September 8, 2010: Press Explains Why Muslims Find Koran-Burning So Offensive

A Christian Science Monitor (CSM) analysis explains why Muslims find a planned Koran-burning by a Florida pastor (see July 12, 2010 and After and September 9, 2010) so offensive. Pastor Terry Jones intends to burn a Koran, or a number of Korans, in a ceremony on September 11, 2010, to commemorate the 9/11 attacks. He has the legal right to do so, but has been condemned by a number of the world’s governments, along with the Vatican and two prominent US Christian organizations (see September 6-9, 2010). General David Petraeus, the commander of US troops in the Middle East, has warned that burning the Koran would endanger US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq (see September 6, 2010). Muslims find such an action particularly inflammatory, the CSM notes, because they view the Koran “as the uninterrupted, unchangeable, and eternal word of God. Burning the Koran is akin to directly burning the word of God.” Moreover, the timing is offensive: September 11 is the day after the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting that commemorates the time in 610 A.D. when Muslims believe the angel Gabriel first appeared to the Prophet Muhammad and began “revealing” the Koran to him. Muslims believe the Koran was delivered to Muhammad directly from God, and has existed without change or error since the time of the last revelation, in 632 A.D. Traditionally, a Koran is treated with deference and honor in a Muslim household. Jones has further infuriated Muslims by his slogan, “Islam is of the Devil.” In 2006, a series of Danish cartoons satirizing the Koran and Islam set off a round of violent protests throughout the world, and was used by al-Qaeda as a recruitment tool. [Christian Science Monitor, 9/8/2010]