A Dutch Christian and Muslim delegation has visited Egypt in what they say is a damage-limitation effort ahead of the expected release of a right-wing Dutch politician's film about the Quran, the holy book of Islam.
Their message was that the churches and the Muslim communities in the Netherlands, along with most of the population, oppose the views of Geert Wilders, but that the right to freedom of speech prevents the Dutch government from banning his film "Fitna", seen by many as provocative.
In Geneva, the Rev. Shanta Premawardhana, director of the World Council of Churches' programme on interreligious dialogue, criticised Fitna as "a clear case of Islamophobia". Premawardhana said, "Through graphic images the filmmaker depicts violent extremism without any attempt to distinguish it from mainstream Islam. Extremism is a problem for most religions and needs to be countered through interreligious dialogue."
The difficulty of convincing Egyptian religious leaders with this twofold message became apparent when the delegation met Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy on 25 March. Tantawy is a leading spiritual authority for the world's Sunni Muslims.
"A single member of parliament in the Netherlands insults one-and-a-half billion Muslims. That is intolerable," members of the delegation reported Tantawy as saying.
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Al-Azhar issues Islamic decrees (fatwas) and provides formal interpretations of statements about Islam. Its committee of ulemas (Islamic scholars) judges on individual Islamic questions.
"Yet again it has become clear to us how the response to this issue is very emotional in the Arab world," said Bas Plaisier, general secretary of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, after the meeting with Tantawy. "This film is playing with fire."
The grand imam was displeased about talks he had held on 24 March with the Dutch ambassador, Tjeerd de Zwaan. He believed the ambassador had only defended the right to free speech in the Netherlands and had shown no sensitivity to the emotional response of Muslims, reported the Dutch Christian newspaper Nederlands Dagblad .
The Dutch ambassador was said by delegation members to have hampered the delivery of their message, reported Nederlands Dagblad. "We were at first seen [by Tantawy] as an extension of the embassy," Plaisier told journalists. "It was difficult to convince Tantawy that we were not representing the Dutch government."
The sheikh, who is appointed by the Egyptian government, was said by delegation members to have expressed appreciation for the delegation's mission. But he warned then that the image of the Netherlands is suffering irreparable damage.
The visit to Egypt was planned at short notice, following a statement signed on 17 March by the Protestant church and two Muslim organisations in the Netherlands, and later also signed by the Council of Churches in the Netherlands. The purpose of the visit was to also present the statement in the Arab world. This was done at a press conference held on 26 March in the Egyptian capital.
The seven-member delegation was led by Plaisier. He was joined by Ton van Eijk of the Council of Churches in the Netherlands, Ahmed Driss El-Boujoufi, chairperson of the Contact Committee Muslims and Government (CMO), and Abdelmajid Khairoun
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