Islam Compatible With Dutch Values: Gov't Study

[al-fateh]

Islam Compatible With Dutch Values: Gov't Study


Hirsi claimed the study lacks professionalism and undermines free speech.


By Nasreddine Djebbi, IOL Correspondent

THE HAGUE, April 16, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – A study conducted for the Dutch government has concluded that Islam neither conflicts with Dutch values nor undermines human rights, with welcoming Dutch Muslims hoping for a fresh start.

"This study is indeed a step towards opening a more serious dialogue with Islam and curbing extremism irrespective of its source," Marzouk Abduallh Awlad, professor of Islamic Studies in the Amsterdam Free University, told IslamOnlin.net Sunday, April 16.

"Islam is a religion that interacts with its surrounding environment and adapt with different circumstances with no complications," he added.

After three years of research, the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) affirmed that Islam, in principle, neither conflicts with democracy, nor human rights nor Dutch values.

It said The Netherlands and the European Union reach out to Islamic movements which embraced democracy like Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

The study concluded that some Islamic movements are fully backing democracy and are in no way an obstacle to it.

It also recommended that the government communicates with and offers aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian government.

The United States and the European Union have suspended direct aid to the new government, like Russia which pledged urgent aid.

Foul Play

Professor Awlad said the public know about Islam from the media "which currently do have an agenda against the Muslim faith and Muslims and do not tell the truth."

He said a handful of extremists on both sides in the Netherlands "are intentionally or unintentionally agitating the conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims."

Dutch Muslims have seized celebrations of Prophet Muhammad's Birthday earlier this April to introduce their religion and prophet of Islam (peace and blessings be upon him) to non-Muslim Dutch.

The WRR study urged an end for campaigns sullying the image of Islam and Muslims in the Netherlands.

It blamed right-wing politicians like MP Ayaan Hirsi for fanning the conflict with Islam.

The study maintained that those politicians, in attacking Islam, are after fame and voters.

The findings of the study drew immediate fire from right-wing and liberal parties, which asked the parliament to hold a special session to debate the conclusions.

Hirsi, who wrote the scripts of two documentaries on alleged oppression of women in Islam, said the study lacks professionalism and undermines free speech.

Europe’s main rights and democracy watchdog, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), expressed concern in May last year at the increasing Dutch intolerance towards the Muslim minority and the "climate of fear" under which the minority was living.

Islamophobia gained momentum in the Netherlands after the November 2004 killing of director Theo van Gogh by a Dutch-Moroccan after directing the first film of Hirsi.

There are one million Muslims in the Netherlands, mostly hailing from Turkish and Moroccan origin.