AhlulBayt News Agency: Egypt’s Al-Azhar Islamic Center said there is need to introduce and enact laws to prevent Islamophobic incidents in the West.
It issued a statement Saturday in reaction to a Quran burning incident in London earlier this week.
The statement said Al-Azhar has been monitoring events worldwide and has followed the attempt to desecrate the Quran in front of the Turkish consulate in London, el-Balad News reported.
It noted that the man who burned a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish consulate in central London on Thursday had previously announced his intention to do so in posts on social media networks.
The Egyptian center said a study of this and some other Islamophobic incidents such as the Christchurch terror attack in New Zealand shows the influence of far-right ideas that seek to spread hate and discrimination.
Such incidents are not beneficial for societies; rather, they have negative consequences and will intensify violence by dividing the community, Al-Azhar said.
“This is what we witnessed in the Quran burning incident in London, where an individual’s violent interference was a response to this extremist act.
Al-Azhar called for the enactment of laws to prevent the recurrence of such racist incidents, and the adoption of laws to control the spread of extremist ideas on social media.
The center also urged responsible authorities to implement awareness-raising initiatives in society and to publish educational materials that promote human values such as tolerance and peaceful coexistence among young people and groups most influenced by far-right ideologies.
Hamit Coskun, 50, from Derby, who tried to burn a Quran in London on Thursday has denied religiously motivated harassment.
He was charged following the incident near the Turkish consulate in Knightsbridge, London.
In a video of the incident, the Quran burner can be heard calling Muslims “terrorists” while a man yielding a knife can be seen kicking and spitting on him.
He also lashed out at him several times with a knife but it’s not clear if any connection was made.
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