From Spero News and Alliance Defense Fund:
World: Africa
South African court bans burning of Koran and Bible
Saturday, September 11, 2010By Mariana Barillas
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On September 10, 2010 a South African high court banned a Muslim activist from organizing a “Bible burning day” at the Library Gardens in Johannesburg on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The event was meant to be a response to the planned Qur’an burning in Florida by Pastor Terry Jones.
An Islamic intellectual organization, The Scholars of Truth, launched a court interdict to prevent Mohammed Vawda from organizing the event. The defense, led by Attorneys Zehir Omar and Yasmin Omar, argued that the protest would be insulting to all religions and would only serve to divide people. Zehir Omar and Yasmin Omar are a married Muslim couple.
In the hearing in the South Gautneg High Court, Judge Sita Kolbe agreed with the defense and banned the event from taking place. The ruling will also prevent the burning of Bibles and other religious texts.
After the verdict had been reached Mr. Zehir Omar said,” I’m very pleased the judge came to this decision. Not only did he ban this protest but he also banned other people from burning the Bible.
“Judge Kolbe ruled that freedom of expression is not unlimited if one exercises freedom of expression that is harmful to others…. We now hope American judges will see this decision and act accordingly by banning the burning of the Qur’an in America,” he said.
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“But now I have been enlightened by the judge who said that by burning the Bible, I am also burning the Qur’an because we share the same prophets. In a sense I have been stopped by two laws: the law of South (Africa) and the law of the Qur’an.”
Mrs. Yasmin Omar said,”What Mr. Vawda wanted to do is not just morally wrong but it is an affront to Islam. We regard Jesus as a prophet who is part of the Qur’an so if he burns the Bible, he is burning part of the Qur’an.
“We do not want trouble like this in South Africa and it must be stopped because it could soon get out of control-where will it end? Next it could be the burning of religious temples, churches. What this man was planning to do is an affront to any decent person whether they are Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or whatever.”
The decision came a day after Pastor Terry Jones announced that he was suspending his controversial plans to have a mass burning of Qur’ans on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
The Muslim Judicial Council in South Africa asked Jones to become more familiar with the Qur’an before burning it.
A spokesperson said that the very idea of having such a protest was a major cause of concern because it shows that “extreme views” have endured.
“We hope that they realize their actions do nothing good for mankind…. Right now if you look at the world, at natural disasters for instance, if we are faced with stand together.”
She also said that the plan to burn Bibles in South Africa was against Islamic teachings.
Other South African groups also condemned the idea of Bible burnings saying that the plans of a radical were not representative of the majority of Muslims living in the country. There are approximately one million Muslims living in South Africa and nearly 30 million Christians.
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