right Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders 15-minute anti-Qur'an movie “Fitna” posted on the Internet, has been condemned the world over. The controversial film sets verses from The Holy Qur'an against a background of violent images from terror attacks. The filmaker has claimed that the Qur'an was “the base of a lot of terrible things happening throughout the world.” On 28 March United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon decried Fitna as hate speech. “I condemn, in the strongest terms, the airing of Geert Wilders' offensively anti-Islam film,” said Ban in a statement. “There is no justification for hate speech or incitement to violence. The right of free expression is not at stake here. I acknowledge the efforts of the Government of the Netherlands to stop the broadcast of this film, and appeal for calm to those understandably offended by it. Freedom must always be accompanied by social responsibility.” Ban said that the real fault line is not between Muslim and Western nations but a minority of extremists eager to stir strife. The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which comprises 57 Muslim countries, also denounced the film as blasphemous. OIC Secretary General Prof Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said, “The film is a deliberate act of discrimination against Muslims, incitement for hatred and an act defamation of religions which is solely intended to incite and provoke unrest and intolerance among people of different religious beliefs and to jeopardize world peace and stability.” European foreign ministers supported the Netherlands in rejecting the film. “Ministers expressed their full support for the position taken by the Dutch government in rejecting Mr. (Geert) Wilders' opinions on Islam,” the 27 European Union Foreign Ministers said in a statement. “The film equates Islam with violence and this view is sharply rejected. The vast majority of Muslims reject extremism and violence,” they said. Faith leaders, irrespective of their religious affiliations also condemned the film. The Jeddah-based Islamic Jurisprudence Assembly, an ancillary of the OIC, condemned the film as a “crime” and “a deliberate provocation” against Muslims and urged western politicians and clergy “to stand firmly against extremism increasingly targeting Muslims.” The Grand Mufti of Egypt issued an open letter to Wilders in which he called him to “remove hatred from his heart and understand the Qur'an as it has been understood by Muslim scholars throughout history: as a Book of Guidance that warns against misinterpreting it and confusing matters that are clear.” He wrote: “Whoever adheres to these principles will perceive the reality of the Qur'an, but those who want to play with its meanings will never arrive at the truth, regardless of their religion.” “Insulting religious and national feelings always causes a disruptive reaction,” said head of the Moscow Patriarchy. “The very position of equalling Islam to terror looks insulting to me,” Berl Lazar, the Chief Rabbi of Russia, said and claimed, “the best respond would be to set up complete informational blockade to this politician and remove the scandalous film from the Internet even if someone considers it to be censorship.” The government of Indonesia and Pakistan blocked websites to shun anti-Qur'an film. “We are of the view that the film has a racist flavour and is an insult to Islam, hidden under the cover of freedom of expression,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. The Indonesian President Susilo Yudhoyono called for calm in the mainly Muslim nation. Malaysia's former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed suggested a boycott echoing a similar call by media in Jordan. “If we boycott Dutch products, they will have to close down their businesses,” Mohamed told reporters. “If the world's 1.3 billion Muslims unite and say they won't buy, then it (the boycott) will be effective.” Malaysia's religious council and several Muslim groups in the country have called on Muslims to boycott Dutch goods to protest the Wilders movie. Babar Awan, a member of the Senate from the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party announced to make an “international film on the Quran” in cooperation with Pakistani channel ATV and release initially in three languages “English, Arabic and Urdu across the world on the 1st of the month of Ramadan, when it will begin in Saudi Arabia. Awan said Wilders' “highly objectionable” film had created “unfortunate and uncalled-for unrest and turbulence” at the global level. Even the name of the movie “Fitna” was highly proactive, he said. Muslims of Holland as well as thoseists throughout the world deserve congratulation as they have protested in a measured and disciplined manner in their Friday congregations this revolting, sacrilegious and deliberately insulting film. They need to be much more careful and should not be exploited by these so
