Al-Azhar Launches Sharp Attack After Copy of the Quran Torn Inside a Church in New York - Sarmad
Al-Azhar condemned the tearing of a copy of the Quran inside a church in New York, describing the incident as “extremism and terrorism” and a deliberate provocation of Muslims’ feelings, while warning against justifying it under the guise of freedom of expression.
In a statement on Tuesday, Al-Azhar said the act, carried out by a right-wing extremist in one of New York City’s churches, represented a “deliberate provocation” of Muslims’ feelings in the United States and around the world, reaffirming its rejection of any justification for desecrating sacred sites under the pretext of freedom of expression.
It stressed that freedom of expression cannot serve as a justification for insulting beliefs and religious symbols, maintaining that desecrating others’ sacred sites does not fall within the freedoms that should be protected.
Al-Azhar emphasized that this incident reveals the escalating rhetoric of hostility toward Muslims and Islamophobia, alongside white nationalist tendencies and white supremacy discourses embraced by segments of the far-right, along with the incitement to hatred and violence that may accompany them.
It pointed out that confronting extremism requires condemning all its forms and manifestations without selectivity or double standards, reiterating that terrorism and extremism are not linked to any specific religion or ethnicity.
Al-Azhar deplored the occurrence of the incident inside a place of worship, considering that places of worship should be spaces for peace, religious practice, coexistence, and acceptance of the other, rather than arenas for insulting sacred sites or inciting hatred.
It called for an urgent investigation into the incident and for holding the perpetrator, as well as anyone who participated in, incited, or facilitated the act, accountable, warning that leniency toward hate crimes could encourage their repetition.
The incident comes amid growing obsession by American activist Jake Lang in anti-Islam events, after he had participated in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, before receiving a presidential pardon from President Donald Trump in January 2025.
The Quran-tearing incident has drawn widespread criticism, as it follows a series of actions linked to Lang that targeted Muslims and immigrants, including previous protests involving attempts to provoke Muslims and burn copies of the Quran.
