Cursing, incitement to hatred and internal politics

Several blogs have reported already about the sermon delivered by imam Fawaz Jneid of the As Soennah mosque, a Salafi mosque in The Hague. In this sermon he cursed Hirsi Ali and Van Gogh in a very brutal manner. One of the attendants was Mohammed B.; yes the guy who killed Van Gogh. According to Radio Netherlands (I suggest you read that article!):

In the recording of the sermon, Imam Fawaz calls Theo van Gogh a ‘criminal bastard’ and beseeches Allah to visit an incurable disease upon the filmmaker. He also condemns former Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali who was involved in writing the script for Submission. The imam asks Allah to make Ms Hirsi Ali go blind and give her cancer of the tongue and brain.

Two questions that immediately emerge is why do other Muslims not distance themselves from people like this imam and is this a hate speech?

With regard to the first question it is important to recognize that it is in fact the disagreement with the politics of this imam, that this sermon has now emerged during the second Hofstadgroup trial (this group, connected with the first one where Mohammed B. was in important member together with Samir A., was arrested last year. The two main people so far are Samir A. and Soumaya S. The latter has revealed this sermon). Also in his sermon Fawaz not only attacks Van Gogh and Hirsi Ali but also others: in particular islamic and muslim organizations who, according to him, do not stand up for Muslims. This sermon should therefore also be seen as part of the internal struggle among Muslims that has been going on for quite some time now. It’s a struggle to get and maintain the control over the symbols of Islam and over young Muslims. His attack on Hirsi Ali and Van Gogh should also be seen in the same perspective. By attacking them so hars and brutal the imam is presenting himself as a non-corrupted moral standard and the embodiment of cherished values while other Muslims and their organizations have sold themselves to the Dutch. It is not that all Muslims regard him as an authority in fact they don’t and that’s probably one of the reasons for his attacks besides that he probably felt truly offended by Hirsi Ali and Van Gogh and that he, according to himself, tried to withold young people from doing stupid things by asking God to curse them.

The latter brings me to the question of incitement to hatred. I’m not a lawyer nor a judge so that is difficult to answer. Yes, probably some young people may have been influenced by that sermon but to determine in what manner is very difficult to assess I think. There is no evidence, as far as I know, that Mohammed B. was indeed inspired by this speech. An investigation probably will start so we have to wait and see.