Al-Azhar condemns far-right terrorists’ burning the Muṣḥaf in Sweden

Al-Azhar calls for non-politicization of "freedom of expression" and for putting an end to the violation of Muslim sanctities

Al-Azhar Ash-Sharif firmly condemns and denounces the burning of the Muṣḥaf (copy of the Noble Qur’an) by a group of terrorists affiliated with the Swedish far-right, in a repeated incident that indicates the complicity of the Swedish authorities with these criminals. This, Al-Azhar maintains, is a repeated attempt to deliberately offend Islamic sanctities and provoke Muslims around the world.

Al-Azhar reaffirms that these criminal acts perpetrated by barbarians will not affect the sanctity of the Noble Qur’an in the heart of a civilized person. The Qur’an shall remain a sublime scripture that guides the entire humanity to the values of goodness, truth and beauty. So, its sanctity cannot be undermined by the grudges of misguided criminals, the acts of fanaticism, or the hateful misconduct of sick souls. Those persons have a black record in the history of fanaticism, hatred and religious wars.

Al-Azhar thus calls on the human community, international institutions and world leaders to stand up to these attempts to tamper with religious sanctities, to condemn these criminal acts, to put an end to the chaotic abuse of the “freedom of expression”, and to prevent the exploitation of such freedom in the politics and elections market. Such abuse of freedom is meant to provoke Muslims and disrespect their sanctities. Al-Azhar also calls for an urgent investigation about these frequent incidents that are no less dangerous than the consequences of terrorist attacks. It stresses that allowing these criminals to repeat these provocations under the slogan of "freedom of expression", even if tacitly, is a condemned collusion that impedes the efforts to promote peace, interfaith dialogue, and communication between East and West, and between the Islamic world and the Western world.