Local media reported on Saturday that Ahmad A., the man who had threatenedto burn the Torah and the Bible in front of the Israeli Embassy inStockholm, Sweden, had decided not to proceed with this plan in aheartwarming show of utmost respect for other religions.
Despite Swedish authorities giving him permission to hold a three-personprotest, the man claimed he had no intention of burning any books; instead,he threw a lighter to the ground, according to *DW*.
“I never thought I would burn any books. I’m a Muslim, we don’t burn,”broadcaster SVT quoted the man as telling those gathered for the planneddesecration.
The 32-year-old said the main goal of the demonstration was to drawattention to the difference between exercising one’s right to free speechand offending other ethnic groups.
Isaac Herzog, the president of Israel, was one of many Israeli officialsand Jewish organisations to immediately condemn the Swedish government’sdecision to permit the burning of holy books.
Ahmad, who organised the protest, made it clear that his intention was notto burn the holy books but rather to denounce those who had recentlydesecrated Qurans in Sweden, a practise that is not against the law there.
“This is a response to the people who burn the Quran. I want to show thatfreedom of expression has limits that must be taken into account,”explained the Swedish resident of Syrian origin.
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“I want to show that we have to respect each other, we live in the samesociety. If I burn the Torah, another the Bible, another the Quran, therewill be war here. What I wanted to show is that it’s not right to do it,”he added.
The planned burning of the Torah was scheduled to occur only a few daysafter another man burned pages of the Quran, the holy book of Islam,drawing widespread condemnation from Muslims all over the world,* Al-Arabiya* reported.
Rasmus Paludan, a Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist, burned a Quran inJanuary to protest Sweden’s NATO membership application and the talks withTurkey to allow Sweden to join the alliance.
During the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, which is observed on June 28, anIraqi refugee in Sweden set fire to some Quranic pages in front ofStockholm’s largest mosque.
