Florida Pastor Sparks Quran Furor

By Warda Bukhari

Islam’s holy book, the Quran.

“Every time I pray, I question Allah why we Muslims have to go through so much,” Ohlone student Nida Faiz said. “What crime have we pursued for you to be punishing us with such disgrace and discrimination?”

Life for American Muslims continues to be difficult and complicated. People ask, “Why are we treated like this? What makes us personally involved? Why are we ignorantly judged on an incident we had nothing to do with?”

“After the September 11th attack, it was incredibly hard for me to tolerate school every day, because I wear a hijab,” said Sahnah Khan, an 18-year-old pharmacist major at Heald College. “Not only did I enter my classes with students giving me bizarre looks, but also I swallowed harsh comments such as, `Take that thing off, terrorist.’ This de-motivated me to the point that I wanted to quit on everything.”

In the weeks leading up to the 9/11 anniversary this year, Terry Jones’ “International Burn a Koran Day” came to symbolize this anti-Muslim sentiment.

In his book, “Islam is of the Devil,” Jones writes, “Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world, it masquerades itself as a religion of peace and harmony” but “it’s actually the religion of violence, it is a religion of oppression, it is a religion that threatens our lifestyles and our way of life.”

Jones did not return repeated phone calls and e-mails for comment on this story. Church members who were contacted by phone refused to answer questions.

In an interview with Spiegel Online, Jones’ daughter, Emma Jones, said her father began railing against Islam after he left Cologne, Germany, where he founded a church and lived from 1981 to 2008.

“He began saying that Islam is getting the upper hand and that we can’t allow it,” she said. “But I didn’t grow up with this radicalism.”

Most people, Muslims or not, dismissed Jones’ proposal as an act of fringe bigotry.

“I am not a Muslim, but doing something like that, I mean publishing a book about how bad someone else’s religion is, is absolutely wrong and unjust,” said Keerat Kaur, a pharmacy major at Stockton Delta College.

Still, Jones also received a lot of encouragement for his protest. Supporters mailed copies of the Islamic holy text to his church, which has about 50 followers. He launched his Quran-burning campaign through social networking sites such as Twitter, MySpace and Facebook, where more than 12,000 people said they “like” Jones’ Quran-burning page, according to United Press International.

Jones’ use of social media helped him gain publicity, and immediately grabbed everyone’s attention. As the news spread, it quickly became a hot topic on cable news and other media outlets.

“It started as a provocative suggestion on a Facebook group – but within two months, it was being described as a threat to world peace,” Matthew Weaver wrote in the British newspaper The Guardian and it caught everyone’s attention, especially Muslims.

“When my friend told me about this Facebook group, I made fun of her, but when she forwarded me the link, I was spellbound,” Ohlone student Nahzat Bellagh said. “As if the Quran burning wasn‘t enough, this left me speechless. I marked this as the bottom line. It made me emotional.”

Just two days before 9/11, Jones announced that he was canceling the event, claiming he was promised that the planned site of an Islamic center and mosque would be moved from its location near Ground Zero. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the leader of the proposed center, denied such a deal.

Still, when the dust settles, Jones’ aborted plan may exact a price. The city of Gainesville, Fla., where the church is located, billed Jones for more than $180,000 for security costs after he received death threats.

“He deserves it – it’s called payback,” Ohlone student Shirin Campwala said. “The torture he made Muslims go through is nothing compared to what he is going through.”

While Jones’ plan never came to fruition, it is representative of a larger trend. Some in the western world are uncomfortable or even angry with Islam. Fortunately this makes up a small portion of the population. In the end, two extremes on either side have hijacked the debate. As long as extremist acts in the name of Islam and people like Jones have a platform, the discourse will spiral out of control.