Kuwait announced this week that it will print thousands of copies of the Quran in Swedish to be distributed in the Nordic country, calling it an effort to educate the Swedish people on Islamic “values of coexistence.” The plan was announced after the desecration of a Quran during a one-man anti-Islam protest that Swedish police authorized in Stockholm last month.
Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said the Public Authority for Public Care would print and distribute 100,000 translated copies of the Muslim holy book in Sweden, to “affirm the tolerance of the Islamic religion and promote values of coexistence among all human beings,” according to the country’s state news agency Kuna.
On June 28, Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old Iraqi Christian who had sought asylum in Sweden on religious grounds, stood outside the Stockholm Central Mosque and threw a copy of the Quran into the air and burned some of its pages.
The stunt came on the first day of Eid-al-Adha, one of the most important festivals on the Islamic calendar, and it triggered anger among Muslims worldwide. Protests were held in many Muslim nations, including Iraq, where hundreds of angry demonstrators stormed the Swedish embassy compound.
CBS News sought comment from the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Kuwaiti government’s announcement, but did not receive a reply by the time of publication.
The U.S. State Department condemned the desecration of the Quran in Stockholm, but said Swedish authorities were right to authorize the small protest where it occurred.
“We believe that demonstration creates an environment of fear that will impact the ability of Muslims and members of other religious minority groups from freely exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief in Sweden,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said. “We also believe that issuing the permit for this demonstration supports freedom of expression and is not an endorsement of the demonstration’s actions.”
The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution Wednesday condemning the burning of the Quran as an act of religious hatred. The U.S. and a handful of European nations voted against the resolution, which was introduced by Pakistan on behalf of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), arguing that it contradicts their perspectives on human rights and freedom of expression.
I’m assuming you’re either western or liberal, both?
Aside from the fact that the prophet arguably isn’t worshipped because of his child abuse and it happend centuries ago (maybe you found instances of more recent child abuse), you don’t need to look far away from home to find violent and regressive people that act in the name of religion. I’m talking about misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, racism etc. I get it, maybe its too difficult and these problems can’t be solved. Still, its unnecessary to put your self on the high ground of moral righteusness. Muslim people have problems to solve, I’m sure you do too.
Seems like having the common sense to not support violence is considered liberal? And no, I’m in a muslim-majority country and tired of the hate some of my family supports because their religion tells them to.
I see you agree many people use muhammad and the quran and hadith as a way to to justify child abuse, which they do.
I suppose you wrote this assuming I’m western? But yes, alot of people I know do discriminate against people simply because islam tells them to. In my experience, islam tends to bring out the worse in people, even more so than most other major religions.
Odd way of putting it. The vast majority of ‘religious’ people have the common sense to not follow their violent religions to a T. The problem isn’t the people, it’s the religion. I’d hate if people disliked me when I was muslim just because I was one.
Barbaric religions like islam are fundamentally incompatible with modern society.