Thursday, March 27, 2008

Geert Wilders' Fitna - A Review

Geert Wilders, the Dutch MP who has made an anti-Islam film, argues that he has the right, under Freedom of Speech, to say what he wants. And what exactly is he saying? He wants the Quran to be banned because it is a "hate speech". So here is a man using Freedom of Speech to argue that another speech - the Quran - should be banned. His much talked about film, Fitna, is equally circular in logic.

As soon as I read that Geert Wilders' controversial Fitna was released on Liveleak, I immediately went over there to have a look. I wanted to see what the fuss was all about. After all, this is a movie that has the Dutch government in a fix and Muslims all over the world in a rage (um, so what's new).

I was expecting a motion picture masterpiece. Well, if not that, at least a thought provoking movie that made you pause, and reflect. After all, like it or not, Rushdie's Satanic Verses or Irshad Manji's Trouble With Islam were well written and thought provoking literary pieces. This was nothing.

It was as if a high school neocon googled "10 controversial verses of the Quran" and made a flash presentation of the verses, interspersed with images and news footage of 9/11, van Gogh murder and so on. Honestly, a high school student could have produced a better Islam-critical animation. That the verses and their "controversial" meanings (when taken out of context) has been explained numerous times is immaterial. The "movie" is amateurish.

In fact, the only good thing about Fitna is the recitation of the said verses of the Quran. The qari who recited those verses had a melodious voice.

Geert Wilders must have hoped Muslims would see his movie and renounce the Quran. In fact it made me laugh at his childish movie and then search Youtube for more melodious Quran recitations.

17 comments:

Suroor said...

Nice review - like everything else on your blog. But I really liked the first paragraph about freedom of speech.

Anonymous said...

Hey Mezba, sounds like he did Muslims a favour then - made a mockery of himself.

Actually he reminds me of some so called 'liberal' people here in the UK. They think that because they have a few Muslim colleagues, or friends, they are not at all prejudiced when they shout loud that Islam is oppressive and does not give freedom of speech and should be banned.

I'm sure you can see the logic in that. Ahah.

Alex said...

Geert Wilders, the Dutch MP who has made an anti-Islam film, argues that he has the right, under Freedom of Speech, to say what he wants. And what exactly is he saying? He wants the Quran to be banned because it is a "hate speech".

Yep, thats pretty funny. Almost as funny as the Muslims who insist that Islam is a "religion of peace", while threatening to kill anyone who makes fun of it.

I actually had no idea that he wanted the Quaran banned. When I confirmed it on wikipedia, I was rather amazed by his hypocrisy.

Geert Wilders must have hoped Muslims would see his movie and renounce the Quran.

Hardly. Your thought-process must be insanely convoluted for you to have reached that conclusion. Mr. Wilders' intended audience is clearly non-Muslims. I very much doubt he cares whether you renounce the Quaran - he's much more interested in convincing non-Muslims to fight against Islam.

Safiyyah said...

I don't know what it is about the Dutch that makes some of them want to antagonize Muslims. They used to be a very tolerant society until that sister from Africa riled them up against Muslims. Seems it has gone down hill ever since :(

Anonymous said...

Shouting FIRE FIRE unnecessarily in a cinema hall is also freedom of speech?

Saffiyah: Did that 'sister' kill Theo Van Gogh.

Anonymous said...

I agree with you and simply add that freedom doesn't mean offending others as in this case it's not freedom anymore!

Anonymous said...

Hicham,

In that case many should find Quran offensive. I find the blanket statement in Quran that all non-believers would end up in hell as highly offensive. I also find it strange that quran should hate murtads who leave islam, but welcome (or even encourage violently) for muslims to convert others to islam.

A murtad.

Safiyyah said...

Anonymous: "Did that 'sister' kill Theo Van Gogh."

I don't know where you're going with that question, but I believe that she indirectly played a role in it. After all, her collaberation on the film with Van Gogh is what led to his death. But in the end, the murderer is responsible for his own behavior.

mezba said...

Suroor: thanx! I hope you are feeling better now. Yes, I find people like these frightening, while on one hand they want to use every power of the law they also want to deny minorities the same powers!

Anon @ 8.22: The whole movie is not worth the fuss that some Muslims will now make out of it, IMO.

Alex:

Almost as funny as the Muslims who insist that Islam is a "religion of peace", while threatening to kill anyone who makes fun of it.

Those 'Muslims' who want to kill someone for the mere expression of disagreement with their tenets should be locked up.

Geert Wilders must have hoped Muslims would see his movie and renounce the Quran.

Hardly. Your thought-process must be insanely convoluted for you to have reached that conclusion.


The film ends with someone turning pages of a Koran, followed by a tearing sound.

A text that appears on the screen says: "The sound you heard was from a page (being torn from a) phone book.

"It is not up to me, but up to the Muslims themselves to tear the spiteful verses from the Koran."

That's how I reached that conclusion.

Mr. Wilders' intended audience is clearly non-Muslims. I very much doubt he cares whether you renounce the Quaran [sic] - he's much more interested in convincing non-Muslims to fight against Islam.

And here you have shown your true colors. Your enemies are ALL Muslims - whether they are of the peaceful type or not.

Safiyyah: I think some of it are legitimate grudges from the illegal immigration that Europe is subject to from Africa, which is threatening their society as there appears to be no control as to WHO is let into the country. Other parts of such antagonism stem from pure old racism.

Anon @ 8.19: I guess it is Freedom of Speech but then you are likely to be prosecuted for public mischief. Just because you have the Freedom to do something doesn't mean it's the Right thing to do.

Hicham: I actually think Freedom of Speech DOES include the right to offend.

Anon @ 9.06: God doesn't hate any of His creations but is ready to ever forgive.

Safiyyah: And I believe they caught that murderer. The proper way to prosecute a crime is to catch the criminal. But some of the Dutch have made it a lightning rod for anti-Muslim sentiments.

Anonymous said...

Mezba,

"Anon @ 9.06: God doesn't hate any of His creations but is ready to ever forgive."

Have you just written a new quran.
Because the Quran I know says something else about nonmuslims.
Full of hate.

# Don't bother to warn the disbelievers. Allah has blinded them. Theirs will be an awful doom. 2:6

# Allah has sickened their hearts. A painful doom is theirs because they lie. 2:10

# A fire has been prepared for the disbelievers, whose fuel is men and stones. 2:24

# Disbelievers will be burned with fire. 2:39, 90

Mezba, please stop trying to defend a junk of a book called Quran. Geert may have produced a bad film, but quran deserves to be mocked. It is basically a book for mentally deficient.

mezba said...

Anon @ 11.54: Actually verse 2-6 is meant for people like you - people who hate Muslims (and Quran) so much their hearts are blinded - they will not have an open mind and one can never convince them of Islam - therefore there is no point in debating Islam with them - it is clear people like you won't learn to respect proper, peaceful Muslims and our beliefs ever.

If you want to spouse your brand of hatred get your own blog.

Anonymous said...

anon:Well it's not the case of Qur'an; rather it's something in all beliefs either being divine (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) or non divine ones.

Think about it as follows: you are living in a country and you break the law of the state; the authority does what?

mezba:I think that offending whoever is totally different from critisicing what they do; and this is what I meant that freedom is lost.

mezba said...

hicham: thanx for the clarification.

To the Anonymous guy who keeps posting hateful messages about Islam: this post is about Fitna and my review of it. If you have something to say about Fitna then say it, otherwise your crap won't be published.

It says a lot about someone's character who only feels comfortable posting hateful messages anonymously from the comfort of one's basement.

Adventurous Ammena said...

:) good to hear that it was as silly as I expected, where did you see it? I know sometimes theres a movie place in mississauga that shows off beat 'foreign' films :P i enjoy stuff like that.

mezba said...

Ammena: oh yes it was very silly.

Unknown said...

Asalaamu 'alaykum,

Did you see one Muslim's response to Fitna? Check it out on Youtube, it's pretty good (minus the music):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rpiccERJaFk

It's called Schism (The Biblical version of Fitna)...it's pretty good!

mezba said...

M: salaams I will check it out thanx!