IN a significant development, Denmark’s Parliament on Thursday adopted a law criminalizing the “inappropriate treatment” of religious texts, effectively banning desecration of the Holy Quran after a series of desecrations of the holy book sparked anger in Muslim countries across the world. The bill, which prohibits “inappropriate treatment of writings with significant religious importance for a recognised religious community”, was passed with 94 votes in favour and 77 opposed in the 179-seat Folketing. In practical terms, it will be forbidden to burn, tear or otherwise defile holy texts publicly or in videos intended to be disseminated widely.
Denmark and neighbouring Sweden became the focus of anger across the Muslim world after several incidents involving desecrations of the Holy Quran and inability of these countries to check them despite the fact that these injured feelings of about two billion Muslims. In fact, there were reasons to believe that the state apparatus shielded those who indulged in sacrilegious acts, sparking demands in the Muslim countries to sever diplomatic ties with these countries and boycott their products. Unfortunately, all this was allowed to happen on the pretext of freedom of expression, forgetting that others too have rights which must be protected by all governments in the civilized world. That all this was part of the deliberate anti-Islam and anti-Muslim moves became evident from the fact that from July 21 to October 24, 483 book burnings or flag burnings were recorded in Denmark besides sacrilegious and extremist acts of the past when caricatures of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) were published repeatedly in the country. In this backdrop, Denmark has done well in making a beginning towards a peaceful co-existence and discouraging trends that threaten a clash of civilizations. We hope other countries, especially Sweden, Norway and Holland, would also follow suit and take effective legal and administrative measures to check against tendencies that represent another face of extremism and terrorism.
