Dear Geoffrey,
Lutz is right about the title, it is correct. Abdullah Haselhoef was given
the opportunity to react to Pim Fortuyn's views because Fortuyn wanted to
encourage a dialogue between Western and Islamic culture in order to reach a
mutual understanding...
The figure of 'imam' Abdullah Haselhoef (born Paramaribo, Suriname, son of a
Jewish father and a muslim mother) is a bit of a canard. He suddenly emerged
after the 'nine-eleven' events, acting as self-appointed spokesman for the
Islamic community in the Netherlands. It appears he has no formal education
in Islamic theology or law. Neither is he imam of a mosque, although he
works as chaplain at a psychiatric health care centre in The Hague. When
confronted with these facts he claimed that he had acquired his knowledge of
Islam through self study and that the title of imam is not protected under
Dutch law. As far as I know he has no other publications on Islam to his
name. Fortuyn never made a secret of the source of his knowledge of Islam,
which he claimed to have acquired through regular sexual contacts with
Moroccan boys in gay bars.
Best regards,
Arnoud Vrolijk
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Leiden University Library
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-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: wo 8 mei 2002 13:50
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: PIM FORTUYN
Recent events have prompted me to record the anti-Islamic publications of
the late Dutch sociologist and politician Pim Fortuyn. As well as his 1998
book on the Arab-Israeli conflict (_50 jaar Israel, hoe lang nog? Tegen het
tolereren van fundamentalisme_), there seem to have been two editions of
his attack on Islam in the Netherlands: _Tegen de islamisering van onze
cultuur_ (most of his titles seem to contain the word "tegen"). The first
dates from 1997, but there was a second last year (2001). According to the
OPAC of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in The Hague, it dropped the word
"Tegen" and has what seems to be a Muslim co-author, named as Abdullah
Haselhoef. This seems rather extraordinary: can anyone tell me if this is
really correct, and does it indicate a late change of view on the
part of Pim Fortuyn?
Geoffrey Roper
Editor, _Index Islamicus_
Islamic Bibliography Unit
Cambridge University Library
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