Saudi Arabia condemns Quran burning incident in Sweden

Saudi Arabia has summoned Sweden’s ambassador to denounce the burning of the Muslim holy book, the Quran, outside a Stockholm mosque that sparked a diplomatic backlash across the Muslim world, state media reported early Monday.

The kingdom – home to the holiest sites in Islam, in Mecca and Medina – had already condemned Wednesday’s incident in which an Iraqi citizen living in Sweden, Salwan Momika, 37, desecrated the Muslim holy book and set several pages alight.

Foreign ministry urges Sweden to stop actions contradicting international efforts

The foreign ministry summoned the ambassador Sunday to urge Sweden “to stop all actions that directly contradict international efforts seeking to spread the values of tolerance, moderation and rejection of extremism, and undermine the necessary mutual respect for relations between peoples and states”, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

The burning coincided with the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday and the end of the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, triggering widespread anger.

Protests spread across Muslim countries

Countries including Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Morocco have also summoned Swedish ambassadors in protest.

Iran said Sunday it was holding off on sending its new ambassador to Sweden because of the incident.

At an extraordinary meeting on Sunday at its Jeddah headquarters, the Saudi-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called for collective measures to avoid future Quran burnings.

Swedish police had granted Momika a permit in line with free speech protections, but authorities later said they had opened an investigation over “agitation against an ethnic group,” noting that Momika had burnt pages from the Islamic holy book very close to the mosque.

Sweden’s government condemns the incident as Islamophobic

Sweden’s government condemned Momika’s actions Sunday, calling them “Islamophobic.”