Muslim world denounces Quran burning in Sweden

BAGHDAD — Muslim nations on Thursday condemned a Quranburning protest in Sweden, warning such acts "inflame" the feelings of Muslims around the world, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warning that this would pose another obstacle to Sweden's bid for NATO membership.

Under heavy police presence on Wednesday, protester Salwan Momika stomped on the Quran before setting several pages alight in front of Stockholm's largest mosque.

Police in the Swedish capital had granted him a permit for the protest in line with free speech protections, but said later they had opened a probe into the man over "agitation".

The incident occurred as Muslims around the world began marking the Eid al-Adha holiday and as the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia was drawing to a close.

"We will eventually teach Western monuments of hubris that insulting Muslims' sacred values is not freedom of thought," Erdogan said.

Erdogan implied that Turkiye was not ready to lift its objections for Sweden to join NATO. "We will put forward our reaction in the strongest possible way until there is a concerted effort to combat the enemies of Islam as well as terrorist organizations," he said.

Iraq condemned the Swedish authorities' decision to grant an "extremist" permission to burn the Quran.

"These events inflame the feelings of Muslims around the world and represent a dangerous provocation for them," the Foreign Ministry in Baghdad said.

Iran joined in the condemnation, calling the burning "provocative, ill-considered and unacceptable".

Saudi Arabia, which hosted around 1.8 million Muslim pilgrims for the hajj that ended on Wednesday, also denounced the burning.

"These hateful and repeated acts cannot be accepted with any justification," the Foreign Ministry said.

Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, called the burning a "disgraceful act provoking the feelings of Muslims" as they mark Eid.

The Cairo-based Arab League branded it an "assault on the core of our Islamic faith".

Agencies - Xinhua