The insults to Islam that are underway in Sweden are not a new issue and to find its roots, one should look at a trend that is engineering an environment of hatred in Western Europe, Masoud Shajareh told IQNA in an exclusive interview.
This engineering comes from the West’s need to have an enemy and to blame Muslims for the cause of problems so they have created an environment of hatred against Muslims in the West, he said.
The remarks come as Rasmus Paludan, the Danish leader of the far-right Stram Kurs (Hard Line) party, burned a copy of the Holy Quran in southern Linkoping in Sweden on Thursday, according to media reports.
The act of desecration has been vastly condemned by Muslim countries and groups that have also urged the Swedish government to prevent the occurrence of similar events in the future.
The Swedish police had not stopped the far-right rally under the pretext of the freedom of speech.
Asked whether freedom of speech can act as an excuse for insulting the sanctities of other religions, Shajareh noted that talking about the issue of freedom of speech in Western countries is useless. “If the same act is done against Jews and their sanctities are desecrated, we will see that these countries cannot accept it and the media will reflect that in a special manner
They seek to replace Islam with a European version of it and somehow Christianize Islam, added the activist.
They also aim to destroy the self-confidence of Muslims, he said, hoping that Muslims would stand against this trend by trusting in their own power.
Regarding the responsibilities of Muslims in the face of these challenges, Shajareh said, “First of all, we should not let discrimination and hatred against Muslims become a common issue.”
“A look into the history of World War II, the Bosnian war, or Myanmar shows that hatred always leads to violence and war. Therefore, we should stand against this trend, otherwise, we will have a hard task in the future.”
Currently, this trend of building hatred is at its climax and unfortunately, Islamic organizations have failed to adopt any effective measure, Shajareh said, adding that international organizations should also follow up on the issue because its negative effects will not be limited to Muslims.
source:iqna
