Condemnation of “Burn a Qur’an Day”

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community New Zealand strongly condemns plans by a church in Florida to

organise an “International Burn a Quran Day” on 11th September. The church has accused Islam,

Quran and Muslims of several teachings which are against Christianity, and has used racial and

discriminatory language against Islam.

 

The world Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, said:

 

“Religious extremism, be it Christian extremism, Muslim extremism or any other kind is never a true

reflection of the religion. Indeed a number of churches have condemned this act. There is nothing

wrong with intellectual or theological debate but this should be conducted within the bounds of

decency and tolerance. Instead what we are seeing is hatred being spread.

“The world needs peace, love and brotherhood. The world needs an end to wars. Instead of walls of

hatred being erected we need peace to prevail and for this to occur people of all faiths must join

together.”

 

The National President of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community New Zealand, Mr Mohammed Iqbal, said:

 

“Burning any religious scripture is directly contrary to the teachings of all the world’s major religions.

These few unfortunate Christians planning this ghastly act need to ask themselves whether they

truly belong to Jesus (peace be upon him) for he was a prophet of peace.

“We appeal to this church to abandon this provocative act that will offend billions of people of all

faiths around the world. If anything 9/11 should be a time for all of us to reaffirm our commitment

to peace and not to create new conflicts.”

 

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is a religious organisation, international in its scope. It has

branches in over 195 countries in Africa, America, Asia, Australasia, and Europe with worldwide

membership exceeding tens of millions.

 

The New Zealand branch of this community was established in 1987 and has just over 300 members.

It is a registered charitable organisation and endeavours to be an active and integrated community

within New Zealand society. It recently launched the Holy Qur’an translated in Maori.