Collective Measures by Muslim Countries Needed to Counter Quran Desecration: Expert

TEHRAN (IQNA) – Muslim countries’ governments ought to take collective and unanimous measures to force European governments to change their stance regarding the desecration of the Quran, an international affairs expert said.

Hassan Hanizadeh told IQNA in an interview that the repetition of acts of sacrilege targeting Islam’s Holy Book shows there is planning and organization behind such incidents.

He added that the Zionists play a role behind the scene in these Islamophobic events.

The Zionists have extensive influence in Europe and America and the Jewish lobby is especially powerful in Scandinavian countries, the expert added.

The Zionist lobby has in recent years made extensive attempts aimed at spreading Islamophobia and provoking confrontation between Muslims and Christians in European countries, he stated.

Their ultimate goal is to spread cynicism and foment racist and violent behavior targeting Muslims in those countries so as to force them out of Europe, he added.

It was with this goal that defiling Islamic sanctities began in the West years ago and now the repetition of Quran burnings in Scandinavian countries indicates their attempts to cause violent reactions from Muslims and set the ground for serious confrontation with Muslims in Europe, according to the expert.

As for the Muslim world’s reaction to Quran burnings in Sweden and Denmark, Hanizadeh said the reaction from people in the Muslim world was extensive but at the level of governments, it was not that effective, he said.

It seems that the only effective measures taken was holding an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at the initiative of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hanizadeh added.

In order to change European governments’ stance on Quran desecrations, Muslim governments should act unanimously and within the framework of an alliance, he said.

Expelling the ambassadors of Sweden and Denmark and boycotting the two countries products can be among the collective reactions of the Muslim world, he went on to say.

In recent weeks, Quran desecrations in Sweden and Denmark with government permission and police protection have drawn widespread anger and condemnations from the Muslim world.

The Nordic countries allow the blasphemies to happen under the guise of the so-called freedom of speech despite wide condemnations from Muslim and non-Muslim states and even in the face of a UN Human Rights Council resolution adopted last month.

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