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Muslim world denounces Dutch film portraying Islam as time bomb

The Associated Press ,  Amsterdam   |  Sat, 03/29/2008 5:09 PM  |  Headlines

A Dutch legislator’s film that portrays Islam as a ticking time bomb aimed at Western democracy
prompted denunciations from Muslim capitals and street protests in Pakistan, but a restrained reaction from Dutch Muslims who had expected worse.

The 15-minute film entitled “Fitna,” an Arabic word meaning”ordeal,” by anti-immigrant politician Geert Wilders was posted on a Web site late Thursday.

Friday, the site LiveLeak.com removed the film, citing threats to its staff “of a very serious nature,” but it has since been widely dispersed on file-sharing sites.

Employing elements and symbols calculated to offend Muslims, Fitna draws on well-worn footage of terrorist attacks and anti-Western, anti-Jewish rhetoric that was meant to alarm the
native Dutch.

Hundreds of Muslims demonstrated in Pakistan. The Foreign Ministry summoned the Dutch ambassador to deliver an official complaint against what it called a “defamatory film which deeply offended the sentiments of Muslims all over the world.”

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the movie. “There is no justification for hate speech or incitement to violence. The right of free expression is not at stake here,” he said in a
statement released in New York.

“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,” the U.N. chief said.

Condemnations also came from the government of Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, Iran and Jordan.

“It is not Islam that should be stopped, it is fear-mongers like Geert Wilders who should be stopped from spreading their hatred,” said Zakaria al-Sheik of the Rassoul Allah Yajmana, a Jordanian group formed to protect the image of Islam.

The Council of Europe said the film was a “distasteful manipulation” that exploits fear. The World Council of Churches said it failed to distinguish extremism from mainstream Islam.
“Extremism is a problem for most religions and needs to be countered through inter-religious dialogue,” said Rev. Dr. Shanta Premawrdhana…[..]

Source: thejakartapost.com/