New documentary denigrating Islam ready for release

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: A new documentary aimed at denigrating Islam and attempting to show that it is not a religion of peace but war and conflict is due to be released in three US cities on July 7.

The documentary called ‘Islam: what the West needs to know’ has been produced by a company with the improbable name of Quixotic Media and will be initially released in Washington, Atlanta and Chicago.

The 98-minutes film’s main idea, according to the producers, is that it is not correct that those who commit violence in the name of Islam misinterpret the religion’s teachings, because Islam is a “violent, expansionary ideology that seeks the destruction or subjugation of other faiths, cultures and systems of government”. The documentary consists of interviews, selected citations from Islamic texts and Islamic artwork, computer-animated maps, Islamic television broadcasts and footage featuring Western leaders. The producers claim that the film’s tone is “sober, methodical and compelling”.

The documentary starts with prominent Western leaders stating that Islam is a peaceful religion and those who commit violence in its name are “heterodox fanatics”. The first part of the film will seek to make the point that Islamic violence is entirely orthodox behaviour for Muslims and stems directly from the teachings of its founder (pbuh) and the commands of the Quran. The second part will make the point that jihad does not denote “struggle” but war fought against non-Muslims in order to bring the rule of Islamic law to the world. Part three will try it establish that Islam did not spread through evangelism or its own natural appeal, but through “aggressive wars of conquest”. The Crusades will be projected as largely a belated response on the part of Christian Europe to “rescue” Christians in the Holy Land suffering under Muslim “suppression”. The Muslim world of today, the movie will allege, is responsible for the vast majority of conflicts and for almost all international terrorism.

Part four of he documentary will stress that the West has failed to understand that “religious deception” is central to Islam and Muslim groups employ it in the West to create the impression that their religion is a religion of peace. Islam, the documentary will state, is more a system of government than a personal religion, as throughout its history, it has never recognised the distinction between the religious and the secular/political.

“Islamic theology,” the film will attempt to prove “divides the world into two spheres locked in perpetual combat and it is incumbent on the sphere where Islamic law prevails to fight and conquer the one where it does not. Muslims in Western societies, the documentary alleges, are called to subvert the secular regimes in which they live. As such, the “danger posed by observant Muslims in the West remains largely unappreciated”.

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