The clashes between Muslim youths and the police that broke out in the Swedish city of Malmö after copies of the Koran were burned by Islamophobes became one of the world’s news stories last weekend. The news is that Rasmus Paludan, the leader of the Danish «Hard Line» party, decided to come to the Swedish city of Malmö, which is separated from Denmark by a bridge, to participate in the Quran burning (copies) demonstration. Knowing the purpose of his visit, the Swedish authorities banned him from entering the country, turning him away at the border and depriving him of the right to enter the country for two years. However, this did not stop the provocation — Paludan’s supporters in Sweden carried out the action and caught it on camera, even near a mosque. In response, local Muslim youths began attacking police officers, setting tires on fire in the streets, and throwing various objects at police cars. Why the police? Because the blasphemous act took place under the protection of the police, who did nothing to stop it. Therefore, the youth decided to express their grievances in this way to the law enforcement officers who were unable or unwilling to protect them.
It should be noted that although some media outlets attempted to portray what happened as some kind of riot, there was nothing comparable to the actual riots in the United States, where not only police stations are destroyed, but the property of innocent people is also destroyed due to the use of police force against black people. At most, a few garbage cans and a few bus stops were damaged in the area of the clashes — the latter of which, of course, should not have been targeted in order not to give Muslims the reputation of being rioters.
Furthermore, it is worth noting that many local imams immediately condemned these riots and called on the youths to stop, explaining to them that this is exactly what anti-Islamic provocateurs are trying to achieve. In particular, a well-known local imam named Samir Murić went to the scene of the events to calm down the youth when he heard what was happening.
What can be said here? It is clear that any official imam or representative of an official center can publicly call for action within the framework of the law, because otherwise he himself or even his mosque, Islamic center, etc. will quickly lose the ability to act.
On the other hand, civil society is a unique organism, and when a problem arises within it, certain organs can react to it independently, regardless of the thoughts that come to their brains. In this case, clearly destructive forces wanted to provoke such a reaction, and they achieved it. But could it have been avoided? If the organism is constantly exposed to electric shocks, no amount of persuasion that it should not react convulsively to such shocks will prevent it from doing so — this is true of a living organism, which, praise be to Allah, is the Islamic Ummah. So perhaps it is right not to allow the organism to be shocked, instead of demanding that it not react to such shocks?
Talks about the public burning of the Quran (copies) as one of the rights and freedoms of Western society that Muslims living in it should accept also do not stand up to criticism. There are many taboos in the West, and public violations of them are not considered an expression of freedom of speech, but a crime — from denying or justifying the Holocaust to insulting the symbols of certain social groups.
Moreover, in some cases, such «insults» may be accidental, as was recently the case in Canada, where drivers drove through a rainbow-colored pedestrian crossing, apparently unaware that it symbolized solidarity with the so-called LGBT community. And what can we say if someone today organized a public burning of LGBT symbols in Western countries? What would await such a politician or public figure?
Meanwhile, no matter how we feel about the LGBT community itself, we have to understand that they did not achieve such an attitude towards their symbols immediately and easily. The same is true of other groups — relatively recently, African Americans were subjected to official racial discrimination, women did not have the right to vote, and so on. In order to achieve their current status, their representatives had to fight for their rights, sometimes in the streets.
Therefore, on the one hand, the Imams are right to call for peace and prudence — nothing else should be expected from them. On the other hand, if the body of the Ummah stops reacting impulsively to such electric shocks, which are undoubtedly acts of blasphemy against its sanctities, it will only indicate one thing — it is no longer a living organism, but a corpse.
In this case, both Muslims living in a society based on liberal values and that society itself must develop written or unwritten rules that cannot be crossed. There is a difference between freedom of speech and criticism, including harsh criticism, and explicit insults, which are considered unlawful in any society. If Muslims are asked not to be disrespectful to certain groups whose existence contradicts the principles of Islam but is allowed and protected in that society, Muslims should strive for the same attitude toward their religion.
«Do not insult those who invoke others than Allah, lest they insult Allah in enmity without knowledge. Thus have We made their deeds pleasing to every community. Then will they return to their Lord, and He will inform them of what they used to do» (Quran 6:108).
— The Qur’an itself is the eternal Word of God, unlike its written compilations — the mus’hafs.