NATO Protocol and the Qur'an.

A secret message system using the Qur'an and other religious documents in progress by suspected Taliban prisoners? Well, despite the fact that this sounds like the opening scene of a Tom Clancy novel, there is a real world reality according to NATO personnel. This post is in response to the Afghan book “burning” that NATO forces are accused of committing. But it isn’t as though NATO has proudly come forward and said that they burned Qur’ans and they’d do it again. Rather, US General John R. Allen stated that “any "improper disposal" of religious materials was inadvertent.”[1] Even the U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta showed remorse for the burning saying “the incident [was] ‘inappropriate and deeply unfortunate’.”[2] Already, an investigation and review are underway. According to reports, the Qur’ans were confiscated by NATO forces in a prison deployment and found their way onto a rubbish truck late Monday night (the 20^th). Some of the books had already been burned before “five Afghans working at the pit noticed the religious books in the rubbish, they stopped the disposal process.”[3] General John R. Allen again stated that “When we learned of these actions, we immediately intervened and stopped them.”[4] This swift response will probably end up working in NATO’s favor as reconciliation moves forward.

However, for the Muslims affected by this terrible event, it is important to realize exactly what they are going through. According to BBC reports, there were visible displays of people crying when claims surfaced that foreign troops had set fire to the Qur’an. An obvious question from an uneducated on-looker would be why such a reaction to a book? Well, Michael Sells provides an adequate description of just what the Qur’an means to Muslims: “If there is any analogue to Christ in Islam… it is not Muhammad but the Qur’an itself.”[5] Along the same lines, Sells states that “the Qur’an itself was the miracle”[6] with Muslim thought generally viewing the Qur’an “as direct revelation to Muhammad [from God].”[7] Such distinctions illustrate the importance of the Qur’an to the practicing Muslim and also illustrate the importance of NATO soldiers realizing this. The argument that burning the Qur’an is as terrible if not worse than the burning of a Bible holds a lot of water honestly – while I would be hesitant to say it is worse, other have. The fact that NBC and Fox News both realize this fact[8] leaves me puzzled as to how NATO soldiers could act so wrongly. (I apologize for the disjointed nature of the dialogue on the site however it exhibits my point perfectly.) Such an action as the burning of the Qur’an or other religious documents clearly works contrary to NATO and ISAF’s (International Security Assistance Force) mission statements on their goals and roles in Afghanistan.[9]

Carl Ernst brings up a valid point in Following Muhammad[10] when he says that we must first change our perspective of Islam: “Non-Muslim commentators, who often take modern extremist Muslims to be the only true Muslims… characterize Islam as an intolerant religion.”[11] It is safe to say that most if not all religious traditions believe that their Holy texts have been inspired by ‘the Holy’ from one extent to another; just as the Bible is held to have been transcribed by its respective authors after inspiration from God, so too is the Qur’an seen as stemming from direct revelation from God. Ernst illustrates this point most effectively when he writes: “The Word of God… comes into existence through divine agency rather than human initiative.”[12]

Possibly the argument that is most relevant to this situation is that of historical example. Arguing from this position enables the use of precedent that leads one to the general feeling of fairness over time. What I mean by this is best exemplified by Ernst when he writes that “Islamic law [guaranteed] the rights of Christians and Jews.”[13] While there was a tax instituted and other forms of regulation, a religious pluralism has been documented through the history of several Muslim-dominated societies. How then, can NATO soldiers in good conscience commit such actions as burning the Qur’an? Frankly, these incidents are exceptions to the rule. Unfortunately, the burning of books of other creeds has been a thread throughout history: from the 2010 Florida Qur’an burning to non-approved bibles in Canton, North Carolina; New Testament Bibles were burned in Or Yehuda, Israel in 2008; Iraq’s National Library in Baghdad was sacked in 2003; Protestant books and Bibles by the Archbishop of Salzburg in 1731; and many other incidents.

As you can see, history is full of moments when one group acted destructively towards the literature of another. The loss of scholarly religious work in these events is catastrophic. If the modern world is to be any more pluralistic, open, liberal, or free than history, NATO soldiers realizing their responsibilities and meeting them is necessary. One way in which they may do this is by recognizing the nature of a Muslim’s relationship with the Qur’an that I have outlined above and never allowing an event such as the burning of a Qur'an to take place again.

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[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17110079

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Michael Sells, Approaching the Qur’an: The Early Revelations (White Cloud Press, 1999), 4.

[6] Michael Sells, Approaching the Qur’an, 2.

[7] Michael Sells, Approaching the Qur’an, 15.

[8] http://nation.foxnews.com/culture/2011/04/04/nbc-news-burning-koran-worse-burning-bible

[9] http://www.isaf.nato.int/mission.html

[10] Carl W. Ernst, Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World (University of North Carolina Press , 2003)

[11] Carl W. Ernst, Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World, 46.

[12] Carl W. Ernst, Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World, 96.

[13] Carl W. Ernst, Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World, 101.