Muslim nations condemn Dutch Quran film

AMSTERDAM - MUSLIM nations condemned a film by a Dutch lawmaker that accuses the Koran of inciting violence, as Dutch Muslim leaders urged restraint.
Islam critic Geert Wilders launched his short video on the Internet on Thursday evening. Titled Fitna, an Arabic term sometimes translated as 'strife', it intersperses images of the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and Islamist bombings with quotations from the Quran, Islam's holy book.
The film urges Muslims to tear out 'hate-filled' verses from the Quran and starts and ends with a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad with a bomb under his turban, accompanied by the sound of ticking.
The cartoon, first published in Danish newspapers, ignited violent protests around the world and a boycott of Danish products in 2006. Many Muslims regard any depiction of the Prophet as offensive.
'The film is solely intended to incite and provoke unrest and intolerance among people of different religious beliefs and to jeopardise world peace and stability,' the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) said on Friday.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon condemned the film as 'offensively anti-Islamic' and said there was 'no justification for hate speech or incitement to violence'.
Iran called the film heinous, blasphemous and anti-Islamic, and Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation and a former Dutch colony, said it was an 'insult to Islam, hidden under the cover of freedom of expression'.
The Saudi Arabian embassy in The Hague said the film was provocative and full of errors and incorrect allegations that could lead to hate towards Muslims, news agency ANP reported.
Dutch Muslim leaders appealed for calm and called on Muslims worldwide not to target Dutch interests. The Netherlands is home to about 1 million Muslims out of a population of 16 million.
'Our call to Muslims abroad is follow our strategy and don't frustrate it with any violent incidents,' Mr Mohammed Rabbae, a Dutch Moroccan leader, told journalists in an Amsterdam mosque.
The Dutch Islamic Federation went to court on Friday to try to stop Mr Wilders from comparing Islam to fascism, saying he incited hatred of Muslims.
'Inflaming hatred'In a survey conducted on Friday, pollster Maurice de Hond found that only 12 per cent of those questioned thought the film represented Islam accurately, but 43 per cent agreed Islam was a serious threat to the Netherlands over the long term.
Mr Wilders has been under heavy guard because of Islamist death threats since the murder of director van Gogh. Support for his anti-immigration Freedom Party rose in anticipation of the film to about 10 per cent of the vote.
The Dutch government has distanced itself from Mr Wilders and tried to prevent the kind of backlash Denmark suffered over the Prophet cartoons.
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said he was 'proud' of how Dutch Muslim organisations responded to the film but that it was too early to draw conclusions on the international consequences: 'There are reasons for continued alertness.' Dutch exporters association Fenedex said it did not expect a negative impact on Dutch companies in Muslim countries.
There was a small protest by dozens of Islamists in Karachi on Friday, demanding that Pakistan sever diplomatic ties with Denmark and the Netherlands.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has expressed concern the film could worsen security for foreign forces in Afghanistan, including 1,650 Dutch troops.
Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard objected to the use of his drawing of the Prophet Mohammad, saying it was shown out of context and that he had taken legal action to have it removed.
'I think it is a very primitive film with many generalisations of Muslims. My cartoon aims at terrorists who use interpretations of the Quran and Islam as their spiritual dynamite,' Mr Westergaard said. -- REUTERS

UN's Ban condemns Dutch film as anti-Islamic

(29 March 08)

UNITED NATIONS - UNITED Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon condemned as 'offensively anti-Islamic' a Dutch lawmaker's film that accuses the Quran of inciting violence.
Mr Ban acknowledged efforts by the government of the Netherlands to stop the broadcast of the film, which was launched by Islam critic Geert Wilders over the Internet, and appealed for calm to those 'understandably offended by it'.
'There is no justification for hate speech or incitement to violence,' Mr Ban said in a statement on Friday. 'The right of free expression is not at stake here.'
The short film, titled Fitna, an Arabic term sometimes translated as 'strife', intersperses images of the Sept 11 attacks on the United States and Islamist bombings with quotations from the Quran.
The film urges Muslims to tear out hate-filled' verses from the Quran and starts and finishes with a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad with a bomb under his turban, accompanied by the sound of ticking.
Several Muslim countries, including Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia, have also condemned the film.

'Freedom must always be accompanied by social responsibility,' Ban said.
'We must also recognise that the real fault line is not between Muslim and Western societies, as some would have us believe, but between small minorities of extremists, on different sides, with a vested interest in stirring hostility and conflict,' Mr Ban said. -- REUTERS

Cartoons, new film targets Muslims

Many Muslims are asking whether some Europeans actually enjoy angering the Islamic world. As Danish newspapers republish inflammatory cartoons that portray the Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb as a turban and a Dutch member of parliament calls for the Koran to be banned, Muslims wonder about the so-called tradition of European tolerance.
The day after Danish police arrested three Muslims of North African decent for allegedly planning to murder the Jyllands-Posten cartoonist, who drew the offending cartoons, newspapers across the country republished those cartoons. They said freedom of the press was under threat and the cartoons have come to symbolize that freedom.
Dozens of other international publications followed the Danish press and published the cartoons. The Egyptian government and other nations in the Muslim world responded by banning publications that printed the caricatures of the Prophet.
A vast majority of Egyptians, who see the Danish cartoons as yet another attack on their religion and beliefs, welcomed the decision in Cairo. Muhammad Shennawy, a graphic designer, told the Middle East Times that restraint and understanding was needed in art.
"While they might have a right to publish the cartoons what they are doing is wrong, because they know how offensive it can be to Muslims," Shennawy said. "Personally, I believe that freedom of speech is good and needs to be upheld, but as an artist there is no reason to make something that will offend an entire people, especially now that they know exactly what kind of reaction they will get."
Ironically, Jyllands-Posten refused to publish cartoons depicting Jesus Christ a few years ago saying they did not want to offend their readers.
A leading English publication in Yemen suggested how Muslims could react to the cartoons. It said that non-Muslims fall outside Islamic jurisprudence, meaning that official complaints to the governments of the nations' newspapers were the only appropriate route.
"Islamic Sharia explains what to do when such insults occur. In this particular situation, where the offense comes from a non-Muslim, the measure stipulated in Sharia law is to ignore and let go," a Yemeni Times editorial argued.
Cartoons aside, a film from Dutch Member of Parliament Geers Wilder is brewing even more controversy in the Islamic world within weeks of its scheduled launch on television. The far-right politician critical of Islam plans to show his film, "Fitna" (Ordeal) in March.
In the film, Wilders accuses the Koran of inciting murder and argues that the Muslim holy book is "a horrible and fascist book" that encourages people to commit "awful acts."
"I hope that it will open people's eyes to the fact that the Koran should be banned like 'Mein Kampf," Wilders said in a November interview. The film is scheduled to air in March.
In an already tense atmosphere the Dutch government is remaining silent on the issue.
When asked to comment, the Dutch Embassy in Cairo referred journalists to the national press department at The Hague. The Hague refused to comment on the film, saying that Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, in a statement given during his weekly press conference with reporters on January 18, would suffice.
In the press conference, the prime minister deflected much of the issue, saying that what was in the film was "unknown" and that "there is no way of making an informed judgment about the work."
It has become apparent that concerns exist, both here and abroad, that the film could be offensive, potentially inviting heated reactions that could affect public order, public safety and security, and the economy," Balkenende continued.
"As you are aware, the government is preparing for the possible repercussions that the broadcast of the film could have, internationally as well as domestically. In this way we are shouldering our responsibility, just as we would in other circumstances."
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry has responded with a statement that condemns the actions of Wilders, and has called for increasing efforts for tolerance in Europe in the face of the ongoing Danish cartoons dispute.
"It is regrettable that European lawmakers and politicians use gratuitous methods to gain electoral votes by attacking the sacred values and religions of others," ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said.
Zaki added, in reference to Wilders, that politicians like him "focus their hatred on Islam" and are planning to show films undermining Islamic symbols and notions. He said that these actions, "feed hatred against Muslims and encourage extremism and confrontation instead of opting for dialogue based on mutual respect."
Sarah, an American Christian living in Egypt, put it this way: "It is obvious he [Wilders] has never read the Koran." --(ME Times)