A spokesman of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Jeddah said Tuesday that the OIC was alarmed and disturbed over reports and internet video postings of an initiative taken by the Dove World Outreach Center Church of Gainesville, Florida, USA, to burn copies of the Holy Quran on September 11 to commemorate the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York in 2001. The OIC Spokesman said that the initiative taken by the Florida Church to agitate American people to burn a copy of the Holy Quran was a motivated act of hatred and religious intolerance and that it was appalling and atrocious and went against all manifestations of the civilized behavior. In a statement issued here yesterday, the spokesman expressed fear that the burning of the Holy Quran which preaches peace and tolerance and is against killing of the innocent lives, would evoke anger across the Muslim world and provoke unrest. The spokesman said that the OIC Secretary General and the OIC Office in New York have already taken up the issue with the concerned US authorities and conveyed their concerns. "The OIC hopes that the initiative would be rejected by the American people as a whole, and that the US Government would take appropriate steps to protect the sacred religious sentiments of Muslims of America and of the Muslims across the world," he added.
