Islamophobia Watch

The Doha-based Muslim scholar Sheikh Yousuf al-Qaradawi has condemned the anti-Islam film released last Thursday by a far-right Dutch lawmaker.

He said the release was part of "a scheme to commit offences against Islam by extremists in the West. They continue to instigate hatred and widen the gulf between Islam and the West. Our problem is mainly with the extremist segment in the West which spares no chance to attack Islam and provoke Muslims into battles. It seems they seek gains of some type by raising fears about Islam. We were trying to forget the offending cartoons published by the Danish newspapers. We wanted to turn a new page with the West. But they reprinted them again. Muslims do not seek clashes or conflict," Qaradawi told the IslamOnline.net website.

Qaradawi, who is also the head of the International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS), told the website that Muslims should not tolerate frequent offences against Islam. "Muslims should demand that their governments implement a united and clear stance on such attacks. They should also boycott products of countries which accept such attacks by their citizens," he was quoted as saying.

However, Qaradawi appreciated the Dutch government for its stance on the movie saying that the response of the government was "positive". "I thank the government of Netherlands for condemning the movie," he said.

He also slammed the practices of Muslim extremists which, he said, distorted Islam's image. "Unfortunately, there are many Muslims who give the enemies of Islam the pretext to attack it. They give Islam a bad image because of their misinterpretation of the Holy Qur'an," he was quoted as saying.

About the content of the movie, he refuted its content as "baseless claims" saying that Qur'an in many of its verses calls for human brotherhood regardless of religion or ethnicity. "When wine was prohibited by Qur'an, the main reason for prohibition was that drinking can instigate hatred and cause troubles between people," he said.

On the so-called verses on Jihad which, the movie presented as an example of blood thirsty Islam, he said Islam does not tolerate killing. "Jihad in Islam was only to defend religion, home, honour and sanctities," he was quoted as saying.

Gulf Times, 30 March 2008

"So what did I think of the Geert Wilders film Fitna? I thought it was very effective, and very shocking, in showing that the inspiration for the evil acts of which it showed such horrifying glimpses lay in the Koran. It shows very clearly the precise nature of what the civilised world is up against, a war of religion with striking similarities to Nazi ideology and murderous mass hysteria."

Melanie Phillips's blog, 30 March 2008

The newly-released anti-Islam film by right-wing Dutch legislator Geert Wilders drew condemnations from the Netherlands' Central Jewish Board, which Friday called the film's focus on anti-Jewish preachings by Muslims "counterproductive" and "generalizing."

In keeping with Wilders' belief in a Judeo-Christian partnership in the face of "the threat of Islam," the 15-minute film, entitled "Fitna" – Arabic for strife – shows clerics calling to behead Jews, Koran passages equating Jews to "apes and swines" and photos of demonstrators promising "another Holocaust" and praising Adolf Hitler.

In a statement following the film's online release, the board said that Wilders – the leader of the Party for Freedom – was guilty of serious generalizations. "Wilders presented demographics on the increase of Muslims in Europe with pictures from scenes of terrorist attacks, suggesting all Muslims are potential terrorists," head of the Hague-based Center for Information and Documentation on Israel, Dr. Ronny Naftaniel, Saturday told Haaretz.

While the anti-Semitic material Wilders compiled "demonstrates some Muslims have terrible ideas about Jews," the way Fitna portrays reality serves to "polarize Dutch society," the board said, adding this was counterproductive to the fight against extremism.

Haaretz, 30 March 2008

"This is basically Jihad Watch or Little Green Footballs as a film." Yusuf Smith reviews Fitna.

Indigo Jo Blogs, 30 March 2008

Update:  For Robert Spencer's response – and Yusuf's contributions in the Comments section – see
Jihad Watch, 31 March 2008

A rally of 32,000 church-goers at the Dockland's Excel Centre this weekend heard Christian Choice mayoral candidate Alan Craig explain one of his key priorities for London Mayor and the London Assembly.

The Newham councillor formally started his campaign outside City Hall on Friday lunchtime, before addressing the Festival of Life event, which went on through the night.

At the prayer rally he focused on his election campaign stance against the proposed Olympics Mega Mosque in West Ham.

Commenting about the scale of the event, Alan Craig said: "I was pleased to speak to so many Londoners and explain our reasoned and reasonable objections to this huge landmark mosque – planned to be Europe's largest."

Christian Today, 30 March 2008

Muslim scholars have refuted allegations in anti-Qur'an documentary by Dutch far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders that the Noble Book is inciting violence against non-Muslims.

Islam Online, 29 March 2008

Jacob Wheeler interviews Asmaa Abdol-Hamid.

In These Times, 28 March 2008

The anti-Islam Dutch politician Geert Wilders on Thursday released on the Internet his highly charged and much-anticipated anti-Koran film, which matches graphic images of terrorist attacks and death threats against Jews by Muslim extremists with verses of the Muslim holy book.

The 15-minute film – titled "Fitna", Arabic for civil strife – features news images of beheadings, violence against women in the Islamic world, anti-Semitic tirades by imams and the aftermath of terrorist attacks in New York and Madrid, including the charred remains of some victims. Those film clips of violence are alternated with images of verses of the Koran, which Mr. Wilders claims inspires such acts.

Mr. Wilders, a member of the Dutch Parliament and the leader of an anti-Islam political party, said his intention with the film was to warn the West about a religion he viewed as dangerous and intolerant and to stop what he called the Islamization of the Netherlands and other Western societies.

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende of the Netherlands renounced Mr. Wilders's film and his vision with a statement he read at a news conference after the film was released. "The film equates Islam with violence: we reject that interpretation," he said at the news conference in The Hague. "We believe it serves no purpose other than to offend."

Mr. Wilders told reporters after his film's release that "Islam and the Koran are dangers to the preservation of freedom in the Netherlands in the long term, and I have to warn people of that."

New York Times, 28 March 2008

See also CNN, 28 March 2008

For Ali Eteraz's response, see "Geert Wilders Fitna Farce".

Cultures clashed on Easter Sunday when Muslims marched in the streets to celebrate the birth of their prophet Muhammad. Leaving Memorial Park at 1pm, men, women and children marched through the town lead by Imam, Mazar Hussain Gilani, from Walthamstow, London. Shouting "Allah is great" and "Long live the Prophet" while waving Islamic flags, worshippers from across the country joined Surrey's first Mawlid procession.

But in Brighton Road, the 450-strong crowd were confronted by Union flags and banners held by two opposing packs of protesters. Holding placards reading "Onward Christian Soldiers" and "Our Lord's Day", four members of the right-wing British People's Party stood watching the parade pass. And member of church pressure group Christian Voice bellowed Bible verses from a megaphone besides two of his members as the chorusing crowds went by.

Irfan Akhtar, 32, from East Walthamstow, London, was handing out leaflets to spectators during the march and said: "This is a historic day for Surrey. We just want to show our beliefs. We're not looking to upset or intimidate people. Islam is a peaceful religion."

But the marchers were accused by the protesters of being provocative by choosing Easter Sunday for the event. BPP members Pete Williamson, 41, from Brighton, said: "Why have they chosen today of all days to hold this march? We heard that they [the Muslim population] wanted to hold a demonstration and we're here just to make people aware of what we stand for."

Christian Voice leader Stephen Green, 56, said: "Jesus is our living saviour and for them to be marching on this holy day of the Christian year is disrespectful to say the least. I think it's intimidating."

But march organiser Mohammed Khalid, head of the Redhill Islamic Centre, said the procession wasn't a deliberate attempt to upset people. He said: "It was a peaceful procession to mark the birthday of Muhammad and it's happening [in towns and cities] all over the UK today." He added: "I wish a happy Easter to all my Christian fellows."

The procession finished at Redhill Islamic Centre in Earlswood Road, Earlswood, at 2pm where the worshippers met for prayer.

Surrey Chronicle, 27 March 2008

See also BPP news report, 23 March 2008

"Panicked by the rise of radical Islamism and the newly assertive religious identity of migrant communities in a secular Europe, the anti-religious evangelists are increasingly using atheism as a banner for the defence of the global liberal capitalist order and the wars fought since 2001 to assert its dominance. At the same time, they are unable to recognise the ethnic dimension of their Islamophobia, let alone the deeper reasons why people continue to search for spiritual meaning in a grossly destructive economic environment where social alternatives have been pronounced dead and narcissistic consumption is king....

"Just as the French republican tradition of liberation came to be used as a stick to beat Muslims in a completely different social context from which it emerged, so the militant secularists who fetishise metaphysics and cosmology as a reason to declare the religious beyond the liberal pale are now ending up as apologists for western supremacism and violence. Like nationalism, religion can play a reactionary or a progressive role, and the struggle is now within it, not against it. For the future, it can be an ally of radical change."

Seumas Milne in the Guardian, 27 March 2008