On 21 January 2023, the far-right Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan set fire to a copy of the Quran in front of Turkey’s embassy in Stockholm. While Paludan considers his deed an act of ‘free speech’, Muslims worldwide condemn it and consider what happened in Stockholm a hate crime.
It is well known that Islamophobia has increased since 9/11. The attack on the world’s superpower made many people see Muslim populations as a threat to the West. The effects of 9/11 spread beyond the US, with Islamophobic verbal and physical abuse soaring in Europe, where many fear a transformation into ‘Eurabia’. Paludan is one of these extremists who exaggerates the threat of Islamisation and ‘Eurabisation’. He considers himself an ethno-nationalist who rejects Islam’s presence in Europe. He has previously said that ‘the enemy is Islam and Muslims. The best thing would be if there were not a single Muslim left on this earth. Then, we would have reached our final goal’. This anti-Muslim rhetoric is used to justify such hateful crimes as setting Muslims’ holy book on fire with a lighter.
The High Representative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations has condemned the burning of the Quran as a ‘vile act’. The High Representative emphasises the importance of freedom of expression as a fundamental human right; however, he stresses that burning the Muslim holy book should not be conflated with freedom of speech because this insulting act amounts to an expression of hatred towards Muslims. Along the same lines, Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, ‘It’s a racist action. It is not about freedom of expression’. People protested in Turkey and Bangladesh in order to decry the incident. Muslim-majority countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Pakistan, Somalia and Jordan have also denounced it.
Read the article by Jyhene Kebsi in Arena.