TEHRAN- There is a sinister motive behind the burning of the Quran in Sweden.Another blasphemous event in Europe, burning pages of the Quran, this time in the Swedish capital in front of a mosque on the day of Eid al-Adha when many Muslims had congregated is a clear sign of provocation.And in another clear sign of the hurt this has caused to the Islamic world, Iraqs highest religious authority, Ayatollah Sayyad Ali al-Sistani, who refrains from issues concerning international affairs, published a rare statement of condemnation.Swedish authorities allowed the fascist individual to carry out the sacrilegious act under the guise of freedom of speech under police protection.This is not the first time such a blasphemous act has taken place in Sweden or Europe.The double standards of the West and the hypocrisy towards Islamic sanctities is quite abhorrent.If anyone in the West, no matter what his title or rank is, dares to criticize Israel they are quickly branded as anti-Semitic and they are either silenced or their position of power is taken away from them.The reality is that different Western establishments want their public to view Islam as some form of a threat and they are using far right individuals and groups to carry out that mission.This is while Islam is among the most peaceful faiths in the world with a record rise in the number of people converting to the religion, but Western media, which plays a major role in attempts to demonize Islam is part of this Western mission to demonize the religion.This gives different governments the power to allow their population to live under a climate of fear, a tactic that has been used in different ways against Islam for many decades.Living in a public climate of fear from a so-called fictional threat allows governments to have greater control over their people.Everyone around the world understands that freedom of speech has its limitations, especially when it comes to hurting the feelings of two billion Muslims.
These limitations are practiced nationally and internationally with the apparent exception of Islam and its sanctities.What is actually happening in the West is the promotion of hatred towards Muslims.
This does not fall under the Wests slogan of freedom of speech.If you abuse people based on their race, you will be branded as racist; or if you abuse people on the basis of their gender, it is will be considered a criminal offense and you are not protected under the concept of the Wests freedom of speech.The West is deliberately trying to abuse Muslims under different pretexts.
It is only Muslims that are being targeted in various Islamophobic ways which, naturally, is something unacceptable to the two billion Muslims worldwide.In France, for example, Muslims girls have been prohibited from wearing the hijab, something that is sacred in Islam, at schools.
In 2004, France banned the wearing of hijab in state schools, preventing Muslims women from wearing their headscarf.
Other states have prevented Muslim women from wearing the hijab at places of work as well.Quite a while back, when Muslims were burning Salman Rushdies book The Satanic Verses, which wasnt a holy book but a novel, everyone in the West censured this as an abuse of freedom of speech.Burning the holy Quran in the West, with the support and protection of different governments who give the greenlight under the slogan of freedom of speech is hypocrisy at the highest level.Burning the Quran, Islams holiest book, in Stockholm outside a mosque and elsewhere, along with other blasphemous acts in the West, clearly has other motives.The West knows that Muslims take their religion seriously; it is something very sacred and the West has taken advantage of that fact.
This is why Islam is being targeted.In a larger context, thats not to say Western governments have not tried the same tactics with other religions such as Christianity.
But the reaction of Christians has not been satisfactory enough.
They are being used as a tactic to promote hatred of a section of society.
The chants by far-right groups during marches in city centers across the West against the Prophet Mohammed fits into this pattern.The Israeli lobby in the West plays a major role by influencing governments to allow the blasphemy to go ahead unpunished.A small radical group in the West wants to promote conflict against Muslims and go around designing measures that are provocative and can lead to violence outside the West.To allow that to take place is criminal in any state, but to promote it and protect it is not just outrageous and uncivilized but also dangerous.
Any Western government allowing these fascist measures to take place are complicit in the consequences of their actions.Before Daesh and other terror groups came into existence, Western media gave extensive airtime to extremist elements in the West to give rise to the far right and a section of young residents living in the West, who were also brainwashed and went on to join the ranks of Daesh.Not in Europe.
Terror groups emerged in West Asia and brought bloodshed there.The other danger is that any authority allowing the promotion of hatred towards a minority group living in the West warrants no justification but is sleepwalking into a fascist society and a fascist ideology.The so-called liberal European countries who are trying to justify fascism under the banner of liberalism and freedom of speech have to be challenged against, because it is simply outrageous and spreads fear towards Muslims in Europe and elsewhere.Many Muslim girls and women wearing the hijab in Europe have been the target of physical assault.
Images on social media show some having their head scarves being ripped off.The latest act has backfired on Sweden, with Muslim groups calling for the boycott of Swedish goods, while the Organization of Islamic Cooperation is set to hold a meeting next week to discuss potential retaliatory measures.Street rallies have been held across various countries in West Asia against Sweden and condemnations have been pouring in similar to how the same action and reaction was taken against the Netherlands not so long ago.But dont expect the West to stop abusing Islamic sanctities in the future in order to serve their different sinister agendas.