By Sobhy Mujahid
Addtional Reporting By Nasreddine Djebbi , IOL Correspondent
CAIRO/THE HAGUE — 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.
“If we go through the pages of the Qur’an, we will find no criticism of Judaism or any other faiths,” Mohamed Mowfaq Al-Ghileeni, a member of the trustee council of the North American Imams Federation, told IslamOnline.net Friday, March 28.
“The Qur’an only criticizes those who strayed away from the teachings of their prophets and this also applies to Muslims who do not follow the teachings of their faith.” Ghileeni said that the Qur’an never incites violence against non-Muslims.
“Jews and Christians have lived in peace and security besides Muslims in the Levant, Africa, Spain when it was under Muslim rule,” he said.
“If claims that Islam incites violence against Jews and Christians were true, would you have found any non-Muslim living in Muslim countries?”
Wilders, the leader of the right-wing Freedom Party, released his anti-Qur’an film on a video-sharing website on Thursday, March 27.
The film starts with a Danish cartoon showing a man described as Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) with a ticking bomb in his turban.
It then shows a page from the Qur’an on the right and a translation of one specific verse on the left.
The opening scenes are followed by images of the attack by hijacked airliners on the World Trade Centre in New York on September 11, 2001.
The film continues with grisly images of bloodstained bodies in the aftermath of the Madrid train bombings in March 2004 in which 191 people were killed.
The 15-minute documentary concludes with someone leafing through the Qur’an, accompanied by a tearing sound.
“The sound you heard was from a page (being torn out) of the phone book. It is not up to me, but up to the Muslims themselves to tear the spiteful verses from the Qur’an,” says a text that appears on the screen.
Peaceful Islam
Ghileeni said history shows that Muslims have defended Jews against Christian fanatics in Spain.
“When Jews were persecuted in Spain and displaced to Turkey, they were welcomed by the Ottoman caliph where they lived in peace and security under the Ottoman rule.”
Mohamed Al-Shahat Al-Gendi, member of Al-Azhar’s Islamic Research Academy, agreed.
“Islam is a religion that exhorts followers to accept the other.
“In Islam, being a followers of a different faith is not a reason for enmity, war or violence.”
Gendi ridiculed Wilders’ allegations that Palestinian attacks against the Israeli occupation forces were a proof that Islam incites violence against Jews.
“This is a distorted linkage between the right to resist against the occupation against the violence which Wilders claims Islam is inciting,” he said.
“International law differentiates between the right to resistance against occupation and violence and terrorism.”
Calm
Muslim leaders in the West called for calm and reasonable reactions to the anti-Qur’an film.
“We call on Muslims worldwide to react reasonably,” Chakib Benmakhlouf, president of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE), told IOL.
“The best way to respond (to the film) is through producing films and other materials to teach people about Islam and the Prophet.”
Dutch Muslim leaders also appealed for calm.
“We call on them to follow our strategy and not react with attacks on Dutch embassies or tourists,” Mohamed Rabbae, the head of the Dutch Moroccan National Council, told a press conference of Muslim leaders at an Amsterdam mosque.
“An attack on the Netherlands is an attack on us.
“We want to let our Muslim brothers abroad know that we are in the best position to analyze the situation in the Netherlands and Wilders and to how to react.
“We feel offended by the link between violence and Islam but we know this guy (Wilders). The best response is a response in a responsible manner.”
Imam Fawwaz Gened said reasonable reactions to Wilders’ film will be a blow to the far-right lawmaker.
“Any violent reaction will give credit to Wilders’ claim that Muslims are barbaric,” he said.
“We appeal to Muslims worldwide not to overreact to the film.”
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