TEHRAN -- Millions of people in Iran and other countries took to the streets on Friday to voice their strong condemnation of the recent desecration of the Holy Qur’an, the second such incident in less than a month, in Sweden.
In Iran, mass rallies were held in major cities, a day after a man desecrated the Muslim holy book during a demonstration outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm amid strict protection provided by the Swedish police.
“Death to the Americanized Sweden! Death to Israel! Death to enemies of the supreme leader!” demonstrators in Tehran chanted.
“The Qur’an talks to humans all the time, and its voice will never be stopped,” protester Fatemeh Jafari said. “Until the end of the world, the Qur’an will stay there and will be usable. They can never destroy Qur’an! Even if they burn it, we will stand by it!”
The appalling act of sacrilege has opened the floodgates of protest across the world’s Muslim community, with the Iranian foreign ministry summoning the Swedish ambassador to Tehran and conveying the Islamic Republic’s vehement condemnation of the heinous act.
“The repeated desecration of the Holy Qur’an in Sweden, with the authorization of the country’s government has hurt the feelings of the Muslim world and followers of monotheistic religions,” Mohsen Mahmoudi, the deputy head of Islamic Development Coordination Council, told reporters on Thursday.
“The Islamic world must condemn this heinous act and confront this ignorant government with all its might.”
In a communiqué issued after Friday prayers in Tehran, the demonstrators called on the Iranian foreign ministry to reconsider diplomatic relations with Sweden.
The sacrilege comes as Western countries are “deeply worried about the increasing expansion of Islam and the shining of the divine words and their fear of the world’s inclination towards Islam,” it read.
Urging for unity among Muslim nations, the demonstrators asked all Muslim states to establish a “united front” in the face of “Westerners’ wicked actions.”
They also called on Muslim scholars to ask their governments to boycott the import of Swedish products.
People in Iraq, Pakistan and Lebanon also staged rallies to condemn the act of desecration.
On Thursday, demonstrators in Baghdad broke into the Swedish embassy and set part of it on fire to
show their anger at the sacrilegious act.
The Iraqi government also ordered the Swedish ambassador to leave and decided to withdraw its envoy from Stockholm for permitting the desecration of the Holy Qur’an.
For Muslims, any desecration of the Qur’an is abhorrent.
Under scorching heat Friday, thousands gathered in Baghdad, holding copies of the Holy Qur’an, burning the Swedish flag and chanting, “Yes, yes to the Qur’an, no, no to Israel.”
In the southern suburbs of Beirut, thousands more gathered at a protest, also carrying copies of the holy book and chanting “with our blood, we protect the Qur’an.” Some burned Swedish flags.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a video address Thursday night called on Muslims to demand their governments expel Sweden’s ambassadors.
The demonstrations come after Swedish police permitted a protest Thursday in which an Iraqi of Christian origin living in Stockholm — now a self-described atheist — threatened to burn a copy of the Qur’an. In the end, the man kicked and stood on the holy book outside of the Iraqi Embassy. He gave similar treatment to an Iraqi flag.
Leaders in several Muslim-majority countries condemned the desecration of the Qur’an and summoned diplomats from Sweden to express their outrage. Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian wrote a letter to the United Nations secretary-general, while Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called on the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation to play a “historic role in expressing the sentiments of Muslims and stopping this demonization.”
Thursday’s Qur’an desecration was the second. Last month, a man burned a copy of the Qur’an outside a Stockholm mosque during the major Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, triggering widespread condemnation in the Islamic world.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban suspended all the activities of Swedish organizations in the country in response to the recent desecration.
A similar protest by a far-right activist was held outside Turkey’s Embassy in Stockholm earlier this year, complicating Sweden’s efforts to persuade Turkey to let it join NATO.
In June, protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad over the desecration.
Worshippers gathering for Friday prayers at the Stockholm mosque outside which last month’s desecration took place held expressed frustration that Swedish authorities allowed such actions. Imam Mahmoud Khalfi told The Associated Press the situation made him feel “powerless.”
“You expect politicians and decision-makers and police to show understanding … and try to find a solution. But it hasn’t happened, unfortunately,” he said.
He noted that other countries, such as neighboring Finland, had found a way to combine freedom of speech with respect for religion. Unlike Sweden, Finland still has blasphemy laws.
“To let these extremists and criminals abuse the law and jeopardize peace in society and national security and Sweden’s reputation in the world, that is unsustainable,” he said. “We cannot understand why these lunatics are allowed to run wild.”