In July 2010, Terry Jones, the pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, United States, announced plans to burn 200 copies of the Quran on the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The announcement attracted significant media attention and sparked international outrage, particularly throughout the Islamic world. Numerous world leaders urged Jones to cancel the event. His threat led to protests across the Middle East and Asia, resulting in at least 20 deaths. In early September 2010, Jones announced the event was cancelled and pledged not to burn the Quran.
Despite his earlier statement, on March 20, 2011, Jones held a "trial of the Quran" at his church in Gainesville. During the event, the Quran was declared "guilty" of crimes against humanity and was subsequently burned in the church sanctuary. The act triggered widespread protests in Afghanistan, including a violent attack in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, where demonstrators stormed a United Nations compound, killing at least 30 people, including seven UN staff members, and injuring more than 150 others. Jones disclaimed any responsibility. Norwegian, Swedish, Nepalese and Romanian nationals were among the UN workers killed. On April 4, 2011, two U.S. soldiers were killed by an Afghan police officer, an act that was attributed to outrage over the Quran burning. American news analysts criticized and blamed Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan, for drawing attention to the Quran burning.
Terry Jones
Terry Jones was born in October 1951 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He attended college for two years, worked at a hotel, and joined the now defunct Maranatha Campus Ministries. He moved to Cologne, Germany, where in 1981, he founded a charismatic church, the Christian Community of Cologne (CGK).
Jones received an honorary degree from an unaccredited theology school in 1983, and began using the title "Doctor." He was fined for this misuse of a credential title by a German administrative court. By the late 2000s, the CGK grew to have a membership of approximately 800–1000. According to the German magazine, Der Spiegel, the congregation kicked Jones out in 2008 due to the "climate of fear and control" that he employed, which included elements of "brainwashing" and telling congregants to beat their children with rods. He was accused of improper use of church funds, and forcing congregants to labor for free. A leader of the Cologne church said Jones did not "project the biblical values and Christianity, but always made himself the center of everything." Others accused him of being violent and fanatical. Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported that church members said Jones ran the Cologne church like a cult, using psychological pressure.
Between 2001 and 2008, Jones served as the part-time pastor of the Gainesville, Florida church Dove World Outreach, frequently traveling back and forth between Germany and the United States. Jones assumed full-time duties at Dove World Outreach in 2008 after leaving the German church. By September 2010, Dove World was said to have 50 members, with about 30 members reportedly attending services.
In 2010, Jones published Islam Is of the Devil, a polemic that claims Islam promotes violence, and that Muslims want to impose sharia in the United States. After Jones announced the Quran burning, the German Evangelical Alliance denounced his theological statements and his craving for attention.
Following an invitation from the English Defence League, Jones considered attending a rally in Luton in the UK in February 2011 to share his views. The anti-fascist group Hope not Hate petitioned the Home Secretary to ban Jones from entering the country. In January 2011, Home Secretary Theresa May announced that Jones would be refused entry to the UK 'for the public good'.
Jones' actions have prompted a religious group to place a $1.2 million bounty on his head; Hezbollah, a Lebanese political party and militant group, has announced a $2 million bounty.
On April 22, 2011, Jones planned to visit the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, Michigan, to protest sharia, but was arrested, tried and jailed. Local authorities had required him either to post a $45,000 "peace bond" to cover Dearborn's cost if Jones was attacked by extremists or to go to trial. Jones contested that requirement, and the jury voted to require the posting of a $1 "peace bond", but Jones and his co-pastor Wayne Sapp continued to refuse to pay. They were held briefly in jail, while claiming violation of First Amendment rights. That night Jones was released by the court. On November 11, 2011, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Robert Ziolkowski vacated the "breach of peace" ruling against Terry Jones and Wayne Sapp on the grounds that they were denied due process. Both men's criminal records have since been expunged.
On the evening of April 22, 2012, soon after he was interviewed at WJBK, Jones' gun fired accidentally as he got into his car.
The city allowed him to protest on April 29, a week after the trial, in a designated "free speech zone" outside Dearborn City Hall. Muslim protesters lined Michigan Avenue across the street from City Hall. About an hour into the protest, the crowds broke the barricades and a police line. They rushed the street but were quickly contained by riot police crews. The crowd was throwing water bottles and shoes at supporters of Jones. Police worked to push the crowd back across Michigan Avenue. At least one arrest was made.
2010 threat to burn a Quran
In 2010, Jones announced plans to burn the Quran on the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, which he dubbed "International Burn a Quran Day". A wide range of politicians and religious groups strongly condemned the planned Quran desecration event. Jones said he canceled the event and intended to go to New York to meet with the imam of Park51, Feisal Abdul Rauf. After saying he would never burn the scriptures, on March 20, 2011, Jones oversaw the burning of a Quran.
This prompted protests, including an attack in Afghanistan that resulted in the deaths of at least 14 people. In April 2011, Jones said he is considering a trial of Muhammad for "crimes against humanity".
Background
Dove World Outreach Center, where the Quran burning was to occur, is a small congregation in Gainesville, with approximately 50 members. The church, led by pastor Terry Jones and his wife, Sylvia, first gained media attention in the late 2000s for its anti-Islamic and anti-homosexual messages. In 2009, Dove World posted a sign on its lawn which stated in large red letters "Islam Is of the Devil". Several members of the church also sent their children to their first day of school in August 2009 wearing t-shirts with "Islam Is of the Devil" printed on the back.
The proposal to burn Qurans began with a series of Twitter messages on July 12, and a related discussion on the now-removed Facebook group "Islam Is of the Devil", named after Terry Jones' book. Jones invited Christians to burn the Muslim holy book to remember all 9/11 victims. It was to be held from 6 p.m. to 9 pm. The idea initially had little support and considerable opposition, but Religion News Service ran a story describing Jones' claim that he had received Qurans to burn. CAIR refused to respond, but other religious organizations did. On July 25, Jones posted a YouTube video in which he held up a Quran and said "This is the book that is responsible for 9/11. No, to me it looks like the religion of the devil" which garnered substantial media attention. On August 3, Gainesville mayor Craig Lowe asked the world's media to ignore Jones' church as a "tiny fringe group and an embarrassment to our community", but coverage continued to increase. In early August, Sunni scholars at al-Azhar University in Cairo issued a statement warning of "dangerous consequences" if Qurans were burned. U.S. President Obama condemned the plan saying it would endanger the lives of U.S. troops abroad. American Muslims responded by saying they would celebrate September 11, 2010, as 'love Jesus day' emphasizing the fact that Jesus is believed to be a messenger of God in Islam. Other groups asked people to celebrate Read the Quran Day as a means to international understanding.
Reactions
==Local (Florida) ==
A Gainesville Interfaith Forum which was established in November 2009 in response to earlier anti-Islam activities of the church requested for the declaration of September 11 as "Interfaith Solidarity Day", a request that was honored by mayor Craig Lowe. The Forum scheduled a "Gathering for Peace, Understanding and Hope" at Trinity United Methodist Church on the day before the planned burning. Mayor Lowe referred to Dove World as a "tiny fringe group and an embarrassment to our community". Twenty local religious leaders gathered Thursday, September 2, 2010, to call for citizens to rally around Muslims "in a time when so much venom is directed toward them."
==National==
Shortly after the event was announced, the National Association of Evangelicals recommended that the event be canceled. The Southern Baptist convention also spoke out against it. The World Evangelical Alliance "asks Muslim neighbors to recognize that the plans announced by a Florida group to burn copies of the Quran on September 11 do not represent the vast majority of Christians." "It dishonors the memory of those who died in the 9/11 attacks and further perpetuates unacceptable violence." The event is broadly condemned by American religious leaders.
John Rankin, President of the Theological Education Institute in Connecticut, has started a "Yes to the Bible, No to the Burning of the Quran" effort. Also Jennifer Bryson is advocating Christian intra-faith dialogue and Christian rejection of "Burn a Quran Day".
Feisal Abdul Rauf, the cleric behind the move to build a Muslim community centre near "Ground Zero" (Park51) said that, should the burning of Qurans have gone ahead, it would have created a disaster in the Muslim world, strengthened the radicals, and enhanced the possibility of terrorist acts against America and American interests.
He also added that retracting the decision to build the mosque would send a wrong message that "moving it is that the headline in the Muslim world will be 'Islam is under attack in America'."
A group of American veterans of the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan wrote an open letter to HuffPost calling on the American public to respect "the values we risked our lives to protect". "When citizens here participate in hateful rhetoric and intolerance toward Muslims, it leaves soldiers over there exposed." The letter concludes by asking "America, you gotta have our back."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, "It's regrettable that a pastor in Gainesville, Florida with a church of no more than fifty people can make this outrageous and distressful, disgraceful plan and get, you know, the world's attention." She also said, "It doesn't in any way represent America or Americans or American government or American religious or political leadership," and she emphasized the hope of the U.S. Government that the church would not go through with their plans. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates called Pastor Jones asking him not to go through with his Quran burning. The U.S. embassy in Kabul issued a statement condemning the plans. Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretary, criticized the plans stating "any type of activity like that that puts our troops in harm's way would be a concern to this administration."
The commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus said, "It is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems. Not just here, but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community." On the same day hundreds of Afghans protested in Kabul against the planned Quran burning event, chanting "death to America" and throwing rocks at a passing military convoy. Military officials also expressed fears that the protests would spread to other cities. Military officers at the Pentagon consequently said they hoped the rare incursion into politics by a military commander would convince Pastor Jones to cancel his plans. The pastor responded to Petraeus' statement that, "We understand the General's concerns. We are sure that his concerns are legitimate. [Nonetheless] [w]e must send a clear message to the radical element of Islam. We will no longer be controlled and dominated by their fears and threats."
Republicans in Congress also criticized Jones and his plans. House Minority Leader John Boehner said: "Just because you have a right to do something in America does not mean it is the right thing to do." Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin also criticized Jones, calling his plans "insensitive and an unnecessary provocation," and Republican 2008 presidential nominee John McCain and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell both argued that the actions of Jones put American troops overseas at risk. President Barack Obama made a statement on ABC News regarding the event, stating that "what he is proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans." He added that Terry Jones' plan to burn the Quran will put American soldiers at risk. One book distribution website, SacredBookSource.com, offered to give away 1,001 free Qurans and 1,000 free Bibles for every Quran Jones destroyed.
==International==
The German Evangelical Alliance formally dissociated itself from the proposed Quran burning, because of the widely circulated report that in his time in Cologne, Jones had been associated with the evangelical alliance.
The Al-Falluja web forum threatened a bloody war against America in response to the burning of the Quran.
Various other Muslims, such as Ahmadiyya have argued that the Dove World Outreach Center is not following the true teachings of Christianity of tolerance and love. They quote Jesus: "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you..."(Gospel of Matthew 5:44–45). The Head of the Community, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, has stated that "Religious extremism, be it Christian extremism, Muslim extremism or any other kind, is never a true reflection of the religion".
On August 27, approximately 100 people protested in Indonesia outside the U.S. Embassy. Roni Ruslan of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which advocates Islamic law, said,
No one will be able to control this reaction.... We urge the U.S. government and Christian leaders to stop the crazy plan from this small sect. It's an insult to Islam and to 1.5 billion Muslims around the world.
On September 4, thousands of Indonesians, mostly Muslims, took part in events across the country organized by Hizbut Tahrir. Rokhmat Labib, chairman of the group, called the planned book burning a provocation and predicted that Muslims would fight back should it take place. Lahib said that Muslims must not stay silent when their faith is threatened.
The World Evangelical Alliance condemned the plans to burn the Quran.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a statement declaring that "A key tenet of our faith is to accord everyone the freedom to worship as they choose. It is regrettable that anyone would regard the burning of any scriptural text as a legitimate form of protest or disagreement."
Humanists International was also critical of the plans to burn the Quran.
On Friday, September 10 in the northern Afghan city of Fayzabad, thousands took part in a protest against the planned Quran-burning following Eid ul-Fitr prayers. Violent demonstrators threw stones at a German-controlled NATO base. Initial reports said troops inside opened fire, killing up to three people and injuring several others, but a local police official said that only local police, not the NATO troops, were involved in the shooting. According to the acting police chief of Badakhshan, the protesters broke down the first perimeter gate surrounding the base and beat Afghan security guards and police on duty with sticks. Before opening, fire police allegedly fired warning shots and were also fired upon from the direction of the demonstrators, said the police official. A local police chief talking to the BBC gave his estimates of the number of protesters to around 1,500 but said that the incident that led to the shooting was a separate one with 150 people participating. This official also said that private security guards were the ones who fired at the people who tried to force their way inside the base. NATO has launched an investigation into the incident. General Zahir Khan of the Kabul police described Quran-burning a thinly disguised pretext for anti-government rallies with the Taliban in attendance.
Protest rallies were held in several other Afghan provinces: Nimruz, Kunar, Nangarhar, Parwan, Baghlan, Kunduz, Balkh and Farah. The Afghan President Hamid Karzai also spoke out against the burning of Qurans saying, "By burning the Quran, they cannot harm it. The Quran is in the hearts and minds of one-and-a-half billion people. Insulting the Quran is an insult to nations." Protests continued throughout the next two days, with three protesters wounded on September 11 and four on September 12 as Afghan security forces shot into groups of protesters, some armed with sticks or throwing stones, to disperse them. Two died in hospital due to severe gunshot wounds. On September 11, protests continued in the country, when Afghan security forces fought back thousands of demonstrators. Four demonstrators were wounded by security forces; firing when they tried to storm several government buildings in Puli Alam, in Logar Province. They also hurled stones at such buildings as the department for women's affairs. In Badakhshan province, another thousand people protested three separate districts, though the police chief said it was peaceful.
The prominent Qatar based scholar, Yusuf al-Qaradawi despite condemning the desecration said,
Responding to an assault is not by carrying out another assault, as this is discouraged in Islam .... Moreover, we, as Muslims, are required to show respect to and believe in the divinely-revealed books and all preceding prophets. If a person insults Jesus (peace be upon him), I, as a Muslim, should feel annoyed by this and act in his defense. This is what happened upon the release of a film which attacked Jesus: Muslims living in the country where the film was shown reacted angrily in protest. We believe in and highly respect all prophets and messengers, including Moses and Jesus (peace be upon them all).... The noble Quran even goes further and forbids us from cursing the pagans' idols, saying: (And do not abuse those whom they call upon besides Allah, lest exceeding the limits they should abuse Allah out of ignorance.) (Al-An`am 6:108).
Small rallies were reported in Pakistan in Karachi and the central Pakistani city Multan with around 200 protesters. There were also protests in Indonesia, Gaza, and India, a non-Muslim majority country. On September 15, regarding reports that at least 20 deaths worldwide were connected to Quran desecration protests, Randall Terry responded that "Such logic is like saying that a woman who is abused by her boyfriend or husband is guilty of bringing violence on herself because she said or did something that irritated him."
Protests in Kashmir escalated over several days, as Quran demonstrations quickly turned into separatist protests against the Indian government in the Muslim-majority province. On September 13, protesters defied a military-imposed curfew, setting fire to a Christian missionary school and government buildings. At least 13 people were shot dead by police, and one policeman was killed by a thrown rock; at least 113 policemen and 45 protesters were wounded. On September 12, a church was burned and a curfew instituted in Punjab. Violence also spread into Poonch in the Jammu division, with three protesters shot by police. Protesters burned several government offices and vehicles. Police prevented the burning of a Christian school in Poonch, and another in Mendhar the next day, in clashes leaving four protesters killed, 19 wounded, but dozens of government offices, a police station, and eight vehicles were burned. As of September 16, the Hindustan Times placed the death toll at 90, blaming much of the resentment on the indefinite military curfew, the first in ten years to affect the entire Kashmir Valley.
In Somalia, the al-Qaeda–inspired group Al-Shabaab organized a protest rally against the Quran-burning attended by thousands.
The head of Iran's Islamic Culture and Relations Organization labeled the Quran burning proposal a "Zionist" insult. A group of Iranian students also protested outside the Swiss embassy in Tehran to protest the desecration of the Quran, and chanted slogans condemned the desecration on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The Iranian House of Cartoon invited international artists to an online exhibition to condemn the desecration of the Qurans on the theme of Devil against Holy Books, Devil against Human Nature and Terry Jones. More than 30 cartoons had been submitted from Iran, Turkey, Brazil, Ukraine and other countries since the event was announced on September 13. While there would be no prizes, the entries would be published at a later date. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called the proposal "heinous" at a joint press conference with his Malawian counterpart Etta Banda. He also added that "The stance of the Muslim world, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, is transparent: Condemnation of this heinous, insulting and sacrilegious act by whoever perpetuated it. We clearly see the hands of the Zionists behind all threats and provocative moves [aimed to strain relations] between the believers of various faiths. This is exactly the sort of extremist move that seeks to realize their objectives through creating religious discord."
Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Khazaee, said he had filed a complaint with the body to "attract the international community's attention to Iran's stance and to warn against the serious repercussions of insulting the holy book of Muslims and hurting the religious feelings of more than one-fourth of the world's population." He also condemned the actions as "abhorrent." Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani censured the US for its apparent silence on the "outrageous act of desecrating the holy Quran, urging the Muslim world to take swift action against it." He added that the "silence of those who beat the drums for freedom and democracy on the blasphemous decision has drawn the ire of freedom-seeking humans and stirred international hatred of the U.S." He also said the desecration of the Quran would be a "brutal" act that shows "barbarism in the modern era." While he concluded that such measures would "undoubtedly hurt spiritual and religious feelings of millions of Muslims across the world as well as followers of all divine faiths," and warned American legislators they should expect a "harsh fate" if they do not act "wisely." The parliament's Presiding Board member, Mohammad Dehqan, said that "Whenever Zionists want to cover up their atrocities in Palestine, they try to trigger anti-Islamic sentiments across the United States and the West to deflect global public attention from their brutalities against Palestinians." He also criticised the "Zionists" for trying to paint a violent picture of Islam to discourage others from converting to Islam; he went on to urge Muslims around the world to "remain united to stop the recurrence of similar profane moves." The head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of parliament, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, said the "U.S. police reluctance to react to such sacrilegious action indicates Washington's green light to such a heinous crime. The U.S. government should take serious action against the perpetrators of this provocative move and declare its stance on that regard." Grand Ayatollahs Hossein Noori Hamedani and Naser Makarem Shirazi favored the killing of Quran-burners, but that the permission of a religious judge was required.
In Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani cautioned people to show restraint labeling the act "expression of hatred of Islam."
==Counter protests==
A hacker with nickname "Iraq Resistance" posted a voice-altered video to YouTube published under the byname "iqziad", claiming to have released the "Here you have" computer worm to "demand respect for Islam", blaming Terry Jones, and saying "I can smash all of those infected, but I wouldn't". The worm, first discovered August 20, attacked organizations including NASA, Walt Disney, and the Florida Department of Transportation, and produced spam that rose to 10% of all email traffic on September 9.
In South Africa, on September 10, Johannesburg businessman Mohammed Vawda had announced his own intention to burn the Bible on September 11 in the Johannesburg CBD in response to DWOC's own announcement. However, an Islamic lawyers' association, Scholars of the Truth, quickly intervened by filing an injunction against Vawda in court on the basis of opposition against burning any religious texts, and Judge Sita Kolbe of the Gauteng Division granted the injunction, thus prohibiting Vawda's announced burning. Lawyer and Scholars of the Truth spokesperson Yasmin Omar, who spearheaded the injunction with her husband Zahir, stated that the judge's ruling established that "freedom of expression is not unlimited if one exercises freedom of expression that is harmful to others".
==Governmental reactions==
Canada. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, condemned the planned Quran-burning in unequivocal terms, and said, "My God and my Christ is a tolerant God, and that's what we want to see in this world".
Cuba. Former president Fidel Castro called the planned book burning "a huge media show". After Jones called off the event, Castro said, "It would be nice to know what the FBI agents who visited him said 'to persuade him.'"
France. Defence minister Hervé Morin said that the threatened Quran burning and a French ban on face coverings enacted shortly afterward did not put French or NATO troops at increased risk: "when you are at the maximum, you cannot go higher".
Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel said of the planned Florida event, "It is plainly disrespectful – even abhorrent. It's simply wrong."
Indonesia. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned in a televised speech that the plans to burn the Quran threatened world peace.
Iran. Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei said "All Muslims hold the U.S. government and their politicians accountable. If the US government is sincere in its claims of not having been involved in this incident, it must mete out a befitting punishment to the main perpetrators of this serious crime". President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the plan a "Zionist plot that is against the teachings of all divine prophets."