The burning of a copy of the Quran in front of a mosque in Stockholm, Sweden, on Wednesday has drawn condemnation from many Arab nations.
In a statement released late on Wednesday, the Saudi Foreign Ministry condemned the incident and said that “these hateful and repeated acts cannot be accepted with any justification, and they clearly incite hatred, exclusion, and racism.”
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry added that “burning the Holy Quran is an act of dangerous hate, a manifestation of Islamophobia that incites violence and insults religions, and it cannot be considered at all as a form of freedom of expression.”
According to the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, “the attack on the Holy Quran by a hateful extremist is an expression of hatred and racism as well as a flagrant attack on the values of tolerance, acceptance of the other, democracy, and peaceful coexistence among followers of all religions.”
Furthermore, according to a statement from the Arab Parliament, the incident was “an act of incitement that would inflame the feelings of Muslims around the world,” and it condemned the Swedish government for continuing to engage in such “provocations.”
Salwan Momika was seen on Wednesday burning a copy of the Quran in front of the Stockholm Mosque while being guarded by police.
A lower court’s decision to remove the ban on Quran burning was maintained by a Swedish appeals court on June 12. The court determined that police had no justification for intervening in the two Quran burning protests earlier this year.