Nadine Osman
A copy of the Qur’an was kicked and thrown to the ground outside the Turkish House in New York by an unidentified person on September 8.
According to media reports, the Qur’an was desecrated at 10:46 am local time.
Security personnel immediately exited the building, which houses Türkiye’s consulate general and UN mission, intervened, and removed the person from the premises.
The perpetrator was immediately removed from the premises that houses Türkiye’s consulate general and UN mission by security personnel.
Officials from the New York Police Department and the Diplomatic Security Unit were informed about the incident. A video circulating on social media shows a man throwing a book on the ground and trampling on it while shouting, “This is a Quran.”
The recent Qur’an burnings in Sweden and Denmark under the pretext of free speech have sparked angry protests in Muslim countries, including attacks on diplomatic missions.
Türkiye has repeatedly called for preventing the acts that target Islam and Muslims under the “guise of freedom of expression,” calling on states that allow and fall short of preventing the “heinous acts” to change their anti-Muslim attitudes.
Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said that attacks on the Qur’an cannot be “defended with the excuse of freedom of expression” and that such acts “target social peace and stability”, during talks with a delegation from the US Council of Muslim Organisations .
“Our Ummah’s [global Muslim community] stand against Islamophobia, intolerance, and discrimination, and their unity is of vital importance in the fight against this threat,” he added.
The New York chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations also condemned the incident.In July, CAIR encouraged President Biden and Sweden’s Prime Minister to clearly disavow anti-Muslim bigotry and condemn a Qur’an burning that took place in that nation.
“We condemn this apparent attempt to desecrate the Qur’an, a sacred text followed by millions of Americans, and ask religious and political leaders of all faiths and backgrounds to stand with the American Muslim community in repudiation of the growing bigotry and division we are witnessing nationwide.”
