The General Secretariat of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned the recent acts of desecration and public burning of copies of the Quran in the Netherlands. The Islamic body dubbed these acts as “provocative” and asserted that it condemns such acts in the strongest terms.
Notably, the recent incident of desecration of the Quran came to the fore from the Netherlands which reportedly took place on 23rd September, 2023.
According to the Turkish state-run news outlet Anadolu Agency, Edwin Wagensveld, the leader of PEGIDA, or Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West, tore copies of the Quran in front of the embassies of Türkiye, Indonesia and Pakistan in The Hague on Saturday (September 23).
In its official statement, OIC’s General Secretariat reiterated its earlier stance which was adopted on 31st July 2023. Back then, the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers adopted a resolution at its 18th extraordinary Session which was dedicated to the repeated incidents of desecration of copies of the Quran in several European countries, particularly Sweden and Denmark.
The statement added that the Council condemns all attempts to denigrate the sanctity of the Quran as well as other sacred books, values, and symbols of Islam and other religions under the garb of freedom of expression. The Islamic body added that these acts of denigration are contrary to the spirit of Articles (19) and (20) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
The OIC General Secretariat further stated that it has asked the Dutch authorities to take necessary measures against such provocative acts to prevent their recurrence. They argued that these incidents constitute acts of religious hatred and they are in violation of international law.
Earlier, on September 20, 2023, the Secretary-General of the OIC, Hissein Brahim Taha, met with Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen at the sidelines of the UNGA session in New York.
As per the official release, the Danish Minister informed him about the steps taken by his country’s government including proposing a bill to criminalise the desecration of the Quran and other religious books.
Notably, on August 25, the Danish government announced that it would propose a law that would make it illegal to desecrate or burn any religious book in Denmark. The government added that Denmark has been viewed as a country that facilitates insults and denigration of the cultures, religions, and traditions of other countries.
After reiterating the July resolution of the OIC, Secretary-General Taha commended the step taken by Denmark in this regard.
Meanwhile, Sweden’s prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, maintained that Stockholm would not take the same step as its neighbour (Denmark) as that would probably require amending the constitution.
Repeated desecration of the Quran in European nation
In the last few months, Sweden and Denmark have seen a spree of public burning and desecration of the Quran which has irked Muslim nations and strained their ties with these European nations. While the majority of the incidents have been reported in Sweden and Denmark, several cases of public desecration of the Quran have also been reported in the Netherlands.
On August 12, members of a group named Danske Patrioter, or Danish Patriots, burnt a copy of the Quran in front of the Turkish Embassy in Copenhagen, Turkish media Anadolu Anjansi (AA) reported. The media report added that the same group burnt another copy of the Quran in front of the Iraqi Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark. A similar incident unfolded on 21st July in Copenhagen where Danske Patrioter burnt a copy of the Quran in front of the Iraqi embassy.
On August 14, another incident of Quran burning was recorded in Sweden. A copy of the Quran was allegedly desecrated, kicked, and burnt in Sweden’s capital Stockholm in front of the Royal Palace in heavy police presence.
Reportedly, this was the second such case in a matter of weeks where some miscreants burnt the Quran, an act which is permitted under Sweden’s freedom of speech laws.
As per an Al Jazeera report, few men had printed multiple pages of the Quran that had text in Arabic as well as translations in Swedish that blew across the square.
Earlier, in April, a group in Denmark allegedly insulted the Turkish flag and the Quran in front of the Turkish Embassy in Copenhagen.
Later, on the 28th of June, a man tore up and burned a Quran outside Stockholm’s central mosque after Swedish Police authorised him to stage the demonstration.
However, the number of incidents have seen a sharp increase even among the overall trend. On 1st August, Quran was burnt in front of the Embassies of Türkiye, Iraq, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia in Copenhagen.
An Iranian woman, Firoozeh Bazrafkan shreds the Quran with a grater outside the Iranian embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark.pic.twitter.com/Bbj4WMQi9x
— 🚨 Information Worldwide (@InfoEarthwide) August 7, 2023
Later, on 3rd August, Quran was again burnt in front of the embassies of Türkiye, Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. As per a Turkish news outlet, this happened on multiple occasions in front of embassies of Muslim countries, on the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 7th of August.
While this has strained the diplomatic relations of these nations with the Muslim world, it has led to a fierce debate about limits of freedoms.
