Religious texts carry civilization in their pages. Books are the voices of history, the beauty of arts and literature, and the stories of human society
Hate-filled Enemies of Human Civilization Burn Religious Books
By Dr Aslam Abdullah
CA
If anyone thinks that by burning the Qur’an, they will destroy Islam and diminish divine power, they are wrong. They want to provoke Muslims and show hatred for a faith they do not understand or know. They are perverted sadists who are unaware of the beauty of their religion and who, through hatred and bigotry, try to prove their supremacy. They are the enemies of human civilization.
Anti-Islam activists in Sweden desecrated the Qur’an first on the day of Eid ul Adha and did the same a few weeks later outside the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm. A Danish activist engaged in the evil act early this year outside the Turkish Embassy. The Swedish police authorized the Qur’an burning.
The reaction of Muslims worldwide was swift. Afghanistan closed all Swedish-run offices. Others recalled their diplomatic staff, and the people of Iraq attacked the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad. Muslims in Sweden came out in the streets holding a copy of the Qur’an in their hands and recited its verses in Arabic to express their love and commitment to the Qur’an.
While Communists organize the desecration of religious books as part of their state policies, others often commit acts during their attacks on Muslim homes and mosques, expressing their hatred against Islam.
Liberal activists indulge in this act to uphold their so-called commitment to freedom of expression. Regardless, the act provokes Muslims and often produces violent retaliation, promoting anti-Islam sentiments worldwide. It is a cycle that repeats itself regularly to cause restlessness among Muslims and promote anti-Islamic activism.
These incidents have become common in Europe and North America. Countries in these regions do not have blasphemy laws. They once had blasphemy laws punishable by death but abolished them. Authorities argue that burning religious books is not a crime but part of freedom of expression, a liberal position adopted even by far right and conservative groups when it involves the Qur’an.
They refuse to consider the burning of religious text as hate speech. Hate has been behind the burning of holy books throughout human history. Individuals, groups, and countries did not destroy religious books to show their love for their textbooks. Instead, they show their profound hatred against people they disapprove of by torching their holy texts.
The burning of books often follows the burning of humans. In 213 BC, Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang ordered a bonfire of books to wipe out other schools of thought. He targeted books of poetry, philosophy, and history. Rulers of Rome ordered books to prevent disorder and the spread of foreign customs. The Catholic Church killed philosophers like Giordano Bruno and Jan Hus for writing books challenging the official doctrine. During the Spanish Inquisition, the authorities organized campaigns to burn and desecrate Jewish and Muslim scriptures.
The most infamous book burnings in recent memory were by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, who regularly employed language framing themselves as the victims of Jews, an argument promoted by all Qur’an-burning groups and individuals.
John Milton, author of Paradise Lost , in his 1644 book Areopagitica wrote: "Who kills a man kills a reasonable creature… but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself—." But Milton was unable to visualize the modern technology that can preserve every idea and every book. He also was unaware that millions of Muslims memorize the Qur’an and keep the text in their hearts.
Religious texts carry civilization in their pages. Books are the voices of history, the beauty of arts and literature, and the stories of human society.
Technology has immortalized books. When some groups burn books, they know that books are there to exist. But they show their hatred and bigotry against those whose books they burn. Muslims must realize that they will always face people with deep rooted hatred against them, their faith, and their books. Their response should emerge from divine guidance in the Qur’an.
Al-Hijr (The Rocky Tract) 15:97-99
And well do We know that you feel hurt by the [sinful] things that they say: but you should extol your Lord's limitless glory and praise Him, and be of those who prostrate themselves [before Him] in adoration.
Topics discussed in this verse: and worship thy Sustainer till your last breath.
An-Nahl (The Bee) 16:127
Endure, then, with patience (all that they who deny the truth may say] - always remembering that it is none but God who gives you the strength to endure adversity - and do not grieve over them, and neither be distressed by the false arguments they devise.
(Dr Aslam Abdullah is a resident scholar at Islamicity.org and editor-in-chief of the Muslim Observer newspaper. He is also the Indian Islamic Heritage Project director of the American Federation of Muslims of Indian origin and the interim President of the World Council of Muslims for Interfaith Relations, WCMIR.)
