The Holy Qur'an invites all humanity to the right path and eternal salvation. It teaches us our duties and responsibilities towards our Lord (swt), the people around us, and the whole universe. It explains the life-giving provisions of Islam. It shows the paths of knowledge and wisdom, goodness, and beauty. It sets out the principles of peace and tranquility, justice, and coexistence. It commands the sacredness of human honor and dignity, rights, and freedoms.
Throughout history, Muslims, guided by the Holy Qur'an, have provided the best examples of living together with different beliefs and cultures in peace and harmony. Members of different religions have practiced their religion freely under Muslim rule and protection.
Our Lord (swt) has granted freedom of belief to all people by stating, لَآ اِكْرَاهَ فِي الدّ۪ينِ "Let there be no compulsion in religion."[Baqarah, 2/256]
In Islamic civilization, insulting the beliefs of others or harming their sacred values has no place. This is expressed in the Holy Qur'an as follows: "Do not insult what they invoke besides Allah or they will insult Allah spitefully out of ignorance." [An'am, 6/108]
In recent days, heinous attacks against the Qur'an and Islam target not only Muslims, but all the shared values of humanity and social peace. Undermining human dignity, attacking sacred values, and ignoring rights and law cannot be normalized under the guise of freedoms.
Freedom of expression cannot justify insulting any faith and its members. Freedoms do not allow anyone to violate the rights of other people.
On the contrary, freedoms require respect for everyone's beliefs and opinions, and respect for the rights and laws of others despite all differences. Therefore, it is not only the duty of Muslims but also of all humanity to stand against such heinous attacks on our faith and sacred values.
The best response to the attacks against Islam and its great values is to learn and represent Islam in the most proper way. For this, we must put in more efforts to recite, understand, live by, and keep the Qur'an alive.
We should make more efforts to convey its life-giving principles, its understanding of rights and justice, and its messages of love and peace to all humanity in a wise language and in a beautiful manner.
يُر۪يدُونَ لِيُطْفِؤُ۫ا نُورَ اللّٰهِ بِاَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَاللّٰهُ مُتِمُّ نُورِه۪ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْـكَافِرُونَ "They wish to extinguish Allah's light with their mouths. But Allah will certainly perfect His light, even to the dismay of the disbelievers. [Saf, 61/8]
