Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
The preferred methods of disposal of a Qur'an are to either respectfully wrap it in a clean cloth and bury it, or respectfully place it in a river. Burning it is permissible if neither of the other two methods is possible. However, if the Qur'an is burned, all references to Allah (swt) and the messengers must be erased first.
The smart thing to do would have been to consult a local sheikh and determine the most appropriate way to dispose of them in a respectful manner. I'm sure you can see the difference between a respectful disposal and just burning them in a fire pit for no apparent reason by an occupying military force. And so far reports indicate they weren't supposed to be burned. That they had been removed from a prison library because Muslim prisoners were apparently writing messages to one another in them.
Note that the Muslim prisoners had defaced their holy book in the first place.
Certainly the US military should be, and usually is, very respectful of cultural and religious beliefs and sensitivities. For example, look at how Osama bin Laden's body was handled and buried with as much attention to religious tradition as possible. In this case, military personnel were not as sensitive to the niceties of disposing of a Koran and clearly made a mistake. The U.S.
tries to hold itself to a higher standard than Al Qaeda and its Taliban enablers. The terrorists certainly weren't very
respectful when they burned and destroyed the World Trade Center and a side of the Pentagon and the poor souls trapped inside and on those planes. And it's interesting that there were days of rioting in Afghanistan over a mistake about buring some copies of the Koran yet a rather muted response to this horrific mass killing involving a solider.