“Some non-Muslims are asking: ‘Why are Muslims so upset about the desecration of the Qur’an while there were no protests when their own fellow Muslims were being tortured and killed?’ There are several responses. First, the Qur’an is a sacred book because it is the Word of God; therefore, it is natural to be outraged by its desecration. Second, of course Muslims are also distressed and outraged by the torture and killing of their fellow sisters and brothers. Third, I believe that the desecration of the Qur’an was the catalyst for protests by Muslims all over the world because after the deaths of thousands of civilians in Palestine, Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Iraq, the exposure of the Abu Ghraib pictures and the revelations of torture in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay by American soldiers, in my opinion, the desecration of the Qur’an was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Bint Adam writes. Islam Online, 2 June 2005