This is “Fitna,” a film about radical Islamism and its political goals and methods that’s burning up the ‘net as we speak. I’m gonna do a “me too” by posting this… because I believe what Dutch politician-cum-film-maker Geert Wilders is saying in this film. The film is about 15 minutes long and comes with a “disturbing images” disclaimer. The disclaimer isn’t wrong, either. Some of the images are disturbing, but there is no gratuitous violence (such as beheadings) in the film. Mr. Wilders comes very, very close, however.
“Fitna” is a short but powerful film. Watch it, if you haven’t already.
My disclaimer: my visceral, knee-jerk reaction to the film was strong agreement with the message. That said, I waffle in between two positions: (a) thinking Islam… in the macro, global sense… is the root of the problem, and (b) radicals are co-opting Islam to achieve their ends. While (b) is most certainly true, I’m not sure…yet…about (a).
Update 3/28/2008 1640 hrs: As noted in comments, LiveLeak has pulled "Fitna" from its servers due to death threats against their staff. Their video explanation is available above, in place of the movie. "Fitna" is available on YouTube in two parts... for the moment, anyway.
So. Here it is, yet again.
Part I
Part II
It seems to be a case of the religious leaders and power-mongers distorting religion and using the ignorant masses as their weapons to achieve whatever their goal is – whether it be to spread Islam or to destroy those who are not Islamic and rule the world. Hopefully there are rational, intelligent, moderate Muslims who will stand up and fight against the radicals, but where are they and why have they not used their numbers to put down the radicals? Is it fear or agreement?
ReplyDeleteI went back and read this Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades article on The Crusades. It is an interesting read. Were the Crusades fought to gain wealth and power or push the Muslims from Europe and the Holy Land or to spread Christianity. It is also interesting that different Popes gave absolution of sins and immediate entry into heaven as an incentive to war.
The problem is Islam, since it's not just a religion but also is a total belief system that at its heart is an explicitly supremacist ideology. It could be the only major religion that doesn’t teach some version of the “Golden Rule”.
ReplyDeleteAnd the supremacy of Islam, physical as well as moral, is a mainstream Muslim concept, not a fringe one.
-It permeates the K-12th grade school curriculums of Saudi Arabia (http://www.freedomhouse.org/uploads/special_report/48.pdf) and Iran (http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=70&release=635), which is very problematic since Saudi Arabia is the main source of financial support for many American mosques. (I’m not aware of any report on the curriculum of any other Muslim country.)
-It is shown by the open and unabashed way almost all majority Muslim societies discriminate against non-Muslims and punish Muslim apostates.
-It is shown by the teachings of Muslim clerics operating openly in “mainstream” Muslim societies (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-AMWnWe-WA) .
-It is explicitly written in the Quran:
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/009.qmt.html (scroll down to 009:029 (Surah 9:29), and read all 3 translations)
-It is explicitly written in books intended as guides to behavior for present-day Muslims.
The excerpt below is from “Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law” (http://www.amazon.com/Reliance-Traveller-Classic-Islamic-Al-Salik/dp/0915957728/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206716086&sr=8-1), which is a comprehensive overview of the Shafii (law) school’s view of what sharia is. (Expected behavior conforms to sharia even if sharia is not the law of the land.)
The Shafii school is a mainstream school of Muslim law, and its interpretations are mainstream. Note that “Reliance” was originally written in the 1300s, but this edition was commented upon, translated, and published in the early 1990s, with the (literal) seal of approval from the Harvard of Sunni Islam, Cairo’s Al-Azhar University. Al-Azhar used these words: “…we certify… [“Reliance”] conforms to the practice and faith of the orthodox Sunni Community…” Not “did conform”, but “conforms”, and also note that “Reliance” is not a Wahhabi distortion.
From “Reliance”, concerning a Muslim “spying” on another Muslim (page 698):
“If a… [Muslim’s] spying entails undermining Islam and its people, or the killing, captivity… of the Muslims,… he is subject to death, and deserves the torment… of hellfire…”
Concerning lying to unbelievers for the benefit of Islam (pages 744-745):
“Primary texts from the Koran and sunna that it is unlawful to lie… [are] numerous…, it being among the ugliest sins…
…[But it is] obligatory to lie if the goal is obligatory. When, for example, one is concealing a Muslim from an oppressor who asks where he is, it is obligatory to lie about his being hidden.”
What strikes me about these rulings is that the reasons the Muslim is being spyed upon or sought aren't even a consideration.
Many Muslims, perhaps even most Western Muslims, probably don’t know this supremacist ideology. But it’s not hard to see how so many Muslims get turned into terrorists, and why they enjoy so much explicit and tacit support among Muslims. It’s also not hard to see why so many “moderate” Muslims seem incapable denouncing terrorism in Islam’s name without qualifying their denunciation.
Sorry for this too-verbose post.
Peace.
The link to the report on Saudi Arabia's curriculum didn't make it into the above post.
ReplyDeleteIt is:
http://www.freedomhouse.org/uploads/special_report/48.pdf
If this one doesn't make it in, it's at freedomhouse.org, "Special Reports" link (left side)
And since you were stationed in Turkey, how about a few posts about your experiences there?
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a marine in the early 1980s we trained for a few days in Morocco, and we attracted quite large crowds of locals, which consisted entirely of men.
Wow, very moving! I am coming away with a much deeper respect for those who protect our freedom after viewing this film and reading the comments. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the links and comment, Anon. As for posts on Turkey, there are seven... each one is tagged Sinop.
ReplyDeleteLou sez: Hopefully there are rational, intelligent, moderate Muslims who will stand up and fight against the radicals, but where are they and why have they not used their numbers to put down the radicals? Is it fear or agreement?
Ah... that's the $64K question, innit? There's a dearth of condemnation of Islamic radicals from the rest of the umma, even here in the US. So much so that whenever there's any sort of condemnation from any Muslim, it tends to get front-page exposure. That said, there IS good news from Turkey... of a sort.
It's a start.
Dawn sez: Wow, very moving! I am coming away with a much deeper respect for those who protect our freedom after viewing this film and reading the comments. Thank you!
I share your thoughts, Dawn. The film also makes me wonder about people that tend to Blame America First when it comes to Islamic radicalism. That's the audience that really needs to watch this film.
I’ve read your Turkey posts, and hope you post more on Turkey.
ReplyDeleteTurkey quickly backed off big time from reinterpreting Islam, at least publicly:
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1203757550116&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
Hopefully the Turkish government has the courage to do it under-the-radar, my bet is that the Western press, wanting a happy answer, got it wrong in the first place.
Turkey is the most secular Muslim state, but that’s only because in the last 90 years the Turkish Army has enforced secularism. Now that a previously illegal religious party was voted into power (with a much more benign platform, wonder why that was?), will the Army have the moral ability to prevent “one man, one vote, one time”?
So I’m interested in you posting about Turkey now as an adult with wisdom. The letters I wrote when I was a marine were very relevant for a young guy trying to get laid in a foreign country, but had no relevance to the issues that really mattered.
UPDATE:
Fitna was taken off your site due to “serious” death threats to LiveLeak staffers. (It’s nice to be made member when publishing facts aren’t considered free speech, and murder threats are.)
Anonymous sez: Turkey is the most secular Muslim state, but that’s only because in the last 90 years the Turkish Army has enforced secularism. Now that a previously illegal religious party was voted into power (with a much more benign platform, wonder why that was?), will the Army have the moral ability to prevent “one man, one vote, one time”?
ReplyDeleteSo I’m interested in you posting about Turkey now as an adult with wisdom. The letters I wrote when I was a marine were very relevant for a young guy trying to get laid in a foreign country, but had no relevance to the issues that really mattered.
You're very knowledgeable about Turkey, Anon. It's anyone's guess at this point as to whether the Turkish Army still has the fortitude to ensure secularism remains the driving force behind the nation, IMHO. Most of what I've read on the subject of the Army's intentions is vague, and thus...unknowable. My gut tells me the General Staff still has the will, but it's the field and company grade officers that would have to make martial law "fly," if it comes to that. And those officers are young, relative to their superiors on the General Staff. Add in the fact that the AKP is very strong, especially in the interior (as opposed to Istanbul/Ankara/Izmir, etc.), and the unknowns multiply considerably.
re: me being "an adult with wisdom." Old age simply means you're old... not necessarily wise. ;-)