Quran Burning And Western Hypocrisy
By
New Age Islam Staff Writer
13 July
2023
1. Sweden
Contemplates Banning Scripture Burning Under Political Compulsions Not For
Respect of Muslim Religious Sentiments
2. Turkey
Approves Of Sweden's Admission Into NATO After Meeting In Lithuania
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The Swedish foreign ministry said that burning of any holy text is
"disrespectful and offensive."
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After a
year's opposition to Sweden's entry into NATO alliance, Turkey has finally
agreed to approve of its admission into it after the meeting of the heads of
the two states in Lithuania. Turkey has agreed to approve of Sweden's
membership after Sweden made significant changes in its anti-terror laws and
lifted an arms embargo on Turkey. And most important of all, Sweden has agreed
to change its laws relating to burning of religious scriptures as a means of
protest.
Last month,
an Iraq-origin man named Salwan Momika had burned the holy Quran in front of
the central mosque of Stockholm, Sweden.to protest against Islam. This had
sparked world wide protests and condemnations but the Swedish government had
said that the country's laws permit such acts under the right to freedom of
expression enshrined under the constitution. The man had been granted
permission for burning the Quran by paying the protest permit fee of $31.
Earlier in
January this year, the dual citizenship holding Danish politician Rasmus Paludan
had also burned the Quran in front of the Turkish embassy under police
protection. Paludan is the head of the political party Stram Krus that had
taken part in Denmark's national elections in 2019 and had got only 1.8 percent
votes. His political campaign runs on Islamophobic issues like rising Muslim
immigration and population and the threat of terrorism in Denmark and Sweden.
He, therefore, resorted to Quran burning as a means of increasing his popular
support.
The Quran
burning by the Iraqi man in Stockholm seems also to have a political angle.
Last year,
Sweden and Finland had applied to NATO for its membership after Russia invaded
Ukraine.Sweden and Finland felt a security threat by the,Russian aggression and
wanted to join NATO. But Russia had invaded Ukraine because the US had been
pressurising Ukraine to join NATO. Russia felt a security threat by the
increasing presence of NATO in its neighbourhood. Russia invaded Ukraine to
prevent it from joining NATO.
However,
when Sweden and Finland requested NATO's membership, Turkey opposed its plea
because Turkey has been accusing Sweden of harbouring fundraisers for Kurdish
Workers Party, a designated terrorist organisation and providing asylum to
those allegedly involved in the failed coup against Erdogan in 2016. When
Rasmus Paludan burned the Quran in January, he did it against Turkey's
opposition to Sweden's e tey into the NATO. Since Turkey is a Muslim country,
Turkey was enraged by Quran burning and Erdogan said that those who disrespect
the holy Quran should not expect Turkey to favour their entry into the NATO.
Since a country can join NATO only when all the member nations give their
approval, Turkey's opposition scuttled Sweden's bid to join the NATO. This made
Sweden contemplate changing some laws of the country to appease Erdogan. It
changed its anti-terrorism laws so that people involved in the funding of the
Kurdish Workers Party and in the 2016 coup could be extradited. Last year the
extradition of a Turkish journalist allegedly involved in the coup was stayed
by the Swedish Supreme Court. It also lifted an arms embargo against Turkey.
But when all was going fine, the Quran burning by an Iraqi man again caused a
hiccup in the process. The Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said that
Sweden was causing problems instead of solving it. He hinted at the Quran
burning protest in Stockholm.
In January,
Finland's foreign minister had accused Russia of being behind the Quran burning
protest by Rasmus Paludan. A media report said that Chang Frick, a former
journalist associated with Russia Today had payed for the protest permit fee
for Paludan. According to a report in a website, Frick had also boasted of
being close to Russian President Putin. This raised the doubt that Russia was
behind the Quran burning incident to provoke Turkey to oppose Sweden's entry
into the NATO. The doubt was further strengthened when another Quran burning
incident happened on 28th June on the day of Eid-al-Adha. It seemed that since
Sweden had taken some steps to remove Turkey's misconceptions about Sweden, the
Quran burning was orchestrated to provoke Tukey once again.
However,
Sweden hinted at its plan to change its blasphemy laws so that burning of
religious scriptures as a means of protest could be banned. The Minister for
Justice of Sweden told a newspaper that the government was contemplating on
banning the burning of religious scriptures in view of the internal security
threat perceived due to the recent incidents of Quran burning in the country.
He said that the Swedish police had rejected some applications for protests
including Quran burning due to security threat this year but the courts had
overturned the decisions of the police on the ground that such steps guaranteed
Sweden's laws of freedom of expression. He further said that the government was
taking stock of the situation and would soon decide whether the existing system
is appropriate. He admitted that the Quran burning incident became an obstacle
in Sweden's admission in NATO alliance.
Obviously,
Sweden has agreed to change its law relating to protest to prevent more Quran
burning incidents in future because of political reasons, not for respect of
the,Quran or other religious scriptures. According to reports, after the,Quran
burning incident, some applications for burning religious scriptures by Muslims
were also received by the Swedish police. This may also be the reason the
Swedish government has planned to change its laws. It should be noted here that
the same cartoonist who had made anti-Islam cartoons for Charlie Hebdo
newspaper had also made blasphemous cartoons of Prophet Jesus but the newspaper
had refused to publish it. Similarly, when the Swedish government came to know
that now applications for burning the Bible had also been made and that the
Quran burning has become an obstacle in its membership of NATO, it has woken up
to its internal security threat. The hypocrisy of the western nations on
religious tolerance and freedom of expression has once again been exposed.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-west/quran-burning-western-hypocrisy/d/130202