According to Atabenews, the text of the letter from the office of the Supreme Religious Authority of Shia Muslims states that respect for freedom of expression does not justify issuing a license for such a shameful act.

The text of the letter from the Grand Ayatollah Sistani’s office is as follows:

In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

Mr. António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations

Greetings and Regards

The media reported that a person in Sweden desecrated a copy of the Holy Quran and burned one of its pages with the aim of insulting Islam.

This kind of disgusting behavior has happened many times in recent years in different countries, but the remarkable thing is that this time it happened with the official permission of the Swedish police and under the pretext of freedom of speech.

If, of course, respect for freedom of speech does not justify in any way the licensing of such a shameful behavior, which is a clear attack on the sacredness of more than two billion Muslims in the world and leads to the creation of a favorable environment for the promotion of extremist thoughts and wrong actions.

While condemning this action, the Supreme Religious Authority urges the United Nations to take effective measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents and to force countries to review the laws that allow such actions to occur.

The Supreme Religious Authority also calls for establishing the values of peaceful coexistence between followers of different religions and intellectual approaches based on respect for rights and mutual respect among all.

Najaf Ashraf

10/12/1444 AH

29/06/2023 AD