The Good News From Denmark

Europe is on the front lines of the Great Jihad, and Denmark is leading the active resistance against the Islamization of Europe.

Two welcome events have come out of Denmark in the last few days, each of them sure to warm the hearts of the Counterjihad — and also to provoke the worst from Islamic Rage Boy (would that be islamisk raseri dreng?) in Denmark and throughout the Muslim world.

Both of these articles feature Islamisk Trossamfund, which is the Danish equivalent of CAIR, according to Kepiblanc. Islamisk Trossamfund is, in effect, threatening reprisals against Denmark after the Vikings failed to show Danish Muslims and their prophet the proper respect.

First, an article from yesterday’s Jyllands-Posten, translated for Gates of Vienna by Kepiblanc.

Pia Kjærsgaard acquitted of libel

The chairman of the Danish People’s Party, Pia Kjærsgaard, was today acquitted of libel by using the term “high treason” about resident Muslims’ agitation abroad during the Mohammed cartoon affair. Islamisk Trossamfund [the Danish version of CAIR — translator] is disappointed by the verdict

The court of first instance in Lyngby Friday choose to acquit the chairman of the Danish People’s Party, Pia Kjærsgaard, of libel.

Islamisk Trossamfund had hauled Pia Kjærsgaard into court for calling Muslim imams “traitors”.

Islamisk Trossamfund had demanded DKr. 30,000 ($5,500) as compensation, but ended up having to pay DKr. 40,000 ($7,400) in salaries and costs.

Judge Karen Greve stated in court that the term “high treason” is frequently used in public debate.

Accordingly it was not unlawful when Pia Kjærsgaard in her January 2006 newsletter wrote that resident Muslims’ agitation abroad during the Mohammed cartoon affair was high treason.

Pia Kjærsgaard was not present in court at the verdict, but the Danish People’s Party’s press officer, Soeren Soendergaard, spoke on behalf of the party:

“It is a victory for freedom of speech, but otherwise the whole case is ridiculous, staged as a media stunt by Islamisk Trossamfund.”

The Muslims of Denmark are not done with Ms. Kjærsgaard yet, however. A fatwa is certain to follow.

In fact, the second story concerns an imminent fatwa to be issued against the newspaper that published both these stories.

From an article in Thursday’s Jyllands-Posten, translated for Gates of Vienna by Phanarath and Semantes:
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Imam warns of fatwas against Jyllands-Posten

Mohammed crisis: The strife surrounding the impending historical repercussions concerning the principals comes to a head.

Islamisk Trossamfund refuses to accept that the Mohammed Crisis should be filed away as nothing but a dramatic incident in recent Danish history.

With neither apology nor vindication in court, Islamisk Trossamfund still considers the twelve drawings a tale that cannot yet be put to rest.

Islamisk Trossamfund is prepared to yet again send delegations to the Middle East unless an apology is given by Jyllands-Posten, or a court ruling acknowledges that the newspaper offended the honor of Danish Muslims. This time around the delegation will demand that a fatwa be issued against Jyllands-Posten.

“No one has been held responsible for the defamation of our Prophet. Therefore we have no choice other than to ask for a fatwa,” says spokesman Kasem Ahmad. He is supported by Mostafa Chendid, an imam from Islamisk Trossamfund.

Islamisk Trossamfund is currently preparing a civil suit to overturn the provincial ruling favoring Jyllands-Posten, which Islamisk Trossamfund accuses of defamation of honor. But if Jyllands-Posten is acquitted yet again, and should the case be dismissed by the European Human Rights Court in Strasbourg, the next chapter of the story will be written by a religious scholar in The Middle East, Islamisk Trossamfund predicts.

The author Salman Rushdie has, since 1989, lived with a fatwah that constitutes a threat to his life. But Kasem Ahmad emphasizes that Islamisk Trossamfund does not intend to work for a death threat issued against the leadership of Jyllands-Posten, and that a fatwa isn’t necessarily equal to a threat.

He is, however, unable to decide the exact contents of an eventual fatwa, as it is traditionally only the specially trained religious scholars who have the competence to issue a fatwa. It is to these Middle Eastern scholars that the delegation would turn.

Islamisk Trossamfund will be forced to formulate a specific question relating to Jyllands-Posten, since a Fatwah is defined as being the answer to a question.

“A difficult task, as a fatwa only occasionally considers named companies or individuals, but habitually relates to questions of principle,” says Jørgen Bæk Simonsen, Professor of the Carsten Niebuhr Department at the University of Copenhagen.

He also believes that only through extraordinary circumstances might the Islamisk Trossamfund be able to mobilize anger in The Middle East. “But a fatwa can be used as a trump when Muslims worldwide discuss whether the West is abusing Islam,” he says. Jørgen Bæk Simonsen believes that the Islamisk Trossamfund’s request for a fatwa serves to legitimize its views to the Muslim community and society as a whole.

“The Fatwa is proof that religious scholars share the viewpoints of the Islamisk Trossamfund” he says.

Light of eternity

Kasem Ahmad rejects the idea that time has diminished the Middle Eastern anger over the twelve cartoons.

“No Muslim forgets that the Prophet was defamed,” he says, and emphasizes that the Islamisk Trossamfund already has contacts with Middle Eastern imams after their last trip at the end of 2005, and that they are willing to involve Middle Eastern media in the matter.

Carsten Juste, editor-in-chief at Jyllands-Posten:

“I am not surprised that Kasem Ahmad once again adopts an aggressive tone, since he earlier expressed the opinion that the Mohammed case should be considered in the light of eternity.”