A former member of Geert Wilders’s anti-immigration Freedom Party has converted to Islam.

Arnoud van Doorn, who until December 2011 was vice-chairman of the PVV group on The Hague’s city council, announced his “new start” on Twitter.

He also posted a tweet in Arabic declaring that “there is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet,” in accordance with one of the five pillars of Islam.

The 46-year-old (pictured, above, with Dutch Iranian politician Ehsan Jami in 2010) has continued on the council as an independent candidate since splitting from Wilders’s party.

Initially Van Doorn was reluctant to discuss his reasons for converting. But in a later interview with Al-Jazeera, he explained that his interest in the religion had gradually deepened after he began visiting a mosque in his home city out of curiosity.

He said: “I have heard many negative stories about the Islam, but I am not a person who follows opinions of others without doing my own research and forming my own opinion.

Therefore, I have actually started to deepen my knowledge of the Islam out of curiosity.

“My colleague Aboe Khoulani from the city council in The Hague has brought me further into contact with the as-Soennah mosque, which has guided me even further. There, I have been received very warmly and very positively.”

Asked if he now regretted joining the Freedom Party, he replied: “I have learned that every experience in life has a purpose. However, with the knowledge I have today, I would have undoubtedly made a different choice.”

In January Van Doorn was questioned by prosecutors about an article in the Hague edition of the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper based on confidential papers that he leaked to a journalist.

The leak was discovered during a wiretapped phone call while Van Doorn was being investigated over allegations that he sold soft drugs to children aged 14 and 15.

Van Doorn said the allegations were the result of a misunderstanding and that he had been involved in an undercover operation to unmask drug dealers in central The Hague. He admitted he had not properly considered the risks involved.

The articles concerned plans to sell the World Forum, an international conference centre in The Hague, which was discussed during a closed session of the council.

(updated March 11 2013 to include Van Doorn's interview with Al Jazeera)




The Amsterdam Herald - From Wilders to Muhammad: Former Freedom Party vice-chairman converts to Islam

Good news . People converting to Islam from developed and modern world would dilute the influence of rigid Salafi Arabs on Islam and as Persia , Mughal India , Far East and Central Asia softened Islam, gave Muslims literature and Sufism as well as science and technology , the same way Europe and America will make Islam more presentable and will purify it from the hard liners.

but backwards thinking cultures like Pashtuns tarnished the reputation of Islam, so that's why it seemed hardened, but really Islam was always balanced

Islam is submitting to the Lord.

You can't "dilute the influence of something" on Islam, "soften" Islam, "make it more presentable" or "purify it".

Either you're a muslim or you're not.

Islam is not a political tool or a cultural thing, it's between you and Allah SWT.

Who cares what non-believers think of Islam ? What matters is what Allah SWT thinks of you.

Alhamdullillah! Allah SWT be praised.

that's pretty cool.

This is great sentence. This is Sufism. This is spiritualism. No dogmas, no priests, no political Islam of Taliban and Al Qaida. no Arab dress and beard as part of Islam. Free thought, free inquiry, direct quest of knowledge and direct approach to God. I love this sentence. What I could not convey in my thousands posts has been conveyed here in this one sentence. Brevity is the soul of wit .

Sufism is not Islam.

Read it again, the first word starts by the letter "S", the second one by the letter "I".

Sufism is as far from Islam as Salafism is, if not more.

Both Sufism and Salafism are cults.

I've never met an islamic cult closer to Salafism like Sufism.

except Sufi dogmas

except Sufi Pirs, Saints, "Maulanas"

Both Sufis and Salafis want to impose their own version of politics

You disagree but in the end you're the same thing, both of you want power

Wahabis are your brothers, embrace the Sufi-Wahabi brotherhood




coming from a Sufi, that's hilarious

you are the ones who refuse to Salafis the right to think differently

except when it comes to questionning the leaders of Sufi cults


through sufi books, sufi litterature and propaganda





through thousand of "Saints", multi-generational intercession channels

And never forget that Ibn Taymiyya was a Sufi.


Beware the Salafi Man, for he's the Sufi's Pawn !