ICESCO launches initiative to counter insults to Holy Quran in Western countries

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) has launched the initiative “Read It .. To Understand It,” aiming to address the recurring insults to the Holy Quran in Western countries.

ICESCO announced the initiative in a statement issued following the conclusion of the international forum “The Quran and the West: Towards a Rational Approach,” which it hosted for one day at its headquarters in the Moroccan capital, Rabat.

The organization stated that this initiative comes as a “positive response to the desperate attempts that target the Holy Quran, and to laud those whose positions are fair towards it, allowing non-believers to understand it and read its verses filled with mercy and guidance.”

ICESCO explained that, as part of this initiative, it will support the “establishment of a vision to care for the Holy Quran and present it to Western societies in a simplified and convincing manner without prejudice.”

In recent years, incidents of insulting the Quran by far-right extremists in Sweden and Denmark have recurred, sparking official and popular angry reactions in Arab and Islamic countries, in addition to official summonses of diplomats from both countries in several Arab nations.

On July 26, 2023, the United Nations adopted a resolution by consensus, drafted by Morocco, condemning all acts of violence against holy books as violations of international law.