Islamic World

A pastor from a small non-denominational Church in Florida has received unprecedented world wide coverage for his plan to burn a few copies of the Quran.

Whether he decides to carry out this stunt or not the fact that a person who claims to be a man of God, wants to burn a sacred scripture of another faith is despicable.

Mr. Terry Jones, the pastor of this church believes that the Quran is from Devil and hence the devil should be destroyed. Little does he know that he is desecrating and lighting fire and the spirit and essence of the great teachers of humanity, Jesus, Moses and all the other prophets in this process.

This Florida church has only fifty members yet the impact they have created all over the world is immense. Even though we wish our "free press" had not given so much attention to this insignificant group but let this be a teaching moment.

This small band of radical Christians claim that they are the true Christians the same way as those who destroyed the Twin Towers in 2001 claimed that they were true Muslims.

The Muslim community all over the world is outraged at this attempt of burning the Quran. The best way to respond to such an act would have been to ignore it, but it is too late for that and now the leaders from the USA to Indonesia have been forced to jump in to this circus.

What is significant in this situation is that a large number of faith leaders from all traditions and government officials in the USA have voiced an emphatic condemnation of burning a sacred text.

Muslims must appreciate those religious and government leaders who have come forward to condemn Terry Jones. Muslims should not fall in the trap most Islamophobes have fallen in to by equating a faith with the deviation of a few.

Muslims must remember that Islam demands Muslims to show respect to people of all faiths and promotes a pluralism that is not defined by the politics of the day.

Anyone who wants to burn the Quran can not burn the message of Quran. The Quran is preserved in the hearts and minds of people and there are millions of Muslims all over the world who have memorized the Quran.

Muslims must maintain their high moral grounds and when others talk about burning the Quran, we must spend time memorizing a few more verses of the Quran and filling our more important obligation to read and understand the Quran.

Dr Aslam Abdullah is director of the Islamic Society of Nevada, Vice president of the Muslim Council of America (MCA) and the President elect of the Nevada Interfaith Council. He has authored several books and published more than 400 papers on issues related with Islam and contemporary issues. He has taught at colleges in India as well as in the US.