Muslims protest blasphemy against ‘Quran’ by American Church

BHOPAL - Stung by the blasphemous statements made by an US-based church against their holy text ‘Quran’, scores of Muslims vented their fury by staging a mass demonstration on the streets of Bhopal.

The angry protestors on Friday raised slogans, and issued a warning saying the global Muslim community would not tolerate any act of damaging Islamic faith.

Deeming it a ‘crusade war’ the Muslim community lashed out at western conspirators who were targeting Islam for political gains.

“We will not take this lying down. We will give a tit for tat answer to all those who try to hurt our religious sentiments. We have never made any derogatory statement about the holy texts of other religions, and we respect other faiths too,” said Asif Khurram, President of the All India Muslim Festival Committee.

“So, nobody has the right to say anything blasphemous about the holy Quran in any manner. This is wrong, and we strongly condemn this,” he added.

Reportedly, an US-based church had ordered the burning of copies of the Holy Islamic text of Quran to convey a strong message against Islamic fundamentalist ideals.

Deeply angered by such scathing attack on their religion, the demonstrators warned that such a heinous act would have long lasting and irreversible consequences.

“If anybody tries to blemish the text of the Holy Quran, or play with our sentiments, we will initiate the strictest possible legal action against the perpetrators. We will not tolerate an attack on our religion,” said Salim Chishti, a local Islamic preacher.

The demonstrators have also drafted an appeal to be submitted to President Pratibha Devisingh Patil urging her US counterpart Barack Obama to take immediate and appropriate action against the perpetrators.

It has been reported that the Dove World Outreach Centre of Florida quoted a controversy a week ago by saying that it would burn copies of the holy Quran to mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States. (ANI)