The 2005 Quran desecration controversy began when Newsweek's April 30, 2005, issue contained a report asserting that United States prison guards or interrogators had deliberately damaged a copy of the Quran. A week later, The New Yorker reported the words of Pakistani politician Imran Khan: "This is what the U.S. is doing—desecrating the Quran." This incident caused upset in parts of the Muslim world.
Quran desecration is the treatment of the Quran in a way that might be considered insulting.
Creighton Lee Lovelace is an American Christian minister, currently the pastor of Danieltown Baptist Church in Forest City, North Carolina. Lovelace and his church received brief international attention in May 2005 over a controversial sign on the Danieltown church's grounds that read, "The Koran needs to be flushed!"
The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons were first published by Jyllands-Posten in late September 2005; approximately two weeks later, nearly 3,500 people demonstrated peacefully in Copenhagen. In November, several European newspapers re-published the images, triggering more protests.
Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten's publication of satirical cartoons of the Islamic prophet Muhammad on September 30, 2005, led to violence, arrests, inter-governmental tension, and debate about the scope of free speech and the place of Muslims in the West. Many Muslims stressed that the image of Muhammad is blasphemous, while many Westerners defended the right of free speech. A number of governments, organizations, and individuals have issued statements defining their stance on the protests or cartoons.
The international reaction to Fitna consisted of condemnation from Muslims, several fatwa against Geert Wilders, and attempts by many Islamic countries to censor the film. The Dutch government immediately distanced itself from the film. Several Muslim organizations and political parties organized boycotts against Dutch products.
Swedish–Turkish relations are foreign relations between Sweden and Turkey. Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe, NATO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Union for the Mediterranean.
Iraq–Sweden relations are foreign relations between Iraq and Sweden. Iraq has an embassy in Stockholm, and a new Swedish embassy opened in Baghdad in 2009. Iraq has severed all ties with Sweden since July 2023, after Swedish authorities allowed a man to burn the Iraqi flag and the Quran in front of the Iraqi Embassy, Stockholm.
Dove World Outreach Center is a 50-member non-denominational charismatic Christian church led by pastor Terry Jones and his wife, Sylvia. After spending more than 25 years in Gainesville, Florida, the church sold its 20 acres of property in July 2013 and plans to relocate to Tampa. The church first gained notice during the late 2000s for its public displays and criticism of Islam and gay people, and was designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. It became widely known for its pastor's controversial plan to burn Qur'ans on the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
In July 2010, Terry Jones, the pastor of the Christian Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, U.S., announced he would burn 200 Qurans on the 2010 anniversary of the September 11 attacks. He gained media coverage, resulting in international outrage throughout the Islamic world over his plans and pleas from world leaders to cancel the event. Jones' threat sparked protests in the Middle East and Asia, in which at least 20 people were killed. In early September 2010, Jones cancelled and pledged never to burn a Quran.
Terry Jones is an American anti-Islamic right-wing activist and the pastor of Dove World Outreach Center, a small nondenominational Christian church located, until July 2013, in Gainesville, Florida. He is the president of a political group, Stand Up America Now. He first gained national and international attention in 2010 for his plan to burn Qurans, the scripture of the Islamic religion, on the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks and for burning the Koran afterward.
Muslims Against Crusades (MAC) is a banned radical Islamist group in the United Kingdom. The group was founded in 2010 by Abu Assadullah. Professional boxer Anthony Small and Islam4UK spokesman Anjem Choudary are associated with the group.
The 2012 Afghanistan Quran burning protests were a series of protests of varying levels of violence which took place early in 2012 in response to the burning of Islamic religious material by soldiers from the United States Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. On 22 February 2012, U.S. troops at Bagram Base disposed of copies of the Quran that had been used by Taliban prisoners to write messages to each other. As part of the disposal, parts of the books were burned. Afghan forces working at the base reported this, resulting in outraged Afghans besieging Bagram AFB, raining it with molotov cocktails and stones. After five days of protest, 30 people had been killed, including four Americans. Over 200 people were wounded. International condemnation followed the burning of copies of the Quran, on 22 February 2012, from the library that is used by inmates at the base's detention facility. The protests included domestic riots which caused at least 41 deaths and at least 270 injuries.
The Embassy of Sweden in Baghdad is Sweden's diplomatic mission in Iraq. The mission consists of an embassy, a number of Swedes from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and local staff. Ambassador since 2022 is Jessica Svärdström.
Edwin Wagensveld is a Dutch anti-Islam activist and leader of Pegida Netherlands. He has managed to "create a spectacle generating broad media coverage" with his anti-Islam protests and Quran desecrations.
Stram Kurs is a nationalist, Anti-Islamic political party in Denmark and Sweden founded in 2017 by Danish-Swedish lawyer Rasmus Paludan. The party is almost exclusively associated with its founder and his anti-Islam activism and demonstrations. It is considered a radical far right fringe party by political scientists and news media.
On 29 August 2020, riots broke out in the Swedish cities of Malmö and Ronneby. After Swedish police prevented Rasmus Paludan, a Danish politician, from entering the country, far-right anti-immigration activists held protests and burned a Quran. In response, a mob of 300 migrants, mostly Muslims gathered in counter-protest, burned tires, threw rocks and chunks of concrete at the police and smashed bus shelters.
Riots occurred in several Swedish cities in April 2022, primarily against police who were stationed to protect events planned by Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan. The motivation for the violence was ostensibly Paludan's plan to burn a Quran; however, the police suspect that the event was used by criminal groups to target police. Two-thirds of those injured were police officers.
Assim bin Luqman al-Hakeem is a Saudi cleric of Indonesian descent. He is based primarily in the city of Jeddah, where he hosts programs dealing with Islam. He mostly uses English, and has been described as an Islamic fundamentalist.
Salwan Sabah Matti Momika is an Iraqi refugee and a critic of Islam, known for arranging demonstrations in Sweden where he publicly burns the Quran.
