On July 21, 2023, several Muslim-majority nations expressed their outrage at the desecration of a copy of the Quran in Sweden. Some of them prepared for street demonstrations following midday prayers to show their anger.
The anger of the citizens in these Muslim nations, particularly Iraq, Iran and Lebanon, was ignited when an Iraqi Christian living in Stockholm kicked and stood on the Quran on July 20, 2023, outside the Iraqi embassy. Hours before that, furious and outraged demonstrations in Baghdad broke into the Swedish Embassy and lit a fire to show their anger at his threats to burn the book.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Shia-al-Sudani has ordered the expulsion of the Swedish Ambassador from Iraq and the withdrawal of the Iraqi charge d affairs from Sweden. But that may not be enough to cool down the rage of the protestors as another demonstration is underway and planned for the afternoon this very day.
In Iran, the protestors have taken to the streets, and the Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollah wrote a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General over the Quran burning and summoned the Swedish ambassador.
“We consider the Swedish government responsible for the outcome of provocation reactions from the world’s Muslims,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said. The person who committed the sacrilege in Sweden also wiped his feet with a picture of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the demonstrations, along with the picture of a political leader, Shiite cleric Muqtada-al Sadr who is a prominent figure in Iraqi politics.
The Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah also called for a demonstration in the afternoon of July 20, 2023. Khamenei and his theocracy serve as the main sponsors of Hezbollah. Its leader Hassan Nasrallah in a video address on the night of July 20, 2023, called on Muslims to demand their governments expel Swedish Ambassadors.
“I invite brothers and sisters in all the neighbourhood and villages to attend all mosques, carry the Quran and sit with them calling on the state to take a stance against Sweden,” Nasrallah said in his address, according to Lebanon State-run National News Agencies.
On Friday, “the whole world must see how we embrace our Quran and the whole world must see how we protect Quran with our blood,” Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the two most wealthy oil-producing cities in the Gulf, also summoned Swedish diplomats to condemn the desecration. Turkey and its Foreign Ministry heavily criticised it.
In Pakistan, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif strongly condemned the events in Sweden. He called on the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to play a historic role in expressing the sentiments of Muslims and stopping this demonisation. Meanwhile, the Islamists in his country have been pushing Sharif, who faces an upcoming election, to cut off diplomatic ties with Sweden.
On the morning of July 20, 2023, the two protestors in Baghdad occupied the Swedish Embassy for several hours and set a small fire The embassy staff had been evacuated a day earlier. After the protestors left the embassy, diplomats close to it to visitors without specifying when it would reopen.
The Iraqi Prime Minister Shia-al-Sudani said in a statement that the authorities would prosecute those responsible for starting the fire and referred to an investigation of” negligent security officials.” Some protestors stayed at the site, ignored by the police after the attack. An Associated Press photographer and two Reuters staff members were arrested while covering the protest and were released hours later.
This is the third Quran desecration to involve the Iraqi Christian in Sweden, identified as Salwan Momika. He burnt the Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm on the religious day of Eid-Al-Adha, triggering widespread condemnation in the Islamic World.
The Right to hold public demonstrations is protected by the constitution of Sweden. Blasphemy laws were abandoned in the 1970s. Police generally give permission based on whether they believe a public gathering can be held without major disruptions or safety risks.
The burning of the Quran represents a desecration and an act of sacrilege of their religious and holy text. Quran burnings in the past have sparked protests across the Muslim World, some turning violent. In Afghanistan, the Taliban suspended all the activities of Swedish organisations in the country in response to Quran Burning.
A similar protest was led by a Swedish radical political figure named Rasmus Paludan, who was involved in the burning of a copy of the Quran in Stockholm in January 2023. This led to a complication in Swedish efforts to persuade Turkey to join NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation). In June 2023, protesters who support al-Sadr stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad over the Quran burning.
