What is the historical background of the act of burning the Holy Quran?

First of all, dear readers, it is necessary to take a look at the ground on which this issue is based as a historical depth. It is an undeniable fact that the "dialectic of identity", that is, the dialectic between identity and others, is at the heart of the West's view of the East. The West-East opposition, which is often referred to today, is shaped as a problem of cultural identity polarized in the context of the modernity-tradition or modernity-tradition distinction. As Ibn Khaldun states in his Muqaddim, throughout history, humanity has needed an "other" in order to define itself. 

It is a bond that comes from solidarity, solidarity and a sense of belonging, like the lymphatic network in the human body, which Ibn Khaldun succinctly states, and which gives the strength to exist against the other. In other words, it is not possible to call a society without enemies a nation. The more a society is marginalized, the more cohesive, contiguous and integrated it becomes. Ibn Khaldun's "asabiya theory" prioritizes being "us". In other words, the "bond of solidarity" that provides a sense of honor, a sense of honor, and the strength to deal with external enemies, is a prerequisite for being "us". The good needs the bad, the modern needs the old type, the civilized needs the primitive. It can only exist otherwise. For this reason, the West needs an "East" to create its own characteristics, and this East must be built in every field. It is possible to conceptualize the phenomenon of cultural identity as a situation that is formed in a close relationship with and against the "other". Accordingly, while the West represents modernity, the East has its share of "tradition". (1) 

Isn't it an interesting approach? Dear readers. If you don't travel much and stay in the country all the time, you probably don't feel this phenomenon much. Even today, I remember with a smile that when I went to Europe in my youth, the landlady was amazed and amazed that I was using cutlery. In fact, in the eyes of the West, the East is literally a "Recep İvedik" type. That is to say, it is a complete rascalism. It is a complete orientalism. So "What is Orientalism?" Today, Orientalism is a lens through which the peoples of the East are shown as frightening and "other". The West's view and interest in the East has not been limited to this. Has it not been of significant benefit? Undoubtedly it has. The West's interest in the East continued with the emergence of a field of scientific activity called "Orientalism" or "Orientalism" in universities. Chairs were first established in many universities by the Council of Churches in Vienna in the early 14th century to promote the understanding of eastern languages and cultures. Between 1700 and 1850, European minds divided the world into two opposing camps and forced opinion leaders to do the same. West and East (or West and the Rest). In the Christian world there was also a south-north divide, in the south Catholicism was identified with conservatism, conservatism and bigotry, while in the north Protestantism was defined as innovative and modernist. Both the South and the East are second class. The West is seen as superior to the East, just as the North is seen as superior to the South. 

The values supposedly possessed by the second-class East were seen as an antithesis to the values of the rational West. In particular, the West was imagined as blessed with unique virtues: It is rational, industrious, productive, altruistic, thrifty, liberal democratic, honest, authoritative and mature, advanced, resourceful, mobile, independent, open to development and dynamic. The East is the other to the West: irrational and arbitrary, lazy, unproductive, tolerant, attractive yet exotic and complex, despotic, corrupt, infantile and immature, backward, passive, dependent, static and unchanging, resistant to change. To put it another way, the West is defined by a set of progressive traits, while the East is defined by absences. (3) 

Edward Said, God rest his soul, a Maronite Christian whom I got to know at Columbia University, became associated with the subject of Orientalism and revolutionized the study of the Middle East. Said was drawn to Orientalism by his family, his own experiences and his curiosity. Said's interest in Orientalism began with the Arab-Israeli War and its representation in the American media. With his book Orientalism, Said introduced the postcolonial theory and put forward important paradigms regarding the colonization process of the West. What Edward Said has put forward is not Orientalism, but in fact Orientalism. Since Said, this term is and should be used in a negative sense. Orientalism is rooted in the word 'oriens', which means the rising of the sun, and in a geographical context it means the east. Although orient literally means "East, Orient", it is not Orientalism. 

In short, it is 'western discourse about the east', the western paradigm of the East. The West is so biased about the East that, as Said puts it bluntly: 

"How can people in the West have prejudices and ideas about the East without ever having been there?" (2)

In the works written, especially in the Middle Ages, the East was portrayed as exotic, corrupt, lecherous, full of secrets and monsters. In the art of that period, the East was intended to be reflected as a barbaric society not only with its sensuality, but also with its blood and sword objects. The historical foundations of this understanding are feudalism, a Europe dominated by vandalism. Feudal society's way of thinking is dominated by a characteristic that identifies togetherness, similarity and unity as "good", whereas diversity or difference as "bad". Living in such a cultural environment and mentality, the Christians of the Middle Ages established their relations with non-Christians, that is, with the "others", on the basis of this understanding or perspective. Within the framework of this understanding, on the one hand, groups within society such as heretics, Jews and lepers were reduced to the level of sub-humans, while on the other hand, Muslims, who were outside of society, had their share of the "Crusades" organized against "infidels". Thus, Muslims were labeled and humiliated as "infidels". Like antisemitism, hatred of Muslims has also stemmed from Islamophobia, which has developed over more than a thousand years. 

Indeed, according to Pope Urbanus II, who declared the First Crusade in 1095, Muslims were seen as servants of the devil. That is why the war against Muslims was considered as a war between the enemies and friends of God. According to them, the only friends of God are Christians. Christians represent "us", the good and the righteous. The "others" or "others" represent the bad and undesirable. The first thing to do in such a situation is to create an imaginary other identity. But who should be chosen for this? High-ranking Christian clergymen, who played an important role in the creation of the European identity, chose Islam as the most suitable candidate for this purpose and tried to unite Europe against it by identifying Islam with "the evil one" and "the threatening one". No one should have any doubt about this. The perceptions that stand out in the Western paradigm can be summarized as follows. 

1. Islam is monotonous, static, uniform and therefore closed to innovation and change.

2. Islam is seen as separate and other. It does not share common values with other cultures, does not influence others and is not influenced by them.

3. Islam is backward and inferior to the West. It is barbaric, irrational, primitive and sexist.

4. Islam is a violent, aggressive, threatening religion that supports terrorism and is involved in the clash of civilizations.

5. Islam is a political ideology, used for political and military interests.

6. Muslim criticism of Western culture has no value. Muslim criticism is rejected.

7. Hostility to Islam is used to justify discrimination against Muslims and exclusion of the majority.

8. Anti-Muslim hostility is seen as natural and normal.

After the September 11, 2001 suicide attacks on the twin towers and the Pentagon in the United States, Islam has become a major topic of media coverage, meetings and publications around the world, and has also led to the resumption of a kind of crusade, as challenged by US President Bush Jr. In fact, the perception of Middle Eastern identities in the American public opinion was that the previous identities of savage, uncivilized, incompetent, lecherous and simplistic were merged with the terrorist/terrorism phenomenon.  President Bush tried to portray the face of terrorism as the true face of Islam, although he later backtracked slightly. At a time when the discourse of conflict and polarization rather than interaction and dialogue between civilizations and cultures has intensified, one of the most frequently and widely used words has been "Islamophobia". 

It is seen that "Finland, Denmark and Sweden", which are touted as the so-called freest countries in the world, have become the address of anti-Islamic provocations, especially with the recent Mushaf Sharif burning incidents. Norway has been added to the Nordic countries where anti-Islamic protests are organized. Norway's Ambassador to Ankara, Erling Skjonsberg, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara and was warned. This is an extremely positive development. 

In fact, the burning of the Mushaf, which is clearly a hate crime, is a provocative act in the full sense of the word, in other words, it is a test to measure Turkey's reflex to resist. So much so that, for example, in Finland, in an article titled "Mushaf burning should be allowed", the issue was taken as a problem and it was argued that the problem was not in the burning of the book but in Erdoğan's reaction. As far as I am concerned, this is precisely the fiction of the incident. While the debates on this issue continue, provocations have gained momentum in Sweden, which is at the center of the scandals. Three Mushaf Sharifs with insults written on and in them were found in different parts of Ronneby county of Kariskrona city. (4) 

It is worth underlining one observation in this regard. There are no laws in European countries to prevent the burning of any book, sacred or not. In an environment where most churches and cathedrals are closed and rented out to Muslims for holy birth weeks, even if there are laws criminalizing blasphemy, they are rarely enforced. In the US, there has been a long debate about whether burning holy books is prohibited; burning flags is criminalized, but burning holy books is not. During the 2020 riots in Portland, Oregon, protesters burned American flags as well as piles of Bibles. (5) While burning a Qur'an is considered a fascist act, the law is clearly behind Paludan. 

On the other hand, from a conceptual and legal framework perspective, Articles 19 and 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) are recognized by both the US and the EU. These articles, which cover the right to freedom of religion, recognize religion as a personal and private matter and do not include state-sponsored interventions to prohibit any act of hate speech, except in cases of public order and national security. Therefore, Paludan can burn any religious book, especially the Koran, in the US or any other country. Obviously, Paludan carried out this heinous attack, which was planned and motivated behind closed doors, relying on tolerance and tolerance. All these are the stages of a new psychological war against Turkey. 

After all this, I would like to say that "what needs to be done is to bring societies together, the aim is not to build barriers and walls between societies, but to break down the walls and to see the other side, behind the mirror, as well as the Turkish-Islamic thinker and Sufi Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi, who guided humanity for centuries, who said, "I am a slave to the Qur'an as long as my life is in my skin." It is to be able to build the solidarity described with the word "Come". 

Footnotes

(1) Thierry Hentsch, The Imagined East: The West's Political View of the Mediterranean East, trans.

Bora. Istanbul: Metis Publications, 2008, p. 304; as cited in Mehmet Yüksel, "A Look at the Historical Foundations of Islamophobia: Orientalism or the West and the Other", IÜHFM C. LXXII, Sa. 1, Ankara, 2014, p. 191

(2) Su Efsane Akpınar, "What is Orientalism?", Medya İletişim Club Portal, February 28, 2020; https://medyaveiletisim.kulup.tau.edu.tr/oryantalizm-nedir/ Access Date 05.02.2023/

(3) Mehmet Yüksel, "An Overview of the Historical Foundations of Islamophobia: Orientalism or the West and the Other", IÜHFM C. LXXII, Sa. 1, Ankara, 2014, p. 191

(4) Diriliş Postasi, "Nordic Provocation", Istanbul, February 1, 2023, p.11

(5) Mustafa K. Erdemol, "Burning the Koran: A fascist act Laws are behind Paludan", https://halktv.com.tr/makale/kuran-yakmak-fasist-bir-eylem-yasalar-paludanin-arkasinda-714960/ Access Date 05.02.2023/