As it has already been predicted, Fitna, a film by Geert Wilders has inticed a blaze of anger among many people, specially Muslims. The film has successfully provoked a wide furore and public reaction against the freedom of expression which denigrate the holiness of Islam. I personally do agree that every individual must have freedom as long as their freedom does not transgress the rules of game in the social life. We can do whatever we like and get whatever we want. Nonetheless, this must not be done by destroying others' rights.
We live in a global village in which all nations in the world are interconnected. An occurence that might happen in a remote island in this globe will not be missed out from our ears and eyes due to the most advanced technology. Information is instantly disseminated throughout every tunnel of the world. The world is becoming shrinking and distance becomes so relative. There is no physical barrier as such to get instant information.
Wilders' ten minute film has caused an excruciating hurt in the bottom of many pious Muslim. However, for the most pious, this film and any kind of harsh insult against their religion is only a test befalling them from Allah. A test that measures the degree of patience and integrity. As Muslims, we must be pissed off and feel insulted by this depiction. However, our anger must not be reflected through imprudent ways and childish actions.
This repeats a bit similar film "Submission" made by Theo van Gogh, who was murdered by Mohammed Bouyeri on 2 November 2004. Working from a script written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, van Gogh created the 10-minute movie Submission. The movie deals with the topic of violence against women in Islamic societies; telling the stories of four abused Muslim women. The title itself, "Submission", is a translation of the word "Islam" into English. In the film, women's naked bodies are veiled with semi-transparent shrouds as they kneel in prayer, telling their stories as if they are speaking to Allah. Qur'anic verses unfavourable to women are projected onto their bodies in Arabic. In August 2004, after the movie's broadcast on Dutch public TV, newspaper De Volkskrant reported on claims of plagiarism against Hirsi Ali and Van Gogh, made by internet journalist Francisco van Jole.
Van Jole said the duo had "aped" the ideas of Iranian-American video artist Shirin Neshat. Neshat's work, which made abundant use of Arabic text projected onto bodies, had been shown in the Netherlands in 1997 and 2000. After the broadcast of Submission, Van Gogh and Hirsi Ali also received death threats. Van Gogh did not take these very seriously and refused any protection, reportedly telling Ayaan Hirsi Ali: "Nobody kills the village idiot", a term he frequently used to refer to himself. He was shot dead and stabbed. The murderer pinned the knife down his throat and left two knives stabbed on his torso. Many believe that he was dead as a martyr for the freedom of expression [Source].
"I hate Islam not Muslims" becomes a seemingly widely accepted sentence when people like Wilders and van Gogh are to describe Islam. They make every attempt to persuade people that the Qur'an is not in tandem with the modern time. It is still locked in the past. All messages in the Qur'an are merely contextual agreeable with the reminiscents of the ancient time. The misunderstanding of Islam is perhaps due to our ignorance about the whole truth of Islam. What Islam has brought to the beauty of human civilization seems to be overlooked.
There is a simple yet a difficult question to be answered about why there are still many people who still misunderstand about Islam? Are they ignorant and stupid people? I don't think so. They are intellectual and renowned for their knowledge and expertise. I suspect that this is because of our own misbehaviour when we have to represent Islam in our daily lives. We tend to show our easily fragmented society through bickering over trivial matters. We ignore the unity of Muslim communities, and we cannot adept the soil on which we stand. We seem to fly and never touch the ground. We also tend to blame others when something wrong happens, but never inwardly look into our own selves. Unity and friendship are the main pillars if we want to introduce Islam along with its "rahmatan lil'alamin" (mercy for the entire universe) character.
Just have a glance at the following film by van Gogh which is based on Hirsi Ali's description about Islam. In her opinion, Islam humiliates the rights of women. God, never listens an oppressed women in the film when she underwent bitter life. In this film, the women is shown dressing a black shroud with a semi-transparent front. She is standing on the prayer mat like doing a prayer while the semi-transparent front expossing her naked body.
Ciputat, 6 April 2008
4 comments:
Lepas dari yang ditayangkan di 'Submission', harus kita akui masih banyaknya ketimpangan pemenuhan hak perempuan di berbagai belahan dunia, negara-negara Islam khususnya. Kita akan dengan mudah mengatakan bahwa 'gender disparity' itu lebih sebagai produk budaya patriarkis tetapi untuk masyarakat barat, perlu pembuktian akademis/ilmiah yang dipublikasikan secara untuk mengatakan demikian. Masih sulit bagi masyarakat dunia untuk membedakan antara masyarakat Islam dan ajaran Islam. Apalagi bukti-bukti otentik terjadinya ketimpangan itu diperoleh pihak yang didanai oleh berbagai organisasi dunia dengan akses publikasi yang amat luas.
Saya tidak mengatakan bahwa masyarakat boleh melihat Islam dari penganutnya. Bagaimanapun, cara yang paling bijak dan baik memahami Islam adalah dengan mempelajari Islam dari sumber aslinya. ...saya hanya ingin mengatakan betapa kita masih harus berupaya lebih keras untuk, lagi-lagi, menunjukkan sisi-sisi humanis Islam yang ramah itu.
Mei
It seems to be true that the world is about to colide into a clash of civilization. There is a great fear that Islam is transformed into a beast giant called totalitarian islamism. How can we hinder its fast-moving fly? Is it real or just a merely shadow of fear?
mp
I am not the expert in this matter. I think the the huge number of Muslims in western countries seems threatening to many parties as this growing number might influence or even change the world in many ways.
However, we just couldn't deny that Islam has been reflected in different directions due to different interpretations, local socio cultural values or world-wide political power. The borderless world may overhelm Muslims and greatly influence our way of live and thinking. the totalitarian islamism might truly happen if we are not strongly holding our values, which should be reflected in many 'more glaring'actions with such social, cultural and political strong impacts. Thus, Islam-phobia might be relieved. Iam not sure, may be I myself start feeling this fear... Mei
Don't you think the giant power is also trying to demolish Islam values through many internationally recognized projects which also involve and make use Muslims?
Mei
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