In Sweden. You can burn this book,
but don't you dare touch the Torah.
A 34 year old man has just been prevented
by Swedish authorities
from burning the Torah in Stockholm, Sweden,
outside the Israeli embassy.
Now, the man in question has made it very clear
that he's not in favor of burning any scripture,
and he's only proposing to burn the book to spark a debate.
Now, although his intended plans will not be going ahead
after the Swedish government
and the Jewish community stepped in.
The entire situation has left us scratching our heads.
I mean, it was just last week
where Sweden gave full authority
for Rasmus Paladin to burn the Quran
outside the Turkish embassy
in the very same city,
all under police protection,
government approval,
and, of course, a gigantic sum of taxpayer money
funding the entire fiasco.
In fact, we even witnessed the Swedish
prime minister and foreign minister
come out publicly
to defend the depraved act,
saying that although they're not supportive
of what took place,
it was still freedom of expression.
What is going on?
What exactly is this freedom of expression
that you talk of?
Because anyone with a basic level of intellect.
The only thing we're noticing is freedom of hypocrisy.
Well, we have one rule for anti-Muslim speech
and another rule for everyone else.
Now, let me be clear.
Burning any Holy book or Scripture
is totally and utterly unacceptable.
The Torah is a book that Muslims
have utmost respect for,
a book that God describes in the Quran
as being one that was sent down
in its original form with guidance and light.
It's a depraved act to burn any religious scripture.
But why the double standards?
The truth is that freedom of expression
is nothing more than a baton
that you Europe uses to clobber minorities with
at their discretion.
A baton that is selectively applied
to humiliate some and defend others.
These same European countries that sanctify freedom
of expression as though it's a
pillar of Iman or faith
are guilty of penalizing
certain forms of speech themselves.
According to Swedish law,
Insulting the king could land you in prison
for two years.
In France, Insulting the flag, six months.
In Germany, Insulting the flag,
three years in prison.
In Denmark, Insulting the flag,
two years in prison.
Even questioning the Holocaust in France
could land you with one year in prison.
It's hypocrisy in its finest form.
You either believe in freedom of speech or you don't.
You can't selectively apply it whenever it goes in your favour
and as much as people would like to position this
as a discussion on freedom of expression
and healthy criticism of ideas,
this is not about freedom of debate.
It's about the freedom to incite hate.
If this was about debate, we would have no problem.
The Quran itself invites people to challenge it.
If they are in doubt about this book,
then bring something like it,
even if it was a single chapter,
find an error in this book if you claim it's not divine.
A challenge that has left its detractors
with no other response
but to burn the book. How pitiful.
My honest advice is to stop burning and start learning.
While you parade yourselves as nations
that are bastions of progress and social advancement,
ask yourself,
how progressive and cohesive is your society truly?
Where a culture of insult, obscenity
and disrespect is normalized?
Perhaps you should take a read of our book
and learn a bit about
building a cohesive society.
A book that teaches us to respect other faiths
and do not insult those who invoke other than Allah.
A book that teaches us not to insult,
mock or ridicule other people.
A book that teaches us to learn from our neighbors.
To respect them and not disgrace them.
Yet guess what?
Even if you were to continue to burn every Quran on Earth,
what are you going to achieve?
By Allah, we make an oath
that if you were to burn every Quran on earth,
we will bring back the Quran within a day.
Cover to cover. Page to page.
Word for word and letter for letter
to even the subtle vowels and diacritic marks
that are on top of each and every single letter.
We have 12 year old boys and girls
that will gladly recite
the Quran back to you by memory.
You cannot burn that which is preserved
within our hearts,
that which was sent down to hearts,
to be preserved within the hearts.
So tell me again, what on earth will you achieve?
Stop burning and start learning.