On June 7 in Mumbai, several Muslim organizations in Maharashtra commemorated ‘World Quran Day’ in reaction to the incident of the Quran burning in Sweden.
The protests were led by Raza Academy, a Sunni Muslim organization based in the state. The organization said that it strongly condemns the incident of “disrespecting the Holy Quran in Sweden.”
“Strongly condemn another incident disrespecting the Holy Quran in Sweden. Racists cannot be given a license under the guise of freedom of expression to spread Islamophobic & racist policies. Wilful provocations & incitements to hate must be universally outlawed,” the organization said.
On June 4, prior to the World Quran Day demonstrations, members of the Raza Academy staged protests in the streets. They held placards with messages such as “Quran is our honour” and “Sweden must stop backing the burning of the holy Quran.”
President of the organization, Muhammad Saeed Noori said,” You know when Islam has won intellectually, when they can’t debate the book but have to burn the book as they have lost all arguments.”
Several countries have witnessed a surge in anger following an incident last Wednesday, where a man, reportedly identified as a Christian from Iraq according to Swedish media, burned the Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm during the religious holiday of Eid al-Adha.
On July 2, the Swedish government strongly condemned the act of burning a Quran, categorizing it as an “Islamophobic” act.
Additionally, a recent survey revealed that a majority of Swedish citizens supported the idea of prohibiting the public burning of religious texts, including the Quran and the Bible.
Recognizing the gravity of the situation, the United Nations Human Rights Council is scheduled to convene an urgent meeting on July 11 to address the concerning increase in deliberate and public acts of religious hatred.
