Netherlands

Dutch MP Calls for Closure of Anti-Gay & Anti-Women Mosque in Amsterdam

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The Dutch Parliament will be addressing the difficult question of whether or not to close down an Amsterdam mosque that openly sells books that advocate the killing of gays, female circumcision and the beating of wives.

And one MP, Somali-born Hirsi Ali – who was raised a Muslim, has called for the closure of the El Tawheed mosque in her newspaper column in Algemeen Dagblad.  Ms Ali has been a vocal opponent of Muslim teaching on women and gays.

An emergency debate in Parliament is scheduled for later this week when MPs will demand to know from Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner and Immigration and Integration Minister Rita Verdonk just what they intend to do about the book “De Weg van de Moslim” (The Way of the Muslim) by Sheik Aboe Baker Djaber El Djezeiri.

The book is said to call for all gays to be pushed head first off the roofs of tall buildings – and if the fall doesn’t kill them, then they should be stoned to death.

Hirsi Ali said the latest revelations about the book “was the last straw”.  Closure of the mosque was a question of "political will", she wrote in her column.

"This mosque has been warned repeatedly by the authorities that intolerance against non-Muslims and undermining the law is unacceptable in the Netherlands," she said.

Earlier this month, the mosque was at the centre of a storm when it was discovered that another book on sale, “Fatwas of Muslim Women”, said that women who lie should “receive” 100 blows.  Additionally, the book said that a husband’s duty of care for his wife ceases if she refuses to have sex with him.

But even more controversial was the suggestion that that all Muslim girls should be circumsised.

MPs are saying demanding that both books be banned.

A television cameraman was assaulted when an RTL TV new team attempted to purchase a copy of “De Weg van de Moslim” last week.  But a female RTL reporter did manage to purchase a copy.

n  Last week, an Islamic cleric was deported from France to his native Algeria on Wednesday after he caused uproar by his endorsement of wife-beating and polygamy.

26 April, 2004