BEIRUT (Dispatches) – The Lebanese resistance movement of Hezbollah has called on the world’s Muslim community and organizations to form the “biggest campaign” in condemnation of the recent desecration of Muslims’ holy book of Qur’an in Sweden.
In a statement on Tuesday, the movement denounced the act of sacrilege as a flagrant attack on Muslims’ faith, deliberate denigration of their religion, and a serious act of disrespect against the holy book, Lebanon’s al-Manar television network reported.
The act of blasphemy cannot be condoned, Hezbollah said, describing it as a continuation of previous extremist actions taken against Muslim sanctities, such as publication of insulting cartoons of the Prophet of Islam.
The statement came less than a week after Rasmus Paludan, the Danish leader of Sweden’s far-right Stram Kurs (Hard Line) party, burned a copy of the Qur’an in a heavily-populated Muslim area on Saturday.
Paludan, accompanied by police, went to an open public space in the southern Swedish city of Linkoping and reportedly placed the Muslim holy book down and tried to set it on fire while ignoring protests from onlookers.
The blasphemy has sent shockwaves across the world’s Muslim community, prompting condemnatory statements by various Muslim countries, such as Iran, Qatar, and Oman, as well s the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Hezbollah called on the Arab League, Muslim authorities, and Muslim political parties and factions to join the chorus of condemnation.
The movement also called on Sweden’s authorities to criminalize such acts of sacrilege, and take the necessary prohibitive measures that would prevent repetition of such extremist actions.