Al-Azhar Condemns Quran Desecration by US Candidate

IQNA – Al-Azhar’s Observatory for Combating Extremism has strongly condemned the recent burning of the Quran by an American political candidate.

The observatory described the act as a deliberate provocation and an assault on the sacred beliefs of millions of Muslims worldwide.

The statement, reported by Egypt’s Al-Youm Al-Sabea, denounced the act carried out by Valentina Gomez, a candidate for Texas’s 31st congressional district, who filmed herself torching a Quran with a flamethrower in a viral video. 

The video was captioned: “I will end Islam in Texas so help me God.”It quickly spread online, sparking outrage from Muslim advocacy groups, political leaders, and civil society organizations.

“This crime is not an isolated act but an intentional incitement and a flagrant violation of what Muslims around the world hold sacred,” Al-Azhar said. 

The institution warned that such actions fuel white supremacist terrorism and embolden extremist nationalist groups to commit further hate crimes against Muslims.

In her video, Gomez also declared, “America is a Christian nation, so those ‘terrorist’ Muslims can go to any of the 57 Muslim nations. There is only one true God, and that is the God of Israel.” 

The comments drew widespread condemnation and led to her being banned from all major social media platforms except X.

Al-Azhar stressed that the use of extremist political propaganda of this kind undermines values of tolerance and peaceful coexistence, while reflecting the alarming rise of Islamophobia fueled by far-right rhetoric worldwide.

The observatory called for the adoption and enforcement of laws to hold extremists accountable when they deliberately insult Islam and Muslims. It also urged global action to confront what it described as a growing pattern of hate crimes that threaten social harmony and public safety.

So far, authorities in Texas have not opened an investigation into Valentina Gomez’s Quran desecration, despite the act drawing widespread condemnation. Under US law, such actions are generally shielded by the First Amendment’s protection of free speech, unless they involve direct threats, incitement to violence, or damage to property.

This legal gap means that even incendiary acts targeting a religious community—seen by many as fueling hate and division—often go unpunished unless they clearly cross into criminal territory.

 

 

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