Reverse outcome as Dutch turn to Quran: Film or Fitna?
In the wake of screening of an anti-Islam film in the Netherlands, the country witnessed a growing tendency among people to buy and read holy Quran in Dutch language.
Al-Mohit website quoted Dutch media as saying that despite goals of the blasphemous film's producers, its screening encouraged people to buy electronic Quran.
According to the report, electronic versions of Quran translated into Dutch language are hard to find in the Netherlands.
Most of the Dutch media, Al-Mohit wrote, appreciated Muslims' peaceful and rational reaction to the film which brought a reverse outcome to the film.
Muslims’s measure to hold a workshop about holy Quran with the presence of Dutch elites was first headline of some Dutch newspapers.
Fitna is a 2008 short film by Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders. The film alleges Qur'anic motivations for terrorism, Islamic universalism, and Islam in the Netherlands. The film's title comes from the Arabic word fitna which is used to describe "disagreement and division among people", or a "test of faith in times of trial".
Inaccuracies
Geert Wilders's film has been accused of misinforming the public about Islam through its false interpretations of verses. Below are the arguments against Wilders's interpretation of the selected versus.
Al Anfal (The Spoils of War) - Chapter 8, Verse 60
The Verse: Hence, make ready against them whatever force and war mounts you are able to muster, so that you might deter thereby the enemies of God, who are your enemies as well, and others besides them of whom you may be unaware, [but] of whom God is aware; and whatever you may expend in God's cause shall be repaid to you in full, and you shall not be wronged.
Wilders does not inform the viewers of his film about the context of the verses he uses, and therefore the viewers are misinformed about Islam. In this verse, those who are being battled, are those who, "[break] their covenant on every occasion" as is described in the previous verse 56. According to Muhammad Asad, a learned European Islamic Scholar,
The reference to the unbelievers' "breaking their covenants" has two implications: firstly, that the establishment of covenants (i.e., of peaceful relations) with non muslims is... desirable (cf. verse 61); and secondly, that the muslims may resort to war only if and when the other party is openly hostile to them.
Also, the verses immediately following verse 60 states that
If [the covenant-breakers] incline to peace, incline thou to it as well, and place thy trust in God: verily, He alone is all-hearing, all-knowing! And should they seek but to decieve thee [by their show of peace] - behold, God is enough for thee!
These versus that form the context of verse 60, along with scholarly interpretations of the verse have been used to refute Wilders's claims that the Quran preaches violence.
Mohammad - Chapter 47, Verse 4
The Verse: Now when you meet [in war] those who are bent on denying the truth, smite their necks until you overcome them fully, and then tighten their bonds, but thereafter [set them free,] either by an act of grace or against ransom, so that the burden of war may be lifted: thus shall it be. And [know that] had God so willed, he could indeed punish them [Himself]; but [He wills you to struggle] so as to test you [all] by means of one another.
This verse is in many opinions the most controversially presented in Fitna. Geert Wilders not only fails to provide context to the verse, but only presents half of it. He presents only the part of the verse that says, "...smite their necks until you overcome them fully, and then tighten their bonds..." The part that is not presented is the section that show's Islam's peacefulness: "but thereafter [set them free,] either as an act of grace or ransom, so that the burden of war may be lifted..."
An-Nisa (The Women) - Chapter 4, Verse 89
The Verse: They would love to see you deny the truth even as they have denied it, so that you should be like them. Do not, therefore, take them for your allies until they forsake the domain of evil for the sake of God and if they revert to [open] enmity, seize them and slay them wherever you may find them.
This verse, like the other verses cited by Wilders, is out of context. In Fitna, the movie, Wilders makes this verse seem to mean that if you locate someone who doesn't believe in Islam, to slay them. This idea however, is now way presented in the verse if looked at in context. The verse refers to hypocrites during the time of Muhammad who acted like Benedict Arnolds, in that they pretended to be Muslim but yet fought against them behind their backs. This verse suggests then, that those who have betrayed you and fight against you in the battlefield, you have every right to fight back.
Al-Anfal (The Spoils of War) - Chapter 8, Verse 39
The Verse: And fight against them until there is no more oppression and all worship [of the Muslim] is devoted to God alone. And if they desist - behold, God sees all that they do.
The chapter that holds this verse is known as "The Spoils of War," mainly because it talks about warfare in Islam. According to Muhammad Asad's interpretation of this verse, Islamic warfare can only be waged under the justification of self-defense. Chapter 8, Verse 39, states that if a Muslim's right to worship God is oppressed, that he/she has the right to fight back as a form of self defense. Fitna the movie displays the verse as meaning that Muslims will wage war against the world until only Islam prevails.
other link:
Iranian students to protest anti-Islam film
