Burning of ‘Holy Quran’ Extremely Insensitive

Ishtiaq Ahmed

London: Over the last week or so, the global media has been reporting on the developing unrest in Sweden over the planned burning of the “Holy Quran” by the right-wing Stram Kurs Party.

BBC reported the arrests of over 40 people in violent clashes between the police and people angry at the intended burning of the Holy Quran by the party leader Rasmus Paludan.

The violence was sparked by a series of rallies organised by the Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan of Stram Kurs Party, a hardline right-wing anti-immigration political party. Paludan claimed that he burned the Holy Quran and will do it.

This has been condemned by Saudi Arabia, calling it the “deliberate abuse of the holy Quran by some extremists in Sweden, and provocation and incitement against Muslims”.  Whilst Iran and Iraq earlier summoned the Swedish ambassadors to lodge protests.

On Thursday, Paludan when attempting to address his rally in Jonkoping, using a megaphone, his voice was drowned by a priest ringing the bells of a local church in protest of his vile provocation.

This is not the first time Stram Kurs Party threatened to burn the Holy Quran. Similar protests were also sparked off back in 2020 in Malmö.

Paludan is known for his anti-Islamic and racist views. In 2020, he was jailed in Denmark for a month for a string of racist offenses. He represented Stram Kurs party in the last Danish elections in 2019, where it received 1.8 % of the vote, failing to win a seat.

Paludan plans to stand in the Swedish elections in September, but he reportedly does not yet have the necessary number of signatures to secure his candidature.

It is not the first time that Islam has been singled out for attack in the European countries. There is an extensive list of provocations involving caricatures of the Holy Prophets, attacks on Masajid, attacks on Muslim worshippers and the desecration of the Holy book.

However, the timing of this vile provocation is to cause maximum offence, deliberately coinciding it with the holy month of Ramazan, a month of peace and blessings for Muslims.

The right-wing political groups throughout Europe- France, Spain, Holland. Denmark and Germany have used provocations against Islam and immigrants to expand their popularity, stirring emotions and hatred by playing on people’s prejudices and fears about Muslims and other immigrant communities.

However, when it comes to Islam, in Europe there is an age-old deep-rooted residual prejudice against Islam and its adherents. This has not subsided.

A recent report to the UN Human Rights Council cited Widespread suspicion, discrimination and outright hatred toward Muslims to an “epidemic proportions”.

Examples included disproportionate restrictions against Muslims manifesting their beliefs, limits on accessing citizenship, and widespread stigmatization of Muslim communities.

The study also highlighted how Muslim women face “triple levels of discrimination” because of their gender, ethnicity, and faith, he added, while the media and some persons in power have further.

However, the action of the priest to drown the rants of Paludan by ringing the church bells is a sign of hope and optimism. Also, the fact that Paludan is finding it difficult to get the necessary signatures to secure his candidacy speaks well for Swedish society.