Riyadh: The custodian of the two holy mosques King Salman on Sunday approved the distribution of one million copies of the holy Quran abroad during the month of Ramzan 1444/2023, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The copies will include different size versions of the holy Quran and translations in more than 76 languages. it will be distributed in 22 countries.
Preparations have begun to ship the copies to ensure that they arrive on time for Ramzan.
The leader of the Danish far-right Hard Line party, Rasmus Paludan, on Friday burned a copy of the Holy Quran in front of a mosque and Turkish embassy in the Denmark capital, Copenhagen, under police protection.
Paludan, who also holds Swedish citizenship, burned the copy of Quran in front of a mosque belonging to the “Islamic Community Association” after the end of Friday prayers in the Dorthevig neighborhood, for the second time in a week.
🔴 SON DAKİKA: Rasmus Paludan, Danimarka’da cuma namazı vakti bir caminin karşısında polis eşliğinde Kur’an yaktı. Cami hoparlöründen Paludan’a karşılık olarak tekbir getirildi. pic.twitter.com/V3yPJkgeRX
As per a report by Anadolu Agency, Paludan tried to provoke the Muslims leaving the “Friday prayer” by insulting the Prophet Muhammad, but the worshippers acted calmly and moved away from the place.
The police took strict security measures in the vicinity of the mosque, and closed the street to traffic.
Those in charge of the mosque raised the takbeers with loudspeakers.
Paludan left the area, escorted by the police, after staying there for about 40 minutes.
Shortly after he burned the copy of Quran in front of a mosque, Paludan burned a copy of the Holy Quran again in front of the Turkish embassy in Copenhagen, for the third time in a week.
🔴 SON DAKİKA: Rasmus Paludan, cami önündeki saldırıdan sonra Danimarka’nın Türkiye Büyükelçiliği önünde de Kur’an yakma girişiminde bulundu. Elçilik binası Mehter marşı ile karşılık verdi. pic.twitter.com/cSVA7Xwg5L
On Thursday, Paludan on Instagram announced that he would burn a copy of the Holy Quran in front of a mosque in Denmark and near the Turkish and Russian embassies, and that the authorities allowed him to do so.
Ankara condemns
The Turkish Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the Danish authorities’ permission to burn a copy of the Holy Quran in front of the Turkish embassy and opposite a mosque in Copenhagen, under police protection.
“We condemn in the strongest terms allowing the hate crime committed against our holy book, the Holy Quran, to be repeated in Sweden again today in the Danish city of Copenhagen by the same anti-Islam charlatan,” the ministry said in a statement.
It pointed out that the failure to prevent this “despicable act” that was committed in Denmark this time after Sweden and the Netherlands, despite all Turkey’s warnings, is cause for concern in terms of “exposing the dangerous dimensions that religious intolerance and hatred have reached in Europe by exploiting the so-called atmosphere of freedom.”
Heinous attacks on our religion Islam & our Holy Book Quran can never cast a shadow on their sanctity. These hate crimes degrade those who commit or allow them.
Seeds of hatred you sow will eventually poison your societies.
On Saturday, January 21, Paludan burned a Quran near the Turkish embassy in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, under strict police protection, which prevented anyone from approaching him while he was committing this act.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Sweden could no longer count on Turkey’s “support” in its NATO membership file.
Paludan, a lawyer, founded far-right parties in Sweden and Denmark that failed to win any seats in national, regional or municipal elections. In the parliamentary elections, which took place last year in Sweden, his party got only 156 votes nationwide.
On a large scale, this abuse caused an uproar in the Arab world, and Turkey considered it a “provocative act” of “hate crimes,” and canceled a visit by Swedish Defense Minister Pal Johnson to Ankara.
This was followed by a similar incident when Dutch politician Edwin Wagensfeld, head of the far-right PEGIDA party, tore pages from a Bible before setting it on fire.
