Stockholm mosque denounces desecration of Holy Quran

A mosque in Sweden’s capital, Stockholm, has condemned the desecration of the Holy Quran following a recent attack on its facility.

Images released by the Stockholm Central Mosque of the attack on December 2 show the desecrated holy scripture of Muslims chained up and hanging from an iron railing outside the mosque.

The mosque wrote on Facebook on December 6 that it frequently experiences such threats.

“Our mosque and our congregation receive threats very widely. Racists always make a new attempt to smear those who are not like themselves.” Tying a desecrated Qur'an and hanging it to the garden bars next to the mosque door is humiliating for Muslims, it said.

The mosque decided to share photographs and information “to attract the attention of both our congregation and the public and to prevent hate crime from being normalized.”

The imam and director of the mosque, Mahmoud Khalfi, said he “personally witnessed the Quran burning here in Stockholm” last December, “and I remember how hurtful it was.”

“The Quran is sacred in Islam; it is the word of God. Burning the Quran, therefore, becomes enormously hurtful for us Muslims,” he said. 

The mosque has been subject to Islamophobic attacks in the past.

The Quran has been under attack in Sweden. The burning of the holy book is a well-practiced stunt by Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan, the leader of the anti-immigration and anti-Islam group Hard Line.

MG