Blantyre: Muslim leaders in Malawi have condemned a Florida Church’s plan to burn copies of the Quran on the anniversary of the 9/11 September attacks.
The Dove World Outreach Centre in Gainesville, Florida had called for repeating its “everybody burn a Quran day” it celebrates “in remembrance of the fallen victims of 9/11 and to stand against the evil of Islam.”
Limbe Islamic Information Bureau coordinator who is also administrator, Sheikh Ahmed Chienda asked the church to cancel its plans saying that it is not the Quran that tells people to go and bomb and doing that will just show how uncivilized they are.
‘No! That is not on. One should be able to respect other people’s religions. It is not the Quran that tells people to go and bomb. If Muslims have indulged themselves in several other activities which are not compatible with the Quran then you can not burn Quran for that. That is unfair because it just shows that they are not civilized anyway,” he told Malawi Muslim Official Website.
Sheikh Chienda also blasted people who associate Islam with terrorism saying people who do those attacks, do it on their reasons therefore it is wrong to associate it with Islam.
“Not necessarily that [all Muslims are terrorists].in fact that word is also used for propaganda because the only enemy they have is Islam and therefore they have tried all ways by controlling the media and directing them what to say and not to say. Otherwise those people who do terrorism attacks they do it on their own accord whether on political or it could be on financial reasons but that all Muslims are terrorists is not true.
Sheikh Chienda further advised the church to respect Islam as Muslims do with Christianity and should also refrain from judging Islam basing on Muslim activities.
“They have to respect other people’s religions especially Islam just also Muslims respect Christianity and any other religion and they should also refrain from judging Islam basing on Muslim activities.
Commenting on the issue Sheikh Amani Matiya director of Almanasiki Travel tours said burning Quran won’t change imaan (faith) of a Muslim as other people had already failed it and instead Islam has been growing big.
“Let them burn the Quran because it won’t change Imaan [faith] of a Muslim otherwise they will just anger the Muslims by burning it. There have been people in the world who burned the Quran in the past, who wanted to burn a Quran in the past, who wanted to destroy Islam, who have painted Islam with a bad picture but they have completely failed and anytime they tempted to burn the Quran or to name Islam evil, the end result is that Islam has been growing big.
“What we have seen after the 9/11 [attacks] in America [is that] instead of Islam growing down, Islam has been growing big because it is always when people hate Islam or want to kill or destroy it then Allah makes other people to know what Islam is all about then they have ended becoming Muslims,’
“Burning Quran will not solve the problem. If they have a problem with Islam then they have to ask the Muslims what is the real problem between them and the Muslims. The Quran is a book of Allah Ta’ala and is himself who is going to protect it.
In her remarks sister Jameela Lire, Muslim Sister Aids Network (Musanet) chairlady asked Muslims not to panic but rather ‘let them burn the Quran’.
“There is no way Muslims should fear that. Even if they burn Quran in the written form there are a lot of people who have memorized the whole of it by heart that even if they burn it, people are going to produce another one,” she said.
“They are afraid of Islam that’s why they call Muslims terrorists and they have tried all tricks to deal with it but they have failed,” she concluded.
