|
Netherlands: Campaign to Ban Arabic in Mosques
 |
|
Al-
Fatih Mosque in Holland
|
By Khaled Shawkat, IOL CORRESPONDENT
ROTTERDAM, July 22 (IslamOnline) - Only few weeks after the rightist parties won the general elections in Netherlands, members from "Rotterdam is Suitable For Life" Party in the local parliament of the Dutch economic capital began a strong campaign to ban the Arabic language in mosques.
The party which won the local elections has demanded that the Imams of mosques give the Friday addresses and all other religious lessons in Dutch or in a language called "Friss" which is a local language of a small community that holds the same name (Friss) and live in Frissland county, northern Netherlands.
"Giving Islamic lessons and addresses in Arabic or Turkish makes it difficult to watch and censor. Moreover, using many languages doesn’t help minorities merge into society." Said Mat Smitt member of the extreme rightist party in a press interview Monday, July 22.
Many rightist extremists demanded imposing censorship and surveillance on Imams of mosques following the broadcast of pieces of Friday addresses on a Dutch T.V channel. Political and media circles claimed they are encouraging hatred and inciting Muslims to be violent against those considered enemies.
But the call by "Rotterdam is Suitable For Life" ,which has the biggest share of representation in the local parliament , to adopt the Dutch language as the language of addresses in mosques is the first demand of its kind given that the constitution of the country stresses the separation between religion and politics and bans authorities from interference into the affairs of religious institutions including mosques.
On the other hand, and within efforts by the Muslim minority to face those challenges made by the Dutch extreme right ,Mohammad Alseni, head of "Islam and Patriotism”, announced the establishment of a federation to represent the Muslim minority in front of the government and all official circles.
"Seven federal Muslim organizations representing 70% of about one million Muslims in Netherlands will meet next October to elect a unified federation to represent them in front of the government.” Said Seni to IslamOnline correspondent referring to the reality that such a step was always a demand of the Dutch government .
Seni, who comes from Moroccan origins, expressed his confidence that the Muslim federal organizations will be able to reach positive results that reflect the positive spirit prevailing during preparatory meetings.
Many bids took place during the past 20 years to establish such a representative federation for the Muslims in Netherlands, but none of them worked! The main reason behind failures was the lack of recognition from all parties of the Muslim community. Moreover, Dutch Muslims tend to suspect the intentions and goals of those who take such initiatives. So Muslim activists expect failure to Seni's initiative despite the formal big support.
|
|
|
