MIDDLE EAST: Jitters as Dutch movie 'Fitna' is released

Will the world witness soon another wave of angry Muslim protests?

The release on the Internet Thursday evening of a highly controversial Dutch film asserting links between Islam and terrorism raised fears of renewed riots, similar to those sparked in 2006 by the publication of derisive Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.

So far, according to Los Angeles Times correspondent Geraldine Baum in Paris, no violence was recorded related to the film, at least not in Holland:

"They were all disgusted by the film, but so far there isn't a big explosion," said [Dutch] police spokesman Arnold Aben. "In fact, it's quieter than usual here today. Sort of like a holiday."

The 15-minute film "Fitna," which in Arabic means strife, was made by an extreme right-wing Dutch lawmaker, Geert Wilders. The movie intersperses verses from Islam's holy book, the Koran, and inflammatory sermons by Muslim clerics, along with sensational images of terrorist attacks, including the 2001 attack against the World Trade Center in New York.

The film purports to show that Islam inspires its followers to commit acts of violence against adherents of other faiths, in particular Jews. One scene shows a little girl wearing a head scarf saying that Jews are "apes and pigs."

The film ends with a text reading: "Stop Islamization. Defend our freedom," followed by the explosion of the ticking bomb in the turban of the prophet Mohammad depicted in one of the controversial Danish cartoons.

Wilders claimed his film shows the truth about Islam to raise awareness among Europeans of the dangers this religion poses to their way of life.

But the Dutch government washed its hands of the documentary. Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende rejected the film's equation of Islam with violence and said the film did not nothing but "hurt feelings."

Dutch media refused to air the documentary, prompting the filmmaker to finally post it on the Internet this week.

Reaction in the Middle East has been muted so far. The Arabic satellite channel  Al Jazeera described the film as a tool of "propaganda" that attacks Islam on faulty grounds and presents verses from the Koran out of their context. The channel showed footage of protests by Muslims in the Netherlands, where banners describing the filmmaker as a "Zionist" were raised.

The Dubai-based website Islam Online said that clerics in the Netherlands were trying to soothe the anger of Muslims on the streets. The Council of Churches and Muslim organizations in the Netherlands are touring Muslim countries with a joint statement:

"It is reprehensible when that which is sacred in our religions is ridiculed and our faith offended. We therefore strongly reject all contempt and slander aimed at the Qur'an and the prophet Muhammad, just as we would not wish this with regard to the Bible and the Christian faith."

The somewhat muted reaction may show that it's getting harder and harder to shock people, even conservative Muslims, in a media-saturated world.

— Raed Rafei in Beirut

Photo: Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen, right, speaks to journalists outside the El Ouma Mosque in Amsterdam. The mayor visited the mosque to talk about the anti-Koran film "Fitna." Credit: Marcel Antonisse / AFP / Getty Images

Comments

[Xesenta.com]

ISLAM is the last sacred (and GOOD) relligion - because (man, mortals) cannot assess it. Inshallah. Xtianity fails in many ways - LARGELY because (you) second guess (God). Cut that out -and I guarantee u won't need vicadin.

[Chris K]

Well Done Mr. Wilders! I wish more people would expose this religion for what it is... and that is Satans Army! They call themselves a religion of peace in one breath and swear to kill all infidels the next... We will not ever live in peace as long as one member of that faith believes in the garbage that is spewing from their clerics and the Quran...What we need is a true holy war!! Only we'll bring the nukes!!! Hope everyone is prepared!

[Alex]

Check out http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3369102968312745410

...and to the idiot who called others racists. What race is Islam exactly?? Free Society must protect itself from people who are naive and arrogant, along from the Islamo-fascists. They are what they are.

[Ted M]

In America, people like Maplethorpe get tax-money grants for "art" that is nothing but a Christian crucifix in a glass of urine; movies that question whether Jesus ever existed are heavily advertised and win film awards. But joking about or criticism of Islam is taboo. Wilders seems to be a hateful person; but the censorship, the death threats, and the execution of people like Van Gogh who made similar movies unfortunately seem to prove the truth of the message.

[Kanitbeeso]

While all forms of religious fanaticism are negative, only Islam raises slaughter of all Kafirs (non-Muslims) to a holy creed, it teaches Muslims to gloat over the killing of non-Muslims and celebrate their death. Hence Islam is the most demented and dangerous form of religious fanaticism. And it is not Islamic fanaticism that is to be blamed for this, as Islam itself is fanaticism.
From its root to its fruit Islam is the most violent, and virulent form of this delusion that the unknown universe is a god and all those who do not accept this brand of fantasizing of the unknown universe have to be slaughtered. This is so since Islamic fanaticism was born in a barren and harsh desert environment that gave birth to the paranoid mentality of the Bedouin Arabs among whom was born Mohammed (yimach shmo ve-zichro - may his name and memory be obliterated), the founder of this blood-thirsty creed – Islam.
This blood-thirsty Muslim mentality has trickled down to the newest convert to Islam be he or she Brown Black, Yellow or White. Most importantly it makes Islam the worst enemy of quest and science and of all human progress. While all religions are opposed to science as the Pope was to Galileo and Copernicus; but it is Islam which is the most blood-thirsty expression of this challenge of religion to reason. So Islam will have to be the first to be removed from the path of human progress and the reply to Islam to be effective would have to be more blood-thirsty and paranoid than Islam itself.
Those opposed to Islam will have to be like the hunter who aims his rifle between the eyes of the man-eater tiger and shoots till the tiger is dead meat. The hunter bears no enmity with the tiger, but shoots him dispassionately, so that he himself can live, and NOT end up by becoming the dinner of the man-eater.
This has to be the attitude, not based on a hate of Islam, but a determination to put a full and final end to Islam, so that Human society can progress without the hindrance of any religion obstructing its path.

[Ehkzu]

Last fall I spent several weeks in Indonesia--which has the most Muslims of any nation on Earth. My group was obviouisly Western, yet we were treated really well everywhere we went. At the same time, the Mosques had PA systems that Metallica would have envied, and they blasted forth their call to prayer day and night (from 4:30am to 1:30am)--loud enough to wake you up in a hotel room several blocks from the mosque. This is true even in Bali, which is over 90% Hindu, and Sulawesi, which has a substantial Christian minority, and West Papua, which is Christian and regards Indonsia as a foreign occupying force.

Yet as i said on a personal level everyone was sincerely friendly. Heck, my middle-aged wife was treated like a rock star on the beach near Makassar, with young Muslim women running up to ask her if they could be photographed with her.

I draw from this that people are people but the Islamic power structure is culturally imperialistic to a degree most Americans would disapprove of if it was our culture being promulgated so offensively.

Of course they didn't feel embattled, there in their own country. Plus these weren't Arabs. Racially they're Malay or therabouts. And Malay culture is in my book a lot less prickly and more devoted to politeness as a virtue than is ture in the Middle East.

I wonder if our problem is really with the Arab Muslim world rather than Islam per se. Though that wouldn't account for Pakistan...

I do know that if I mde a movie portraying Christ as a con artist there'd a huge hoo-rah in this country. However, I doubt I'd be in fear for mjy life for the rest of my life, as would be true if I did the same about Muhammed here or anywhere else.

BTW an earlie post mentioned that Muhammed was a perv because he "married" Aisha when she was 6. But he wasn't a perv, because he waited until she was 9 before he started raping her. Hope that helps set the record straight.

Oh, and those 72 virgins you get to par-tay with forever if you die in holy combat? Some German scholars found that that section of the Koran was written in an obscure form of Amharic, and probably was referring to abundant produce, not sexual profligacy. Seems the ancient amharic word was really "grapes" not "virgins." Imagine the surpise of all those Jihidis who wind up in heaven and get handed a plate full of grapes...

BTW the German scholars are now in hiding of course.

Turns out murdering people really does silence the opposition.

[kath]

I agree with Alex. Islam is the only faith that cannot be criticized. Any time we (infidels) speak about Islam we have to run for our lives from Islamic extremists. Enough already, call a spade a spade, Islamic extremists are terrorists who want to commit genocide in the western world.

[Mark Smith]

From the FT story:

"Omar Bakri, the Libyan-based radical Muslim cleric who is barred from Britain, did not think the film was very offensive. "On the contrary, if we leave out the first images and the sound of the page being torn, it could be a film by the [Islamist] Mujahideen," he said."

Exactly. The scriptural basis for smiting kufar and murtadeen at their collective necks is the EXACT SAME paradigm followed in virtually every single video that has been put out by the pious (As-Sahab as an example). To claim that there is no scriptural basis for violent jihad against the kufar and murtadeen shows a level of ignorance of reality that is truly breathtaking to behold.

[newslamp]

Our site, the News Lampoon, will not be censored by threats from terrorists. That is why we have made “Fitna” available for our readers. While we understand why Live Leak caved in to these threats, we applaud Google for picking up the banner of freedom and making “Fitna” accessible to us and others. The News Lampoon does not believe that “Fitna” is completely accurate in every aspect of its portrayal of Islam, but, in spite of its faults, we believe “Fitna” to be an important film. Besides all that, we don’t like people we don’t respect trying to tell us what to do. The News Lampoon is militantly anti-censorship.

[Mukka]

Its not Geert Wilders who is giving Islam a bad name, its the thousands (if not more) of fundamentalists who wouldn't think twice before killing innocents. I don't see these muslims who are so offended now, taking to the streets against fundamentalism and mindless violence. Once they begin rooting out this problem from within their religion, they wouldn't have movies like Fitna to worry about.

[Gaby C]

Islam is not a religion of peace; the Koran states that infidels like me either have to convert to being a Muslim or die. Remember they want all of us Americans to die - whether black, white, Christian, Jew, gay or straight.

[Mark Smith]

The scriptural citations in Fitna from the Qur'an and the ahaddith and the basis that they provide for engaging in violent jihad are actually no different than those given by the pious such as Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Usama Bin Laden, Abu Bakr Nadji, etc. The apologists and taqiyya-addled in the West should pick up a copy of the Qur'an and read the Sunni as well as Shi'a collection of ahaddith. Don't forget that the Medinnan verses abrogate the earlier peaceful verses from the Meccan era of Muhammad. Perhaps watching a few of the speeches from the pious (cited above) would also help to put Fitna into its appropriate context.

[Sally]

Censorship is immoral. End of story.

[Ed L]

The most important thing about this controversy is the way in which a censorship lockdown has been effected, removing the film from the internet so that no one can see it. I have no way of knowing whether its point of view is legitimate or not, since I am prevented from watching and making my own judgment. In spite of having greater knowledge of the religious and cultural questions involved than does the average person, I cannot think about this because I am denied access to the material. This illustrates the worst of the faults of the current PC error.

[JDS]

Good move Connie, when you can't make a valid argument pull the race card. If someone is against illegal immigration: racist! If someone is against Islamic fascism: racist! It shows the level of your intellect, to be frank. You do realize Middle Eastern people and also those of the Balkans are considered "White", no? Or the Indonesians are in fact "Yellow"? What is the issue here is this Dutch politician should have the right to point out the extreme interpretations of Islam without fear. You are a naive hypocrite to counter that by calls of racism.

[Jon K.]

Connie,

"the fundamental beliefs of all faiths are just plain stupidity".

Such a statement not only proves you as a bigot, but a person who is woefully ignorant and arrogant.

[Jon K.]

Connie,

Yes, the Old Testament is also a relatively violent book and I don't like it either, for the most part, but it does not admonish it's followers to violence to anywhere near the same degree that the Koran and Hadith does. I know. I've read the books. Now, you calling me a bigot simply because I'm stating the obvious, simply shows that you are a person who throws out shameful terms like that as a reactionary form of self-defense when someone calls upon you to look at something uncomfortable that you'd rather avoid because comfort is more important to you than truth. Saying that I don't like people simply because of the color of their skin is completely ludicrous and if you don't believe me, it's your loss. This has nothing to do with individuals. It has everything to do with the fundamental characteristics of a particular religious philosophy.

[lee]

I wish Connie had read the NEW testament, which puts the OLD testament in proper context.

"the fundamental beliefs of all faiths are just plain stupidity and cowardice."

bravo.

[Connie]

TO JON K - Um, uh, dude. Have you read the Old Testament lately? Not exactly a book of peace and love. IMHO, the fundamental beliefs of all faiths are just plain stupidity and cowardice. it's pretty obvious to me, though, that you're just a bigot who doesn't like brown people.

[Alex]

Why is it that Islam can not be criticized? I think it is long overdue a lot of constructive criticism if you ask me! We are asked to be politically correct and put our heads in the sand and ignore the interpretations of Islam? It is disgusting.

[Jon K.]

Here's the thing...

These people who are apologizing, I guarantee you they have not read the texts. I guarantee you! If you've read the Koran and the Hadith and you still feel an apology is appropriate that's one thing, but to apologize when you don't even understand what fundamental beliefs of this faith is is just plain stupidity and cowardice. I've read the texts.

[Jon K.]

The reason why Muslims act in such extreme ways to "offenses" is because they are insecure about these obvious paradoxes and perversions in their faith. They externalize their internal discord instead of dealiing with these issues. Why don't they deal with these issues? Because the subservient, fundamentalist nature of their faith does not allow it. How am I to respect a faith who's founder (Muhammad) married a six year old girl (Aisha) when he was in his sixties? It's just sick.

[Jon K.]

Islam is the ONLY religion in the history of the world that was BOTH founded and initially spread through warfare. It is an inherently violent religion. Read the texts and it's clear. Anyone who argues otherwise is being disengenuous.