Sayyed Nasrallah’s Comments on Quran Desecration in Sweden for 2nd Time
Translated by Al-Ahed News, Hezbollah Media Relations
The segment of the speech delivered by Hezbollah Secretary General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on the 3rd night of Ashura in which he tackled the desecration of the Holy Quran for a 2nd time in Sweden.
Below is the segment from Sayyed Nasrallah’s speech:
We are sorry and saddened by the new ugly act that desecrated our Holy Quran. I will come back to this a little later. I will talk about it and explain what we must do, our responsibilities, and the very least we must bear at this time when dealing with this flagrant violation.
I will talk about this topic in the last section of the speech. Therefore, I will have to compress my speech a little.
Let us talk about what happened yesterday and today in a few words. Some said that the Quran was burned by this cursed person, while others said that he desecrated the Quran. We need to check this. The videos that we’ve seen on television show the defiling and not the burning of the Quran.
He is holding the Quran and then puts it on the ground. We do not know what he does with it because the image is hazy. Clearly, he is trampling the book and the flag of a very important country in the region, Iraq. This is an insult to the state of Iraq and the entire people of Iraq. There are also pictures of religious leaders.
It is clear that this is being done with the permission of the Swedish government. Bear in mind that last time the Swedish government said: This is wrong and we do not agree with this, and so on. But they went back on their word and approved it, and this is what happened today.
I would like to remind you that this is the same person – an Iraqi Christian. It was intended that he be an Iraqi Christian. And the insult and desecration were repeated in a different way. He also desecrated the flag and pictures. I will not mention names because I haven’t seen the video that shows who is in the pictures. But they told me that the pictures include His Eminence the Leader [Sayyed Ali Khamenei] and Sayyed Moqtada [Al-Sadr]. I do not know if there are other pictures or not.
In any case, this causes more provocation. He is provoking the Iranians – the state and the people – and the Iraqis – the state and the people. It is possible that the foolish side that stands behind the perpetrator wants to offend Iran and Iraq or the Shiites since these are Shiite symbols.
They are fools, and God made our enemies foolish. The desecration of the Quran affects all Muslims – Sunnis and Shiites – regardless of their sect. Every Muslim on the face of the earth considers this Qur’an his Qur’an and his holy book and cannot tolerate the repeated insults.
It seems that the “Israeli” Mossad is committed to causing provocation and pushing for sedition. They saw that the first incident did not lead to sedition in Iraq, especially between Muslims and Christians. It seems that they are pushing further towards sedition, which we must all beware of in Iraq and elsewhere.
The Iraqis responded. What the Iraqi government has done is very important, brave, wise, appropriate, and correct. It recalled the Iraqi chargé d'affaires from Sweden and asked the Swedish ambassador to leave [Iraq]. This is an excellent position.
First, one must ask: Why Iraq? Because the perpetrator is Iraqi, and the Iraqi judiciary demanded he be extradited to Iraq, but Sweden did not hand him over. It turns out that there are repeated assaults against the Quran.
People have the right to express their indignation and anger. This is very natural. I would like to repeat and say, if you don’t want this issue to be repeated, Arab and Islamic countries must do what Iraq did. Last time, I said that the solution lies in threatening Sweden with the severing of ties.
Imagine more than 50 Arab and Islamic countries all withdraw their ambassadors from Sweden and ask the ambassadors of Sweden to leave. What will happen to Sweden, the Swedish government, and the interests of Sweden?
There is nothing wrong with the idea of boycotting Swedish goods, but this [aforementioned] step is what shakes Sweden and the Swedish government. This step will teach the world that the Islamic countries are neither weak nor poor countries. Rather, Sweden has vast interests in Arab and Islamic countries. Certainly, this will put a stop to the issue.
I call on the Arab and Islamic people to demand from tonight and tomorrow that their governments withdraw their ambassadors from Sweden and expel the Swedish ambassadors from our Arab and Islamic countries.
This is the least we can do. If Sweden repeats it again, the next step must be severing diplomatic relations with it. We must punish Sweden like Moses did with the Samaritan: ‘No contact’. Stay away from us. As long as you insist on attacking, we will stay away from you.
There are two things we want to call for tonight [Thursday]:
1- In the light of this development, I call on all brothers and sisters tomorrow to head to mosques for the noon prayer – Friday prayer – in all villages, cities, and neighborhoods. Let Friday not be an ordinary day. Mosques and prayer rooms must be filled with worshipers in support of their Quran.
After the prayer, worshippers and residents must stage a sit-in in front of the mosque for a period of time.
I ask the imams of mosques to clarify the situation to people, the horror of what is being committed against our sanctities. The title of our sit-in tomorrow in front of all mosques in Lebanon, in all our villages, neighborhoods and cities must be twofold:
1- A general scope: We, as part of the Arab and Islamic peoples, demand the governments of the Arab and Islamic world withdraw ambassadors from Sweden and expel Swedish ambassadors from our Arab and Islamic countries.
2- A specific scope: Tonight [Thursday] and tomorrow [Friday], we all want to confirm the sit-ins after Friday prayers. We must demand the Lebanese government recall the ambassador or the charge d’affaires from Sweden in protest against the desecration of the sanctity of the Muslims.
This must not be a subject of discussion by the officials. I believe that our Christian loved ones in Lebanon also sympathize with us in this matter.
We also call on the Lebanese government to expel the Swedish ambassador or chargé d'affaires from Lebanon. I did not have the chance to check whether Sweden has an ambassador or a chargé d'affaires in Lebanon. Brothers and sisters this is the least the government can do in this regard.
2- A few days ago, Hezbollah and the Amal Movement agreed on something and issued a statement. However, we agreed on it before this recent desecration. We would like to carry on with a collective reading of the Qur’an in all of Hezbollah and Amal’s gatherings.
We call on all attendees to bring a copy of the Quran. Tomorrow, the whole world must see how we embrace the Qur’an and read it when it is desecrated. We must make our voice heard and tell the whole world: We will protect this Quran with our souls, hearts, and blood. This is our responsibility.
You are all invited to support your sacred book and the Quran of your Prophet Muhammad in front of the mosques at noon. Tomorrow night, all of you are invited, men and women, to embrace the Quran. Bring your copy to our gatherings, so that the world can see how we embrace our sacred Quran. God willing, you will fulfill your responsibility tomorrow.
