Crescent International
News of Sweden’s consideration to amend its laws pertaining to the desecration of the Qur’an may have bigger repercussions than meets the eye.
While it may not be immediately obvious, deeper analysis of the announcement by Sweden’s Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer to take a tougher stand on the Qur’an desecration represents, symbolically, a global power shift.
This needs elaboration.
Since the US launched its war of terror in 2001, myriad anti-Muslim policies in academia, public, political, and economic domains have been justified via pseudo-intellectual narratives.
The justification for Qur’an burning hate fest is but one example.
Since 9/11, Europe has become the main hub of producing intellectual and academic cover for western political and military establishments to legitimize anti-Muslim policies both at home and abroad.
Various aggressive anti-Muslim policies in Europe have been frequently camouflaged under slogans of free speech, public security, and secular values.
One such activity which is presented as freedom of speech is an implicitly facilitated hate fest of Qur’an burning.
To most objective observers, lack of condemnation of many anti-Muslim policies and activities has carried an ulterior motive, mainly an act of political provocation and provocative triumphalism of neo-colonialism over the Muslim world.
While most analysts have attempted to explain Sweden’s diplomatic backtracking on the Qur’an burning in terms of its need to get the Turkish vote to join NATO, this appears to be a rather simplistic explanation.
The current discussion among Sweden’s political elite that there now might be some consequences for desecrating the Qur’an is taking place not because of a sudden change of outlook on anti-Muslim practices.
It is the result of the emerging multipolar global order.
Western regimes can no longer get away with political, military, and economic oppression and manipulation of others.
Anti Muslim hate fest in Sweden was met with a relatively united front by various Muslim countries.
Such criticism on its own carries little political weight.
Barring minor exceptions, most regimes in the Muslim world maintain their grip on power not through popular support but by their allegiance to the strategic interests of the west.
It is the overall global setting which made their condemnation carry some weight and had an impact, even if limited.
It should also be noted that one of the first persons to condemn the burning of the Qur’an was Russian President Vladimir Putin.
His condemnation was also based on political considerations, both internal and external.
The Russian government needs the support of Muslims in Russia and abroad in its geopolitical confrontation with the neo-colonial western regimes.
The public condemnation of burning the Qur’an by some Swedish politicians, expressed however mildly, reflects what coordinated action by Muslim countries can achieve.
Although many Muslim governments have serious disagreements among themselves on numerous issues, their ability to unite against the Qur’an burning hate fest carries important implications.
It has achieved tangible results in the form of the western political establishment’s distancing itself from the latest outrage.
This can have a positive effect in the future.
Muslim governments may come to see the benefits of a united front against anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim policies as moves to replicate on other common issues.
This is not necessarily due to the fact that most regimes in the Muslim world aspire to uphold Islamic principles or values, but for Machiavellian reasons.
Lacking legitimacy, such gimmicks help them don a veneer of “Islamic” identity but the overall result is still positive for Muslims.
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