Calls grow for boycott of Swedish products and companies in the Muslim world after the burning of the Koran

July 2 (EUROPA PRESS) –

In recent hours, calls for a boycott of Swedish products and companies have multiplied in the Muslim world such as Morocco, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Oman or Yemen in retaliation for the burning of a copy of the Koran last Wednesday.

Al Azhar University, the world’s most prestigious center for Sunni Islamic studies, launched a new appeal to the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims to boycott Swedish products.

“Al Azhar asks all centers and organizations with powers to issue fatwas to issue one forcing the boycott of Swedish products in support of the Noble Quran,” said the Cairo University of Islamic Studies.

It also calls on “the governments of Muslim and Arab countries to adopt serious and united positions in the face of these unacceptable attacks,” he added.

Morocco has summoned the Swedish charge d’affaires in Rabat to ask for explanations for the burning of the Muslim holy book. “The Swedish government has once again authorized a demonstration on this day in which a copy of the Holy Quran has been burned in front of a mosque in Stockholm,” the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday.

“It is a new irresponsible and hostile act that disregards the feelings of more than 1 billion Muslims at this holy time of Hajj season and Eid al Adha,” he said.

Al Azhar later praised Rabat’s position. “Al Azhar encourages you to take these honorable stances and calls on Islamic and Arab countries to take similar positive stances to express their rejection of these repeated violations and continuous provocations of the Muslim masses around the world,” he noted.

The university has also expressed its gratitude to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who carried a copy of the Koran, highlighted the sanctity of the Muslim book and expressed his respect for Islam.

The Al Azhar Council of Muslim Notables, led by Al Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed al Tayeb, has similarly condemned the burning of the Koran and expressed its “categorical rejection of such criminal acts that manifest abhorrent hatred and unacceptable racism.” .

On social networks, posters calling for a boycott with the names and logos of companies have proliferated in response to the “repeated Swedish provocations”. “I am Moroccan. I boycott before the permission of the Swedish Government to the burning and sacrilege of the Koran in front of a mosque in Stockholm,” reads another image.

A member of the Moroccan Ulema Council, Mustafa Benhamza, has asked Moroccans to “comply with the decision taken by the Commander of the Faithful, His Majesty the King” Mohamed VI. “Let no one be late or retract this honorable position adopted by the Commander of the Faithful,” he appealed.

In Pakistan, the hashtag #BoycotSweden has reached number one in the country’s trends after an appeal led by the extra-parliamentary Istehkam e Pakistan Party (IPP), through its leader, Abdul Alim Jan.

“The desecration of the Holy Quran on the day of Eid with the permission of the Swedish government is tremendously heartbreaking, reprehensible and shameful. Hurting the feelings of more than 2 billion Muslims by disguising it as freedom of expression is proof of the sick thinking of Western leaders The objective of these events is to provoke the anger of the Muslims,” ​​he stressed.

The Pakistani Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has expressed his regret for the “vile, despicable and atrocious” act “contrary to International Law.” “I have no words to adequately condemn this anti-Islamic act that is intended to hurt the feelings of Muslims around the world. The Holy Quran is a Divine Book of love, peace and wisdom for all mankind. The deviant character of the one who has tolerated this act reprehensible is an insult to the values ​​of humanity,” he said.

Several Kuwaiti political parties have also condemned the Swedish government for tolerating this burning “spurred by racism and ignorance” and have called on Western governments to respect the Mohammedan religion and its practitioners and avoid provoking them.

From Yemen, the Social Nationalist Party has criticized the “extremists” who have burned the Koran with the “permission” of the authorities in a “racist” gesture that “feeds hatred and harms those who defend coexistence and global peace “and has joined the call for a boycott of Swedish products.

In Oman, it has been the Grand Mufti of Oman, Sheikh Ahmed bin Hamad al Jalili, who has called for a boycott of Swedish products and has cited media outlets that speak of “Muslim children separated from their families.” “The minimum is to completely boycott (Sweden) and not buy any of its products” and the annulment of all business between Sweden and Muslims “be it the government, an institution or an individual.”

Previously, the assault on the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, by a crowd called by a religious had been reported.