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The Toyama Incident
A copy of the Qur’an was stolen and
100 of its Holy pages torn out and scattered on the road in May this
year.
Kosugimachi,
in Toyama Prefecture of Japan, was the place where gangsters had harassed
a Pakistani brother prior to the Holy pages being found in the front of
the showroom of his Used Car Dealership.
Anti-Muslim flyers were also found on a road in
Kosugimachi.
A 500 strong demonstration was held
and Muslim delegations went to the Foreign Ministry to demand steps to
be taken in preventing the harassment of Muslims in Japan.
The Japanese
government and Foreign Ministry have agreed to carry out necessary
investigations to identify those responsible for the discriminatory
actions.
There have been mixed reactions from
Japan's Muslims, with a variety of thoughts as to the best solution
to handle the incident. Some have felt that public demonstrations are
more important, while others think it is more important to conduct
negotiations, or use other solutions. In the handling of the
incident, it has been seen that both negotiations and demonstrations
have played important roles.
 The well-organised demonstration was televised and the Japanese public
were surprised to see the united front of the Islamic faith and the
strength found within the Muslims.
Many Japanese were impressed upon
seeing the gathering on TV.
One Japanese businessman was quoted as
having said:
"I was surprised of the power of
religious faith."
It has been concluded that the demonstrations
have played a good role in introducing Islam to the non-Muslims.
The above information was provided with the kind
permission of Dr. Alpha Mahmoud Bah, Chairman
of IGS
(Islamic Guidance Society), an international scholarly organization
based in Japan: http://igs-alirshaad.net/
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