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I discuss the fitna over Fitna today at Pajamas Media:
Fitna in Arabic means discord or upheaval; it is also the name of a new sixteen-minute film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders that appeared last Thursday, and has done nothing since then but…create fitna. The expected riots and violence did not materialize: in Karachi, a quixotic band of just over three dozen jihadists chanted “Death to the filmmaker,” but so far that has been about it on the street level.Protests have instead been official. Iran and Pakistan lodged formal complaints - Iran with the European Union and Pakistan with the Dutch Ambassador to Islamabad - and as of this writing the anger is only growing. Other Islamic states and organizations also expressed outrage over the film. The multinational Islamic body and largest single voting bloc at the UN, the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference, condemned Fitna in “the strongest terms,” claiming that Wilders’s movie was “a deliberate act of discrimination against Muslims” intended only to “provoke unrest and intolerance.”
However, equal and even greater indignation came from non-Muslim leaders, particularly at the United Nations. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon dubbed the film “offensively anti-Islamic” and declared: “There is no justification for hate speech or incitement to violence. The right of free expression is not at stake here.” Or maybe it is: the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, urged those angered by the film to work to limit free speech rights. “There is a protective legal framework,” she noted, “and the resolution of the controversy that this film will generate should take place within it.” She said that legislators “should offer strong protective measures to all forms of freedom of expression, while at the same time enacting appropriate restrictions, as necessary, to protect the rights of others.”With somewhat woolly logic, Jorge Sampaio, UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations, urged the world not to overemphasize extremism, for to do so would only create extremism: “We should indeed beware of overemphasizing it, because extremism anywhere is extremism everywhere, thanks to new media technologies. Few people think of themselves as extremists, but many can be pushed towards an extreme point of view, almost without noticing it, when they feel that the behavior or language of others is extreme. We therefore deeply regret this offensive film.”
So in other words, don’t point out the evil that the “extremists” are committing, or they’ll just do more of it.
The core objection to the film was that it linked Islam with violence. The Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Jan Peter Balkenende, declared that this was a false linkage: “We reject this interpretation. The vast majority of Muslims reject extremism and violence. In fact, the victims are often also Muslims.”
But is Geert Wilders the one really responsible for the connection of Islam with violence? An answer can be found in the film itself. The main part of it features a series of quotations from the Qur’an, followed by scenes of violent acts committed by Muslims. But the key question is whether or not the violent acts really have anything to do with the Qur’an quotes. Most of Wilders’s detractors would say that they do not, but Wilders has already accounted for this objection in the film itself. For example, the first verse of the Qur’an presented in Fitna is 8:60: “Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah and your enemies…” Wilders follows this with heart-rending scenes from 9/11 and the March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombings, as we hear two women calling for help on those days. The women are indeed terrified, but what does this have to do with Qur’an 8:60? An Islamic preacher - not Wilders or any other non-Muslim — soon appears to answer this question, stating in terms that clearly recall that verse of the Qur’an: “Annihilate the infidels and the polytheists, your (Allah’s) enemies and the enemies of the religion. Allah, count them and kill them to the last one…”
Fitna then quotes Qur’an 4:56 — “Those who reject our Signs, We shall soon cast into the Fire: as often as their skins are roasted through, We shall change them for fresh skins, that they may taste the penalty: for Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise” - and follows this with a series of scenes of Muslim preachers calling for the killing of Jews. The first of these even quotes the notorious genocidal hadith in which Muhammad says: “The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.”
But the film makes no mention of the presence of this in authoritative Islamic sources, albeit not in the Qur’an itself. Nor, when it cuts to a three-year-old girl telling a television interviewer that the Jews are “apes and pigs” because Allah said so in the Qur’an, it doesn’t provide the references (2:62-65; 5:59-60: 7:166). And while the Qur’an is full of fiercely antisemitic passages (2:89; 3:112; 9:30; and many more), 4:56 is not one of them, but is merely a general warning of the hellfire that awaits those who reject Islam.
However, what Wilders may have had in mind comes clear from depictions of two Muslim protestors, one holding a sign saying, “Be prepared for the real Holocaust,” and another carrying one reading, “God Bless Hitler.” Maybe the reference in Qur’an 4:56 to the roasting of skins led Wilders to connect this verse to this thirst for a new Holocaust - and here again, while Islamic leaders don’t invoke 4:56 to justify this bloodlust, they do quote other Islamic texts that most Muslims consider authoritative. And so here again, the equation of Islam with violence doesn’t come from Wilders himself, but from the Muslims he features in the film.
After this comes Qur’an 47:4: “Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers (in fight), smite at their necks; at length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind a bond firmly (on them).” Wilders follows this with images of two unbelievers whose necks were struck by the warriors of jihad: Theo van Gogh and Nick Berg. The statements of the perpetrators make it clear that they believed themselves to be acting in accord with Islamic imperatives. Mohammed Bouyeri, the murderer of van Gogh, clutched a Qur’an as he told a Dutch court in 2005: “What moved me to do what I did was purely my faith. I was motivated by the law that commands me to cut off the head of anyone who insults Allah and his prophet.” And the late jihadist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi invoked Muhammad’s example to justify the beheading of Berg: “Is it not time for you [Muslims] to take the path of jihad and carry the sword of the Prophet of prophets?…The Prophet, the most merciful, ordered [his army] to strike the necks of some prisoners in [the battle of] Badr and to kill them….And he set a good example for us.”
Here again, the Islamic justification for these acts of barbarism comes not from Wilders, but from Muslims.
Next comes Qur’an 4:89: “They but wish that ye should reject Faith, as they do, and thus be on the same footing (as they): But take not friends from their ranks until they flee in the way of Allah (From what is forbidden). But if they turn renegades, seize them and slay them wherever ye find them; and (in any case) take no friends or helpers from their ranks.” Wilders again illustrates this with Muslims calling for the deaths of those who leave Islam. One would think also that the case of Abdul Rahman, the Afghan Muslim who was put on trial for his life in 2006 for converting to Christianity before being spirited away to safety in Italy, would be enough to demonstrate that many Muslims take the traditional Islamic death penalty for apostasy seriously - and that it was not invented by Geert Wilders.
Finally, there is Qur’an 8:39: “And fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah altogether and everywhere…” - and a series of Islamic preachers and other Muslims (including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) asserting that Islam will soon conquer the West and rule the entire world. No non-Muslims are shown saying this.
And that points up the odd myopia of virtually all of the objections to Fitna. It was not Geert Wilders, but the many Muslims he shows in his film, who link Islam with violence. And that link has already been made innumerable times around the world - by Islamic jihad warriors, not by non-Muslim “Islamophobes.” Omar Bakri, once the leading jihadist in Britain but now in exile from the Sceptered Isle, even went so far as to say that with a few small edits, Fitna “could be a film by the Mujahideen.” And that’s precisely the problem: while a growing chorus of Muslim and non-Muslim voices denounces Fitna, what are they doing to limit the activities of the jihadists the film portrays?
The film first appeared at LiveLeak.com on Thursday; however, the next day LiveLeak pulled it, replacing it with an announcement:
Following threats to our staff of a very serious nature, and some ill informed reports from certain corners of the British media that could directly lead to the harm of some of our staff, Liveleak.com has been left with no other choice but to remove Fitna from our servers.This is a sad day for freedom of speech on the net but we have to place the safety and well being of our staff above all else. We would like to thank the thousands of people, from all backgrounds and religions, who gave us their support. They realised LiveLeak.com is a vehicle for many opinions and not just for the support of one.
Perhaps there is still hope that this situation may produce a discussion that could benefit and educate all of us as to how we can accept one anothers culture.
We stood for what we believe in, the ability to be heard, but in the end the price was too high.
“In the end the price was too high” could be the epitaph of the Free West - particularly given the fact that Wilders in the film is merely reporting on how jihadists commit and justify acts of violence and supremacism.
LiveLeak’s concern for its employees is legitimate. The employees didn’t sign up for this. But beyond LiveLeak, if Americans and Westerners and all people who are threatened by the global jihad and Islamic supremacism aren’t willing to give their lives for this cause, then all is lost. Because the jihadists certainly are willing to give their lives for their cause. For them, no price is too high. And if any price is too high for us, then ultimately all we will have to pay is jizya - the tax specified by Qur’an 9:29 for certain non-Muslims (particularly Jews and Christians) subjugated as inferiors under the rule of Islamic Sharia law.
What ever happened to “Give me liberty, or give me death?”
Or “with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor”?
LiveLeak may have caved, but many others didn’t. Fitna is now all over the Internet. You can still watch it at, among many other places, my website Jihad Watch. Freedom and truth may be tottering, but they have not fallen, and the battle over Fitna may well wake up many more to fight in their defense.
Posted by Robert at March 31, 2008 7:34 AM
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Perhaps if the Bush administration had seen Fitna several years ago we would not have had such idealized notions about the possibility for democracy and reform in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is clear that Islam and the tolerance necessary for democracy are incompatible.
Posted by: jewdog![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at March 31, 2008 8:17 AM
You can also watch Fitna by going to Fox News.com this morning by tabbing down to a latest news article (Anti-Muslim=Global Backlash). In the article they redirect you to Sweetness and Light.com to watch the fitna video.---- Hooray for Fox News!
Posted by: Mackie at March 31, 2008 8:50 AM
If our international tools like Moon and Arbour (quite a team) would focus indignation on what they saw in the film instead of the film and filmmaker that would do some good, otherwise be prepared to accept ever increasing acts of Muslim indignation.
Posted by: Sounder at March 31, 2008 8:56 AM
It just so happens that I read the article linked at LGF about the oil non-crisis just before reading this post. Is it possible that the US has been paying jizya for decades now in the form of refusing to exploit domestic oil fields and instead buying from Saudi?
The "free" world has its head in the sand.
Fitna is offensive only in the sense that jihad violence and Western cravenness are offensive.
at March 31, 2008 9:12 AM
"Fitna" is islam as described - in words and actions- by muslims themselves.
If there were a truly any "fair and balanced" media/journalists - at least one would ask and report globally the question and answer asked of any claiming that "Fitna" is anti-islamic - "Have you personally viewed the film?"
The U.N. -from top to bottom - has been turned pro-islamosupremacist and highly unlikely that even one of them (with voice for public consumption) has taken time to watch the film (of course even if they had, their cush jobs and posh life-styles would be in jeopardy if they dared to proclaim honestly).
"UN Secretary-General Moon's “There is no justification for hate speech or incitement to violence."
"So Ban-ki Moon, address the 1.6 trillion muslims who daily spew hate-speech and incite violence against Jews and all others who refuse to "submit."
"UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, urged those angered by the film to work to limit free speech rights...:"
One more proof that the U.N. is anything but a proxy fueled by islamic money.
"She said that legislators should “...enact appropriate restrictions, as necessary, to protect the rights of others.”
Spot on. Demand that arabs stop funding global propaganda campaign of their non-stop promotion of hated, violence and genocide of Jews and all non-muslims ...
Again "Sampaio, UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations" begin by urging your arab paymasters "...not to overemphasize extremism, for to do so would only create extremism ..."
It is very sad to see that someone like Peter Balkenende, who is very likely a full-fledged cultural marxist/cultural relativist and one of those who is ashamed of his heritage, perhaps even hates it to such a degree that he would rather destroy it -or let it be destroyed by islam - than to seek out true improvment (vice theoretical ones) - has become a leader of a Western nation. He may be a leader appropriate for "utopian society" (which can and will never exist), but he does not qualify for the position at such a time as this. He can't even accept (or refuses for some reason or another) the realities of the situation facing the Western civilization and with a prime example right in his front yard.
The Western world will not survive with pro-islamists leaders in charge of it.
Posted by: TINBH at March 31, 2008 9:38 AM
Just curious.
Given that this time most of the protests have been official, I am wondering how much of the riots and protests we have seen in the past have been encouraged or even controlled by Moslem governments.
Posted by: I_am_me at March 31, 2008 1:48 PM
The multinational Islamic body and largest single voting bloc at the UN, the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference, condemned Fitna in “the strongest terms,” claiming that Wilders’s movie was “a deliberate act of discrimination against Muslims” intended only to “provoke unrest and intolerance.”well when will they deal with the intolerance in Islam towards other religions in the middle east and the anti-Semitic we see daily coming of the Arab world and being taught their children
and we need a example of how proud of their primitive mentality of these Muslims we just have to look at how they're demanding this film be banned when it's all over the Internet I assume they want the Internet and anything else they don't like band by the West and the West to become good little to dhimmi like the radicals in their protests that say Islam ruled the world once and will do so again excuse me I am laughing my head off at that notion
the the Nazi party in Germany tried this in the early 40s and they only lasted about 15 years start to finish the USSR and communism had a longer run about 45 years the time that Muslims ruled the world is long in the past
at March 31, 2008 6:15 PM
How to Resolve our Common Enigma---Fear?
It is not that anti- Quran ‘Fitna’ movie revealed some thing big or that it brought us some thing new that we did not know earlier but beneath the myriad reasons for this screening event appears to be a fundamental inability of producer and the people, the producer wanted to address whose beliefs vary to understand how the other side thinks and feels. There seems to be deaf ear on both the sides; although both the sides suffer one common enigma; fear.
Where as the public reaction in Europe as well as in Muslim world to this controversial film attacking Quran was anxiously awaited on this web site and many a threads are initiated to cater for the comments on this subject of controversy. As expected, some wide spread protests simmering and sometimes descending into violence in Europe or in various parts of the Muslim world have not been reported.
The West as well as Muslim World needs to understand that ‘European culture and public discourse has become so secularized in recent generations that there is little comprehension of people whose religion holds a central place in their lives and identity. European nation-states were constructed through centuries of struggle and conflict in which religious differences and oppression were often explosive. People today fear that they are in danger of losing what was won with so much suffering: their freedoms and their collective sense of identity.’
Behind these fears lie the ‘rapid changes of globalization, the increased powers of the European Union and the uncertainties of geopolitics and climate change. But in Europe the fears focus on immigrants and ethnic minorities - which in many places mean Muslims.’
In many parts of the Muslim world there is also a ‘fear of uncertainties such as globalization, international instability and, closer to home, unemployment and arbitrary governments - not to mention random violence that most of the times; they themselves are victim. But in Muslim World the main fear is focused on the heirs of the old imperial powers: the West, which is again seen as wishing to dominate and thus undermine Islam. In response, respect for the religion and its symbols becomes a central focus.’
One side is talking the language of freedoms and rights. The other side is talking the language of respect for their sacred religion. We need to find common working grounds and it may not be difficult to find… and resolve our common enigma of…fear.
-----------------------------------
Love for all, Hatred for None
(Common Grounds Theme)
at April 1, 2008 4:11 AM
One side is talking the language of freedoms and rights. The other side is talking the language of respect for their sacred religion. We need to find common working grounds and it may not be difficult to find… and resolve our common enigma of…fear. - posted by A Khokar
It would be more correct to say one side speaks the language of freedom; the other side speaks the language of submission. Submission equates with slavery, which is banned world wide, so the 'fear' is a return of slavery. There is nothing respectful or sacred about slavery.
We must preserver our rights of freedom from the enslaving tendencies of Sharia like submission. Not really fear, just cold eyed observation of the truth.
at April 1, 2008 12:52 PM
Dear Battle of Tours,
If the God Almighty; of whom we all are the subjects; wants us to submit to His will, to avail His blessings and lead a bliss full life! Do we have any choice other than this that we defy our Lord and earn nothing other than His wrath? Do we really want to go down that road of defiance? Probably not!
The slavery is a curse and an evil design of oppressors to subjugate the defenceless destitute people in order to full fill their greed. They set up such economic social system under which the slaves are held against their will, deprived of their personal freedom and are compelled to work with no compensations; they do not enjoy any rights to leave or refuse to work, or to receive compensation (such as wages) in return for their labour. Slavery has got to be one of the most immoral things a person can do?
With the dawn of Islam such evils like slavery prevalent in the society had just vanished. Even the destitute and down trodden were awarded equal status. Women which used to be considered as personal property were given such high status and equal rights that even the most civilised societies of today can’t afford to offer.
Islam is the God given; a perfect designed religion which has its strong roots in Christianity and Judaism and is a blessing for the whole of the mankind.
From Him we come and to Him we return!
----------------------------------
Love for all, Hatred for None
at April 1, 2008 3:22 PM
Allah Guides Not The Unjust People
Sir David Frederick Attenborough is one of the world's most acclaimed broadcasters and naturalists. He is widely considered one of the pioneers of the nature documentaries, his career as the respected face and voice of British natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years. He is best known for writing and presenting the nine "Life" series, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, which collectively form a comprehensive survey of all the terrestrial life. He has been able to present us with such a volume of knowledge on life and nature on this planet earth that no one else has yet come at par with him.
He is a man who can be quoted as an authority on the subject of nature and governance of nature in the life of mammals and plants by a supreme power that we all know of as- God Almighty. He was once asked in an interview; does his research make him believe in the existence of God being a supreme power? His answer was; No; he does not believe in God.
What is that? His extensive research of fifty long years does not make him believe that there is some Supreme Power who governs all this? His whole life gone wasted?
It is true that…'To Allah belong the East and the West. He guides whom He pleases to the right path.'[10:7]…..’and in all that Allah has created in the heavens and the earth there are signs for a God fearing people’ (Only).
Likewise on the subject matter of verses discussed in the film Fitna; Mr Robert Spencer in his deliberations; in the first half is seen agreeing that Quran does not dictates actions that some of the Islamists under take for their own political or socio-economic gains and Quran has got nothing to do with their deeds. But toward the end he is twisting the entire matter and puts every body in delusion by offering his services and the website to work against the divine Book-Holy Quran.
Like David Attenborough; the study, research and even Blogging of Quran etc of Mr Robert and so deep devotion and commitment for the job it becomes very clear for all of us that sheer hard work is no guarantee to be lead to the right path and one is failed to recognise the Truth; because God does not guide the unjust peoples.
Quran says in[9:37] ….Those who disbelieve… are led astray thereby……….The evil of their deeds is made to seem fair to them. And Allah guides not the disbelieving people.
…………………………………
Love for all, Hatred for None
at April 2, 2008 4:16 AM
A Khokar
do you really imagine that we will believe even one word of your mad-hattery about the 'perfect' religion of the lying, robbing, treaty-breaking, cheating, poet-killing, Jew-hating, raping, pedophile fake 'prophet', Mohammed ha-Meshugga?
Whose ever-lovin' followers have butchered a conservative estimate of some 270 MILLION human beings - averaging at 200 000 per year for the past 1300 years - for no 'crime' other than that of not wanting either to be Muslim or to be trampled upon by Muslim tyrants?
Here's one of your oh-so-spiritual Sufi saints, talking with sadistic relish about the aim and object of the extortionate 'protection' money demanded of dhimmis:
"[The dhimmi] is commanded to put his soul, good fortune and desires to death.
"Above all he should kill the love of life, leadership and honor.
"[The dhimmi] is to invert the longings of his soul, he is to load it down more heavily than it can bear until it is completely submissive. Thereafter nothing will be unbearable for him. He will be indifferent to subjugation or might. Poverty and wealth will be the same to him; praise and insult will be the same; preventing and yielding will be the same; lost and found will be the same. Then, when all things are the same, it [the soul] will be submissive and yield willingly what it should give". [Tafsir ibn ‘Ajibah. Commentary on Q9:29. Ahmad ibn Muhammad Ibn `Ajibah].
Those are the words of a human being with the soul of the sadist, the pimp, the slavemaster or the psycopathic abuser; who imagines the non-Muslim victim being forced by the burden of the jizya to become, in the end, a nonreactive 'thing' which may be used and abused at will by its Muslim overlords.
Do you even begin to grasp that this kind of attitude is EVIL?
Here's some more hideous supremacism, from another lovely Sufi, this time from India, 17C:
"The honour of Islam lies in insulting kufr and kafirs.
"One who respects the kafirs dishonours the Muslims... The real purpose of levying jiziya on them is to humiliate them to such an extent that they may not be able to dress well and to live in grandeur.
"They should constantly remain terrified and trembling.
" It is intended to hold them under contempt and to uphold the honour and might of Islam".
17th century Indian Sufi jurist Ahmad Sirhindi (1564-1624), letter #163.
The same Sirhindi also produced this gem of love and tolerance:
“Whenever a Jew is killed, it is for the benefit of Islam”.
Finally, here's something else, from Ibn Kathir, citing a Hadith about the necessity and desirability of BAD MANNERS toward non-Muslims:
Muslim recorded from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet said,
«لَا تَبْدَءُوا الْيَهُودَ وَالنَّصَارَى بِالسَّلَامِ، وَإِذَا لَقِيتُمْ أَحَدَهُمْ فِي طَرِيقٍ فَاضْطَرُّوهُ إِلَى أَضْيَقِه»
(Do not initiate the Salam to the Jews and Christians, and if you meet any of them in a road, force them to its narrowest alley.)
Someone posting at this very site is a non-Muslim who uses a wheelchair. A Muslim man in traditional dress, accompanied by a woman in full niqab, cursed and insulted this person, calling them a dirty kuffar, and demanding that he - in his wheelchair - should move off the footpath into the gutter so that they might have the footpath all to their lordly superior selves. *SPIT!!**
When I hear you mouthing your slogan 'love for all' I am reminded of the 'ministry of love' in George Orwell's '1984'.
at April 4, 2008 12:46 AM
Dear Dumbledoresarmy,
Although your deliberation require a detailed reply. But the first and foremost will be that we need to understand Islam and should bear in mind that Islam has not come as rival of any other religions or old denomination. Rather Islam confirms and validates the previous divinely teachings [1] and offers higher degree guidance in accordance with the universal divinely plans of God Almighty which has been destined for the future of the mankind. A higher education is never against the basic or primary educations[2]; rather they are interdependent in bringing the improvement and enlightenment in the society.
It has always been difficult for the humans to shed and shake the adopted myths because humans by nature love and relish to remain restrained and bound by mysteries and illusions. And if these myths happen to be religious myths like in Judaic and Christianity; it is more so difficult in leaving those self imposed mythical confinements because these myths are also influenced and rightly or wrongly, very strongly guarded by the religious zealots and their other supporting groups with vested interests.
The preset mind and preconceived ideas, eventually result in creating more distances; thus keep us bound in the old ruts and restrict in thinking without prejudice.
Let’s build the bridges; not the barriers and find the common terms.
-----------------------------
Love for all, Hatred for None
[1] Primary Teachings contained in the books of Torah, the Bible and other Holy Books of former religions.
[2] As imparted by Judaic and Christianity previously.
at April 4, 2008 4:57 PM
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