التاريخ : الجمعة 28 مارس 2008 . القسم :
Muslim Brotherhood denounces Geert Wilders’ film, calls for peaceful reactions
Fear of violent reactions rises as right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders launched his anti-Islam film “Fitna” on the internet Thursday. In his own words, Wilders attempts through his film to convince the public that Islam is a backward religion and the Qur’an “a terrible and fascist book that inspires people to do awful deeds.”
Despite the flagrant violation of freedom of belief in Wilders’ speeches and his movie, Muslim Brotherhood statements called for avoiding riots and violent reactions and concentrating instead on a constructive dialogue with non-Muslims to refute the claims of Geert Wilders or anyone who misunderstands Islam.
MB first deputy-chairman Muhammad Habib said in a statement to Ikhwanweb that the Muslim Brotherhood promotes dialogue because Islam is a religion of dialogue. “We value freedom because it is an obligation on every human being. However, there is a difference between freedom and deliberate offense. Therefore, we completely reject any attempt to provoke Muslims, and we expect western societies to respect Muslims just as we respect them,” he stated.
Habib maintained that if the Dutch movie contains any incitation of hatred against Muslims, then it might negatively affect world stability as it would be a bulwark against peaceful coexistence among human beings. But violence should be evaded no matter what happened, he said.
Mahmoud Ezzat (the movement’s secretary-general, pic) underlined the responsibility of Muslims everywhere to represent the truth about their religion. “We ought to rally all freedom lovers worldwide to stand up for truth”, he said.
Ezzat resumed, “there must be a stance against such hostile actions through, for instance, media campaigns which voice Muslims’ feelings. NGOs and human rights organizations should also have a positive response.”
MB executive bureau member Muhammad Mursi confirmed the above and pointed out that freedom of expression does not entail freedom of offending others. On the contrary, differences among human beings necessitate fruitful communication and respect of the other.
For this reason, Muslims in