The Muslim Council of Elders, under the chairmanship of His Eminence Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, strongly condemns the act committed by an extremist who tore up a copy of the Holy Qur’an inside a church in New York City, United States.
The Muslim Council of Elders reaffirms its categorical rejection of this reprehensible act, which reflects abhorrent racism and hateful intolerance, and stands in contradiction to the teachings of religions, divine laws, international conventions, and shared human values. The Council stresses that such actions provoke the sentiments of nearly two billion Muslims around the world and undermine efforts to promote the values of dialogue, peace, and coexistence.
The Muslim Council of Elders warns against the rise of Islamophobia and the growing spread of extremist, hateful, and inciting rhetoric. The Council emphasizes that the recurrence of such acts necessitates a serious and decisive response to confront all forms of religious hatred and intolerance. It further stresses that freedom of expression can never serve as a justification for insulting religions or violating the sanctity of their sacred symbols, noting that respect for religious beliefs and symbols is a fundamental pillar for promoting social harmony and safeguarding human dignity.
The Council also underscores that places of worship must remain beacons of peace and human fraternity and that exploiting them to insult other religions and their sacred symbols or to incite hatred is fundamentally inconsistent with their mission and spiritual significance. The Council calls for the enactment of decisive legislation criminalizing the defamation of religious symbols, while also urging stronger international and societal efforts to combat Islamophobia, religious hatred, and intolerance, and to promote dialogue, mutual respect, and coexistence.