Iraqi Cleric Urges Going beyond Emotional Reactions to Quran Desecrations

BAGHDAD (IQNA) – A senior Iraqi cleric stressed that Muslims should go beyond showing emotional reactions to Quran desecrations in Europe.

In a video message sent to IQNA, Ayatollah Sheikh Muhammad Yaqubi, a Shia source of emulation and Friday prayer leader of the holy city of Najaf, said the Muslim Ummah needs to take decisive stances and adopt an unchanging and clear strategy in the face of sacrilegious acts.

He said shame and disgrace will be for those who insult the Holy Book and those who allow this to happen.

Such acts of sacrilege have shown the true face those who perpetrate them and those who support them with fake slogans such as freedom of expression and human rights, the cleric stated.

With such heinous acts, they are at war with Islam and human Fitrat (nature), he went on to say.

Ayatollah Yaqubi added that they have targeted the Quran because the Holy Book is the savior of humanity and makes people aware of their neglects and leads them to sublime causes.

Those who are behind Quran desecrations are foolish because they fail to realize that such actions will only cause the truthfulness of the Quran to become more clear and strengthen believers’ resolve to defend it, he said.

He further said that Muslim should strengthen their unity and put aside their difference in order to stand against acts of desecration.

They should also act upon the teachings and commandments of the Quran because those who stick to the teachings of the Holy Book will not go astray, he stated.

It is also upon Muslim scholars and preachers of mosques to highlight the teachings of the Quran and interpret the verses of the Holy Book, offering their lessons in their speeches and sermons, Ayatollah Yaqubi added.

Reciting the Quran, listening to Quran recitations, and holding Quranic programs such as recitation sessions are among other activities that should develop, the Iraqi cleric said.

In recent weeks, Quran desecrations in Sweden and Denmark with government permission and police protection have drawn widespread anger and condemnations from the Muslim world.

The Nordic countries allow the blasphemies to happen under the guise of the so-called freedom of speech despite wide condemnations from Muslim and non-Muslim states and even in the face of a UN Human Rights Council resolution adopted earlier this month.