Europe is witnessing the all too predictable expressions of outrage and appeasement in the aftermath of Qur’an burnings in Sweden and Denmark, but astonishingly enough, new voices are emerging. Prominent Islamists in the West are telling their followers not to give Qur’an burners in Scandinavia what they want: proof that Muslims cannot live peaceably with non-Muslims and abide by the Western principle of free speech.
They will not stop,
Jafar Hawa on Qur’an Burnings
“We know the response they want,” said Sheik Younus Kathrada during a July 9, 2023 sermon at Muslim Youth Victoria in British Columbia. “Don’t give into them! They want us to look like fools parading in the streets, demonstrations, blah, blah, blah, and nothing happens.”
The recent round of blasphemy bullying began on June 29, 2023, the day after an Iraqi immigrant burned Qur’ans outside of a mosque in Stockholm, Sweden and two protesters did the same thing in front of the Turkish embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark. A resolution condemning the Qur’an burning as “a violation of international human rights law” was passed by the United Nations Human Rights Council on July 7, 2023, all served to incite protests in Middle East, South Asia, Europe and North America.
The leaders of Stockholm Mosque, where one of the burnings took place, equated the act of protest by a few activists with government-led book burnings led by the Nazis in Germany prior to World War II and the burning of Jewish texts in Catholic-ruled countries in the Middle Ages. “Islamophobia in society is being normalised to a greater extent and every day the religious freedom for Swedish Muslims is shrinking,” the mosque declared in a June 29 statement published by the UK Islamist publication 5Pillars.
Sheikh Kathrada in British Columbia took a different approach. Declaring that Qur’an burnings are a terrible insult to Muslims, their faith and the God they worship, he said that responding with violent protests and angry rallies does nothing to stop them. Moreover, the real insult to God, he argued is the failure of Muslims in his community to memorize the Qur’an and adhere to its teachings.
“In reality, what we should be doing is demonstrating against you,” he said. “We should be holding rallies against you. Later he stated, “We should be protesting against ourselves.” Outside observers should not think that Kathrada, a well-known Islamist who has declared non-Muslims as the enemies of the umma, has gone completely soft in his contempt for the kaffirs. In his July 9 sermon, he condemned his congregants who do not pay zakat, justifying their decision with the “flimsy excuse” that they already pay taxes to the government.
“You’re an enemy of Allah! You pay taxes to a kafir [infidel] government but you don’t care about the law!” he said.
A similar response was offered by Jordanian-born Jafar Hawa who preaches at the Prayer Center of Orland Park in Illinois. Hawa declared that protests against Qur’an burnings will not stop the outrages against Islam.
“They will not stop,” Hawa said. “They do it all the time. They do it from the time of the prophet and they will continue doing it until the day of judgement…. If they are protected by the law, our Qur’an is protected by Allah.” The best way to respond to these protests, he said, was for Muslims to intensify their religious practices. Before condemning Qur’an burners, Muslims should condemn themselves when they do not read the Qur’an and follow its teachings, he said.
“You are a Muslim — act like a Muslim!” he said. “Open this book and get your guidance from this book!” he said.
Mohammed Hijab, a UK-based Islamist with close ties to Andrew Tate, went so far as to welcome the attacks on Islam’s holy book in a YouTube video posted on July 5, 2023. Qur’an burners, Hijab said, are “mascots” or “prostitutes” who can be used like tools to incite donations for the construction of a mosque in Norway. Qur’an burnings can be used to improve the “fundraising experience” for affected Muslims, he said.
“You as the Muslim person and me as a Muslim person now have the have the ability to click the link below and donate to the biggest dawa Center in all of Scandinavia!” he said.
It’s an improvement over the incitement directed at Salman Rushdie and his translators during the controversy over the Satanic Verses in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Maybe, just maybe, the imams of perpetual outrage are starting to worry that their followers are getting tired of rioting and protesting every time someone draws a picture of Mohammad or burns a Qur’an.
The upshot is that if Sweden and Denmark — and the rest of the West — can hold the line on free speech, the blasphemy bullies will change tactics. Instead of using Qur’an burnings to incite violence, they will use such events to raise money.
Dexter Van Zile is managing editor of Focus on Western Islamism.