Fitna (film)

Fitna
Title card for Fitna
Written byGeert Wilders
Music byEdvard Grieg
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Distributed byLiveLeak
Release date
  • 27 March 2008 (2008-03-27)
Running time
17 minutes
CountryNetherlands
LanguagesDutch
English
Arabic
Persian
Turkish

Fitna (Arabic: فِتْنَة) is a 2008 short film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders. Approximately 17 minutes in length, the film attempts to demonstrate that the Qur'an motivates its followers to hate all who violate Islamic teachings. The film shows selected excerpts from Surahs of the Qur'an, interspersed with media clips and newspaper cuttings showing or describing acts of violence by Muslims worldwide.

The film argues that Islam encourages – among other things – acts of terrorism, antisemitism, violence against women, violence against LGBT people[1] and against infidels – as well as subjugation of all infidels: Islamic universalism. A large part of the film details the influence of Islam on the Netherlands. The film was published on the Internet in 2008.[2][3] Shortly before its release, its announcement was suspended from its website by the American provider because of the perceived controversy.[4][5] It stirred a still continuing debate in the Netherlands as well as abroad.[6]

The Arabic title-word "fitna" means "disagreement and division among people" or "a test of faith in times of trial".[7]

  1. ^ homo-, bi- and transsexuals, transgenders, crossdressers, non-binary people, etc.
  2. ^ Crouch, Gregory (2008-03-28). "Dutch Film Against Islam Is Released on Internet". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2017-01-05. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
  3. ^ Castle, Stephen (2008-03-27). "Anti-Koran film post on Internet". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
  4. ^ "Web site of Dutch anti-Islam film is suspended". The New York Times. 2008-03-23. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
  5. ^ "The Netherlands: U.S. Company Shuts Anti-Koran Web Site". The New York Times. 2008-03-25. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
  6. ^ Ham, Peter Van (2008-03-25). "Defend the right to say it". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
  7. ^ "Hold your breath: 'Fitna' spreading seeds of hatred". Today's Zaman. 2008-03-29. Archived from the original on April 2, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-01.