MUHAMMADIYAH.OR.ID, JAKARTA – The General Secretary of Muhammadiyah, Abdul Mu’ti condemned the burning of a copy of Al-Qur’an in Sweden by a Danish right-wing political figure, Rasmus Paludan. “The burning of the replica of Al-Qur’an by Rasmus Paludan was disgraceful showing a narrow-minded attitude and view and excessive hatred of Islam. He should not have been done it if he upheld values of pluralism and multiculturalism,” said Abdul Mu’ti on Monday (23/1).
Because of that, Mu’ti considered it natural that Muslims were angry over the incident. However, Mu’ti advised that the anger of Muslims should remain to show noble Islamic morals.
“Excessive expressions of anger and resistance will not solve the problem. It can create new problems and provoke similar methods for politic interests,” Mu’ti said.
Furthermore, Mu’ti said the burning was personal and didn’t represent any party or state. Nevertheless, the Indonesian government must summon the Swedish Ambassador to Indonesia. “The Indonesian government can request information from the Swedish ambassador in Indonesia regarding the burning of the replica of Al-Qur’an,” he said.
Through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Indonesian government has strongly condemned blasphemy that hurt and tarnished religious tolerance.
“Indonesia strongly condemns the burning of the holy Qur’an by Rasmus Paludan, a Swedish politician, in Stockholm (21/1),” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote on its official Twitter account on Sunday (22/1). Several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Kuwait condemned the incident.
Due to this terrible act, Turkey canceled the scheduled visit of the Minister of Defense of Sweden. President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan also warned Sweden against expecting his support to join NATO following this incident in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm.
“Those who allowed such blasphemy in front of our embassy (in Stockholm) may no longer expect our support for their NATO membership,” Erdogan said.
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