DUSHANBE September 11, 2010, Asia-Plus — I am praying that a Christian minister’s plans to burn copies of the Quran on the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack would not lead to breach of principles of the dialogue of cultures and civilizations and to fomentation of hatred and enmity between followers of Islam and Christianity, enmity between peoples of different confessions and cultures, known Tajik religious leader, Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
“In connection with this planned monstrous action, I call on Muslims in Tajikistan not to express their protests in illegal way,” said he, “Our protests should be in our minds and in our hearts.”
Mr. Turajonzoda noted that no one well-educated Muslims could do so with holy books of other religions. “Islam recognizes the divine origin of Bible and could never allow disrespect for this Scripture though we, Muslims, doubt the contents of this book,” Tajik religious leader stressed.
Mr. Turajonzoda also questions the sincerity of the U.S. authorities’ condemnation of the actions of the pastor from Florida. “They condemn him by word of mouth but do not act resolutely to prevent this adventure,” he said.
He stressed that many leaders of Muslim states had applied to the U.S. president to not allow that act of vandalism against the holly book of Islam.
We will recall that a Christian minister has planned to burn copies of the Quran to mark the 9/11 anniversary.
Terry Jones, the pastor of a small church in Florida, however, initially said on September 9 he had canceled the Quran burning planned for September 11. Radio Liberty reported on September 10 that at a news conference, Jones said he was canceling the plans because the leader of a controversial project to build an Islamic center near the site of the September 11 attacks in New York City had agreed to move the project to another location. “I will be flying up [to New York] on Saturday to meet with the imam on the Ground Zero mosque. He has agreed to move the location. That, of course, cannot happen overnight, but he has agreed to move that,” Jones said. “We felt that that would be a sign that God would want us to do it. The American people do not want the mosque there and, of course, Muslims do not want us to burn the Quran.”
But Jones”s announcement was thrown in doubt almost immediately after it was made. Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam of the planned center in Lower Manhattan, denied that he had agreed to relocate the facility, according to Radio Liberty. He said he welcomed Jones”s decision “not to burn any Qurans,” but had not spoken to Jones, adding, “Nor are we going to barter.”
In the meantime, an item entitled “Fla. pastor who planned to burn Quran flies to NY” published by Mike Schneider, Associated Press Writer, on September 11 says Jones landed in New York Friday night and declined to talk to reporters on his way to a cab. Jones has said he wants to meet with the imam overseeing a proposed mosque and Islamic center to be built near ground zero. Earlier Friday, Jones” son, Luke, said that the Quran-burning won”t take place Saturday but couldn”t say whether there would be a future event, the report said.
The initiative, to mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, was roundly condemned by President Barack Obama, who called it a “recruitment bonanza” for terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda.
