An Open Letter to Violent Muslim Protestors from Imam Antepli

On February 28th, 2012 Imam Abdullah Antepli wrote an open letter to his fellow Muslims. The letter was published in the Huffington Post. The Imam’s letter addresses the violent protestors in Afghanistan reacting to the NATO Qur'an burning scandal.

Imam Antepli notes “For any Muslim who believes the sacredness of the Qur'an as God’s final revelation to humanity, that very same Qur'an condemns and rejects such anarchy in many of her verses and teachings.”

Imam Antepli goes on to comment that while “Respecting a physical copy of Qur'an could be understandable, [...] violating its central teachings and principles–for example by killing innocent people–just because someone disrespected or insulted a copy of the Qur'an is unacceptable, barbaric and reprehensible.”

“The uncivilized images of these violent protests by these irresponsible and violent Muslims shape the image of 1.6 billion Muslims all around the world.” At a time when Muslims around the world should be trying to project a better and more peaceful image of themselves such protests do the opposite and end up hurting us all.

Posted in: Abdullah Antepli, Islam, PeaceBuilding