Hurriyet reports that while some Muslims in the Netherlands are concerned about the rise of anti-Islam party PVV in recent elections, others feel the hostility is unlikely to last long. Rather, they view the antipathy as a symptom of a lack of knowledge about the religion which does not reflect the day-to-day reality of their…
Members of the Islamic community in the Netherlands have started a website as a platform to provide critical discussion about Islam. The site, nieuwemoskee.nl (‘new mosque’), is created independent of government funding and is intended to stimulate public debate on Islam’s position in Dutch society, as well as to provide “a platform for critical voices…
There is considerable fear among Dutch Muslims in the city of Almere regarding the potential success of the anti-Islamic Freedom Party (PVV) in upcoming national elections. The PVV, led by Geert Wilders, currently has nine of 150 seats in parliament. It is predicted to win 17 seats next week and become the country’s fourth biggest…
Various religious and social organizations are addressing the Netherlands’ Muslim population in advance of national elections on June 9, 2010. While some organizations are encouraging active participation in the election, others are urging Muslims not to vote. Radical Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir set up a website and handed out flyers at Dutch mosques urging Muslims…
A conference in Utrecht this week, organized as part of the MultiFestijn Festival, explored “whether the unease about Islam in the Netherlands is due to a lack of leadership”, Reformatorisch Dagblad reports. Abdulwahid Van Bommel, a translator and guest lecturer at the University of Groningen, spoke at the conference and identified a sense of unease…
