Salaam and Greetings of Peace:
A brother in Indonesia wrote me and asked about far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilder’s movie, Fitna. Specifically, he asked what the Sufi way of dealing with it would be.
I have read a couple of articles about the 15 minute film that call it amateurish and boring, but I have not seen it and will not look at it. It is a purposeful attempt to provoke a violent reaction by a political extremist who uses fear of immigrants and Muslims as a power base.
The best answer is to boycott watching the movie, and pray that Allah enlightens the heart of the filmmaker and his followers.
It reminds me of this story in a recent post about Isa ibn Mariyam, Jesus the son of Mary:
Isa ibn Mariyam (AS),
passed by a group of men who shouted evil things at him.
In return Isa (AS) spoke to them with kindness.
His companions asked:
“Why did you reply to these men with kindness when they spoke evil to you?”
Isa (AS) replied: “Everyone spends from the coin he has.”
To answer hate with love is the Sufi way.
Ya Haqq!
April 3, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Assalamualaikum Br darvish
I want to reiterate your suggestion that is to “pray that Allah enlightens the heart of the filmmaker and his followers.” for this is the sufi way.
Katib
April 3, 2008 at 7:59 pm
I have heard a lot of buzzing about this guy and his film, but I don’t know who he is or what the movie is. It sounds like something I will steer clear of regardless. Thanks though for your post. What is the movie about if you don’t mind me asking?
April 3, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Salaam Dear Brother and Sister:
For those that are not familiar with the Fitna movie, here is a link to a good post by our brother Ali Eteraz on it:
http://eteraz.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/geert-wilders-fitna-farce/
Ya Haqq!
April 4, 2008 at 2:09 am
I agree. When “300″ the holywood movie released- which was something to show Iranians/Persians as uncivilised and wild people- Iranians made too many advertisement against it in the net.
And it made others eager to see what the movie wants to say. So it sold very good. But in fact it was an average movie and lower than standards of being sold that much.
Boycott watching the movie is best way.. :)
April 4, 2008 at 4:42 am
You walk the way of love dear Brother,
And I for one am every day inspired
by the strength
graciousness
and light
which radiates from every word you write here
and every drop of love that
spills on the page
only to be seen
by those
willing to look,
You are the light,
God bless you gracious one,
Maithri
April 4, 2008 at 10:56 am
Salaams Baba Darvish,
Amin…
Abdur Rahman
April 4, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Sweet story and thanks for the post as well.
April 4, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Assalam-alaikam,
I too do not wish to see this video, I hope that Muslims do not play right into Mr Wilders’ hands and are not provoked by it, but I suspect that this is exactly what will happen. I make dua for this man that he is blessed with hidayah – remorse for your own actions is so much more powerful than any punishment anyone else in this world can give.
Then I think of our beloved Prophets (PBUH) – people attacked and abused him, and the children of those same poeple joined his Ummah.
JK for the lovely story about Isa ibn Mariyam (AS)
April 4, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Everybody: it is not a ”film” it is ten minutes of footage put together with some out of context quotations from the Quran. It is so totally superannuated that nobady can take it seriously. You could find the same sort of quotations in the bible by the way. You miss nothing by not seeing it.
In fact the 10 minutes are so stupid that nobody can give it much importance: it is only the hullabaloo that went before it.
The upshot of the movie is that there has been a lot of positive talk and communication in the Netherlands, Islamic books have been distributed, and we all KNOW now Wilders is an idiot, because we’ve been given the proof.
April 4, 2008 at 5:21 pm
But of course I hope he’ll see the light and we will all love and respect one-another.
Don’t believe in it myself, but it is sweet to read it coming from you all.
April 4, 2008 at 8:01 pm
ah, but maybe “violence can be used for a good cause” !!
April 5, 2008 at 3:27 am
“Everyone spends from the coin he has.”
What a beautiful quote and how tactfully explains away the whole issue of the good and evil. That’s a real Sufi way of treating the evil.
Thanks dear brother Irving for all the blessings radiating from such a tenderly conscious heart as yours!
Ya Haqq
April 5, 2008 at 7:52 am
Salaams to you all…
May Allah provide us with such guidances on all occasions. After writing a comment here, I thought it’ll be better to present it as a new post. I have posted it in my blog under the title ‘My Prophet…2′.
Take it as a comment to your post dear brother.
April 5, 2008 at 10:24 am
I think I was a bit depressed when I wrote my comment yesterday.
Abdul Muneers post is the best answer I have seen!
April 5, 2008 at 11:12 am
Thank you for the lesson and reminder, dear brother Irving.
April 5, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Salaam Dear Brothers and Sisters:
Thank you all for the kind comments :) To return kindness for hatred is not only a Sufi trait, and not only practiced by the Prophet (pbuh) as brother Abdul writes on his excellent blog, it is also the heart-trait of Jesus, Buddha, and many of the prophets and wise men and women in every generation and in every religion.
May the Most Merciful and Most Kind bless us all with the strength and wisdom to emulate them in our words and deeds. Ameen.
Ya Haqq!
April 6, 2008 at 10:13 am
Salam brother Irving.
Maybe because Indonesia is the biggest muslims nation so lot of discussion happen in here. There are many kind reaction happen. Some were angry, some are pray for the maker of the movie so Allah open his heart, some people did not care about it.
To reduce the chaos our government declared the rule that anyone should not post the video on the internet.
April 6, 2008 at 11:06 am
This is why we need more Muslim filmmakers. Other people are making a living off of criticizing and insulting our way of life, and many times, this provokes violence and radicalism from the Muslims. I agree that we must respond to hate with Love. There is a lot we Muslims can do; we just need to speak up and put our words into action.
Salaam/Peace
April 6, 2008 at 10:02 pm
By Allah, whenever I pay a visit here, I get the message that I so dearly need at the moment..
Gratitude is shown for this wonderful reminder
Ya Haqq!
April 8, 2008 at 11:24 pm
I saw the film — frankly you didn’t miss much. It’s boring, and it looks like it was made by an undergrad freshman for a Film 101 class on a Mac in half a day.
Btw there is a YouTube channel set up by a Muslim filmmaker who goes by the title of Ummah Films. The website is here:
http://www.ummahfilms.com/home.html
April 9, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Sounds like sound advice Irving – if we all ignore this kind of stuff then it will just wither up and die a natural death.
April 9, 2008 at 4:14 pm
I prefer to see a reissue of The Message as a way to combat “Fitna”.
April 10, 2008 at 3:44 pm
To answer hate with love is the Sufi way.
also Franciscan and Hasidic way. In all case I think it’s the same way. Hilel the great,Jesus, Jalalleddin al Rumi, Francis of Assisi, Haji Bektash Veli, Nahman from Breslav, -is the same way…
Shalom,Salam,Peace and Bracha,Baracha
April 12, 2008 at 10:02 am
Boycotting the film will do nothing for those who have suffered at the hands of terrorists, nor those who fear exactly what this film tells us to fear. There is nothing new in this film; it is but a condensed version of its subject.
Answering hate with love does mean putting our heads in the sand until it all blows over. Citing Biblical passages equivalent to the Qur’anic ayahs in this film does not cancel out anything.
We are left with continued hatred against Muslims for what has happened and what may happen again. Who shall we really blame for this film? The film maker? I daresay not.
The events in this film were not perpetrated by Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, or atheists. Broken Mystic has given us the hard answer; we Muslims must face this situation and address its root causes while taking concrete steps to right whatever wrongs resulted in this depraved state of affairs in the first place.
That said, I hasten to admit that I do not know the Sufi path; perhaps passive resistence is, indeed, the appropriate response for those who set themselves upon that Path.