At a first glance, you will be tempted to think that the recalcitrant ‘burner’ of the holy Quran in Sweden, an Iraqi refugee who lives in Sweden, the glorified terrorist who goes by the name Salwan Momika is actually insane for taking such a despicable act of burning the Holy Quran. On a second glance, you would be convinced that something must be fundamentally wrong with the medulla oblongata of this man who thought there is nothing best to do than to embark on a wild goose chase and clearly lunatic enterprise of burning the glorious Quran.
To establish the fact that the act of burning the Quran was a calculated prearranged act of extreme provocation borne out of mental imbalance to cause global chaos, there has been successive nay routine ‘burnings’ of the holy book particularly in Sweden and Denmark. It wasn’t a one-off thing.
The high point of it all was the burning of the Quran by Salwan Momika and his co-travellers outside the Turkish and Iraqi embassies in Stockholm on the day of Eid Al-Adha celebration June 28 2023.
Clearly, the so-called Salwan Momika, a Christian originally from Mosul Iraq who lives in Sweden as a refugee, did what he did for one simple reason; to provoke Muslims around the world, get them to go on rampage and destroy and burn everything on sight. To all intents and purposes, the lunatic Momika was trying to disturb the fragile world peace and instigate a global war whilst hiding under the cover of ‘freedom of expression. Alas! he didn’t achieve his condemnable aim. He did what he did but later hid his head in shame.
Clearly, Mr Momika the aggressor has no idea about Surat Al-Hijra 15:9 where Allah (SWT) promised to guard his revelation, his religion, and his true servants.
Allah (SWT) enjoined his servants to believe and keep on spreading the message. Continue to raise awareness about this beautiful deen Islam and never fear any backlash.
Surat Al-Hijr 15:9:
‘Indeed, it is We who sent down the Qur’an and indeed, We will be its guardian’
To this extent, no amount of burning of the glorious Quran, name-calling, media war, disparaging or any form of blackmail against Islam will ever succeed. Such condemnable acts are simply what they are ‘a sheer waste of time.
It is incomprehensible that the Swedish appeal court upturned the decision of the Swedish police to refuse a ‘permit’ for the burning of the holy Quran. Recall that Mr Momika and his gang have applied to the Swedish police for a permit to burn the holy Quran. The Swedish police refused it but the Swedish appeal court decided to overrule the police and grant the permit.
The Swedish appeal court gave the green light to Mr Momika and his co-burners of the holy Quran to go-ahead which according to the Swedish court, will not disturb the peace and is in line with freedom of speech.
Without doubt, freedom of speech comes with a responsibility. No one should be allowed to use the so-called ‘freedom of speech’ to infringe on the rights of other people and spread religious hatred.
Everyone deserves some respect and people should act with respect for others just as they expect others to treat them with respect.
The green light by the Swedish authorities is clearly a tacit approval to Mr Momika to go ahead and burn the holy Quran even though they know too well that such action has the potentials to up the ante on the current efforts by some misguided individuals and groups to destabilise peaceful coexistence around the world.
If the previous burnings of the holy Quran sparked a global outrage and led to the losses of lives and property across the globe, what made the Swedish appeal court think that burning the holy Quran on the day of Eid will not lead to violence in and/or outside Sweden? Although, there was no reaction or violence after Mr Momika’s action -only pockets of demonstrations that were largely nonviolent-(Thank Allah (SWT)), it is crystal clear that the ‘burners’ action could have triggered a wave of attacks and counter-attacks across the globe hence it is hypocritical for the Swedish authorities to think that the burning of the holy Quran on the day of Eid-Al Huda will not potentially lead to violence and possible losses of life. One would have thought that the Swedish appeal court should have upheld the decision of the Swedish police to stop Mr Momika from going ahead with his despicable action to burn the holy Quran. Alas, the Swedish court went ahead to grant the permit.
It is reassuring and commendable that the world, including the United Nations organisation (UNO) human rights council rose in unison to condemn the provocative burning of the holy Quran. In its session held in Pakistan on 12th July 2023 to take a stand on the routine burning of the Quran, the UN human rights council voted 28 for and 12 against with 7 abstentions to roundly condemn the burning of the holy Quran.
It is crucial that the world comes together to stop any further burning of the holy Quran even if to build a more secured global community free from religious hatred, incitement, discrimination and any attempts to instigate violence.
The world cannot stand aloof and watch misguided elements like Mr Momika promote a culture of recklessness and blackmail just to achieve a self-serving interest.
To burn the holy Quran and walk away as if nothing has happened tells you one thing ‘the world is becoming a place where anything goes’
The insatiable desire of a minority should not be allowed to outshine the collective aspirations of the majority to promote peaceful coexistence among all nations.
The United Nations universal declaration on human rights as proclaimed in Paris on 10 December 1948 (Geverai assembly 217 A) is clear, explicit and unambiguous in article 7 that:
‘All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination’
To this extent, any form of religious hatred is not in tandem with the world order and must be resisted by all nations and lovers of peace.
Mr Momika and his cotravellers should face their own business and allow people live their lives and practice their religion without any form of harassment.
To this end, all lovers of peace should resist and soundly condemn the Quran burning exercise or any form of denigration not only of Islam but all religions and faiths. Nations have a duty to enact the relevant laws to make it criminal for anyone to burn the Quran or the bible or any book of faith for that matter.
The best way to send a strong message and stop further burnings of the holy Quran is for the Swedish government to prosecute and convict Mr Momika and his cotravellers in a court of competent jurisdiction. This will send the right message to all wannabe burners of the holy Quran or the bible that there is a price to pay for disturbing the fragile global peace and tranquility.