January 22, 2009
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January 22, 2009

A 17 minute film accurately describes Islam and the Koran?

Rick Moran
I respect Mr. Bostom's knowledge of Islam but please, don't set Mr. Wilder's film up as anything more than it was; a blatant appeal to bigotry and a generalization about Islam and the Koran in particular.

As I say in my original post, Mr. Wilders should be free to speak his mind and disseminate this propaganda. But to make the argument that this shallow, emotionally charged, and in the end subjective and inaccurate portrayal of Islam should be defended as a revealed truth is wrong.

Can you tell the story of Christianity in 17 minutes? I would like to see that. I am a fan of slapstick comedy. Could you tell the story of Judaism by pulling quotes willy nilly out of the Bible that glory in violence and blood and show the Jews to be wedded to the sword? It's been done. The Nazi short film "The Eternal Jew" was a similar film to Mr. Wilder's in that it dishonestly clipped and pasted sections of the Bible to show the Jews to be violent, acquisitive sub-humans. The propaganda effect was remarkably the same.

Wilder doesn't go as far as all that. But an example of his dishonesty is given by my good friend Michael van der Galien, a converted Muslim, who reviewed Fitna for his blog Poligazette:

However, Wilders basically makes the same mistake Osama Bin Laden et al. make.

What do I mean by that? Well, simple. Wilders and OBL do exactly the same thing: they read 10% of the Koran, and use it to ‘prove’ that the Koran can be used to excuse terrorism, and conveniently ignore the other 90% of Islam’s Holy Book. For instance, Wilders quotes verses from a particular Sura that says that Muslims should kill the unbelievers, who are the enemies of Islam / the Muslims.

That’s violent alright.

But he conveniently forgets to quote the verses before these violent verses. These verses before it say:

[8.56] Those with whom you make an agreement, then they break their agreement every time and they do not guard (against punishment).
[8.57] Therefore if you overtake them in fighting, then scatter by (making an example of) them those who are in their rear, that they may be mindful.
[8.58] And if you fear treachery on the part of a people, then throw back to them on terms of equality; surely Allah does not love the treacherous.

And then come the verses right after Sura 8 verse 60:

[8.61] But if the enemy incline towards peace, do you (also) incline towards peace, and trust in Allah: for He is the One that hears and knows (all things).

In other words: live in peace with non-Muslims, but when they attack you, fight back. Sure, that’s not quite the same as “turn the other cheek,” but it’s quite different than “kill infidels!” as well. In fact I dare say that this message is one we can all believe in: live in peace with everyone else, but when they attack you or your society, fight back. Isn’t that what we all do, and isn’t that what the war on terrorism is all about?

So I would say to Mr. Bostom that there is  the idea that Fitna is "entirely faithful to classical,  mainstream Islamic exegesis on the Koranic verses cited in the film" and then there is the simple fact that Wilder distorted the truth.

I have absolutely no doubt that Islams holy men use these versus in the Koran to incite their suicidal, hate filled followers. But to condemn an entire religion practiced by more than a billion people by taking these verses out of context and overlaying images of death and destruction caused by the small subset of extremists we are at war with just doesn't make sense. Before we have defeated the terrorists, we are going to need those billion on our side. I hardly think the rantings of an ambitious politician like Wilder who is seeking to ride the wave of revulsion against Islamic immigrants in the Netherlands to power is going to advance that cause.





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