Former member of anti-islamic Geert Wilder’s dutch party accepts Islam

[Al Hanif]

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

[Badlun]

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.

[RevolutionThroughReason]

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

[Al Hanif]

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.

[asad71]

Alhamdullillah! Allah SWT be praised.

[randolph85]

that's pretty cool.

[Badlun]

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

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 .

[Al Hanif]

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.

[Al Hanif]

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

No dogmas

except Sufi dogmas

no priests

except Sufi Pirs, Saints, "Maulanas"

no political Islam

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

Free thought

coming from a Sufi, that's hilarious

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

free inquiry

except when it comes to questionning the leaders of Sufi cults

direct quest of knowledge

through sufi books, sufi litterature and propaganda

direct approach to God

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

[Al Hanif]

And never forget that Ibn Taymiyya was a Sufi.


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

[RevolutionThroughReason]

Al hanif, just because Badlun has hopped on the big popular western trend to hijack Sufism, doesn't mean he's a Sufi or a genuine Sufi. Don't cater to his fraudulence by acknowledging him as one. Badlun is 120% fake.

And yes Sufis have always been Politically Active, most of the Major Islamic Parties in Afghanistan was started by Sufis

Ikhwan Al Muslimeen was also started by Shadhili Sufis

[Badlun]

I do not need any certificate from any one for my Sufism. This is between my God and myself. I have never seen such an unreasonable person who talks of reason. How can a man of shallow reason understand the reason that heart has a reason which reason cannot understand.

And Sufism has nothing to do with politics. There might be some examples that because of the huge influence of Sufis they might have been involved in politics on individual basis but we always have the separation of Sultan and Awliaye karam.

If you consider Sufism as Kufr then you expel millions of Muslims especially in the non Arab world from the fold of Islam. Arabs never digested the greatness and magnificence of Ajams, the non Arabs as how those sons of deserts , the camel herders could absorb the greatest achievements of non Arab Muslims in Iran, India, Central Asia and Afghanistan.

[RevolutionThroughReason]

Reason allows people to see reality from illusion and truth from falsehood. Likewise we can use reason to know who is a sincere and genuine Sufi and who is just using the Popularity of the Sufi identity for prestige. Numerous Writings of the Great Sufis have warned people of the people who will pretend to be Sufis.

Actually Numerous Sufi Shayukh used to be advisors to the Sultan. Shaikh Muhammad Ma'asum, was the advisor of Aurangzeb. Sayyid Sabir Shah was the advisor of Ahmad Shah Abdali.

Even Sultan Salahuddin Al 'Ayubi is said to have been a Sufi from the Qadiri lineage.

Al-Hanif may consider Sufism as Kufr, but I never would claim that. Since most of the Early Ulama were also Sufis. Mu'tazilah have maybe a critical view of Sufism, but they did not discredit it entirely.

[Badlun]

RTR Please apply the golden lines here on yourself
Reason And Religion
Thomas Jefferson
especially in his Letter to nephew Peter Carr, 1787