India, the “so called” ulema raised a hue and cry saying that many venerated figures in Islamic history were shown in the film and the book presented a distorted picture of the religion, says Kamal. “This despite the fact that Al-Risala was released officially and was well-received in Kuwait, Bahrain, Malaysia, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, even in Pakistan. Large numbers of Muslims saw it during the days before its screening was stopped and its DUDs and CODs are still selling here like hot cakes.”

Expressing similar views, the usually conservative Akhbar-e-Mashriq, in its editorial (March 30), described the response of Muslims of Holland to Wilder’s film as “an achievement worth emulating”. Instead of losing their balance at the “provocation of the worst enemy of Islam and a Member of Parliament belonging to Holland’s right wing, Gerrit Wilders, they stood, stoic as a rock of patience and integrity”, it said. The paper also lauded the role of the Dutch government in preventing a general release of Fitna. In a similar vein, Munsif of Hyderabad (April 3) wrote: “these cartoons or short propaganda films cannot bring about the sunset of Islam’s sun (sic). It has to be seen that Muslims do not serve the interests of those groups that are spreading hatred against Islam and instead devote their time to spreading the message of Islam in the whole world while following the ideals of the Prophet.”

Congress-Mayawati spat

A few newspapers have commented on the spat between Congress leaders and UP Chief Minister Mayawati. Akhbar-e-Mashriq, in an editorial, carrying an unprintable title (April 9), wrote: “Tikait showed his sharafat and bhalmansahat (gentlemanliness) by withdrawing his remark against Mayawati. But Mayawati did not learn any lesson from this. As the popularity of Congress General Secretary, Rahul Gandhi, is on the rise in Uttar Pradesh and, feeling the pain and agony of Dalits, he has tried to move closer to them, Mayawati is seeing her boat shaking”.

... contd.