media reported.

Demonstrations are planned to be held throughout the country after Friday prayer.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has also written a letter to the United Nations secretary-general over the incident….

Iraq’s foreign ministry also condemned the attack on the Swedish embassy and said it would sever diplomatic ties with Sweden if such an incident was to take place again.

The Kingdom of Jordan condemned the Quran’s desecration in Stockholm “as a reckless act that fuels hatred, and a manifestation of Islamophobia that incites violence and insult to religions”, its foreign ministry said on Thursday….

The Qatari foreign ministry said in a statement that Swedish authorities should take “all the necessary measures to stop these shameful acts”.

Saudi Arabia summoned the Swedish charge d’affaires in Riyadh and handed them a note of protest.

Turkey condemned it as a “despicable attack” and called on Sweden to take “decisive measures to prevent this hate crime” against Islam….

The United Arab Emirates summoned the Swedish charges d’affaires to strongly condemn the continuation of the Swedish government’s allowance of attacks on copies of the Quran, the state news agency (WAM) reported on Friday.

The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, called on Arab and Muslim countries to follow Iraq’s steps and expel Swedish ambassadors from their countries.

He also called on demonstrations to be held after Friday prayers, saying that “the whole world must see how we embrace our Quran, and the whole world must see how we protect our Quran with our blood”.

Other protests, either to the burning of the Qur’an in June, or to the stomping on the Qur’an in July, have come from the Taliban in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Indonesia.

So far, Sweden is standing firm. It has refused to answer Muslim calls for Salwan Momika to be punished, and of course has not bothered to answer Ayatollah Khamenei’s demand that Momika be handed over to a Muslim country to be judged.

Now Denmark has become part of the story. The activist Rasmus Paludan, a citizen of both Sweden and Denmark, in late July set fire to two Qur’ans – the first near a Copenhagen mosque and the second outside the Turkish embassy in Denmark.

The same Muslim hysteria previously directed at Sweden has been extended to Denmark. Jordan, Oman, and Saudi Arabia have been the first to condemn Denmark for allowing this latest Qur’an desecration. Desecration of the Quran thrice in one month has raised diplomatic tensions with Denmark and Sweden, with Muslim countries now demanding enactment of laws criminalizing desecration of their sacred book.

What the Muslim countries are demanding is nothing less than the abandonment by Western democracies of the most important right of all, the one without which democracy cannot exist – free speech. The governments of both Sweden and Denmark have distanced themselves from the Qur’an burnings – Sweden’s government has condemned the burning of the Qur’an outside Stockholm’s main mosque, calling it an “Islamophobic” act: “The Swedish Government fully understands that the Islamophobic acts committed by individuals at demonstrations in Sweden can be offensive to Muslims,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on July 23. Denmark also condemned the burning of copies of the Muslim holy book, the Qur’an, calling it a “shameful act” that “disrespects the religions of others.” But neither Denmark nor Sweden has suggested it might be willing to pass any kind of anti-blasphemy legislation.

What have these Qur’an burnings and desecrations shown us?

First, that Muslims have no regard for Western freedoms. Unfree themselves – monarchies and despotisms prevail in the Arab and Muslim world — they do not appreciate, nor understand, what freedom of speech means, and why it is the most indispensable of rights in a democracy.

Second, the alacrity with which Western countries – in the cases under discussion, Sweden and Denmark — are ready to denounce those determined to exercise their free speech rights, is disheartening. There is no need to distance themselves from those brave souls. Western countries should say only this: protecting the “freedom of speech” does not constitute “approval” of such speech. That’s enough. That’s more than enough.

Third, Sweden’s hate speech law prohibits incitement against groups of people based on race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity. Some may claim that burning the Qur’an constitutes incitement against Muslims, and should therefore be considered as hate speech. It should not. Such acts as Qur’an burning are targeting the religion of Islam, rather than practitioners of the faith; criticism of religion must continue to be covered by freedom of speech, even when some consider it offensive.

Fourth, Western democracies must support fellow democracies whom Muslim states and peoples are trying to threaten into passing blasphemy laws. Blasphemy, defined as “speech or actions considered to be contemptuous of God or of people or objects considered sacred,” is outlawed in every Muslim country. In at least seven countries – Afghanistan, Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia – blasphemy carries a potential death sentence.

The Western democracies should make it clear — and without trying to placate Muslim mobs across the world by expressing their own abhorrence of Qur’an-burning as “Islamophobic” — that there will be no blasphemy laws enacted in the advanced Western countries; save in the case of hate speech, the freedom of speech must remain sacrosanct.