Dutch media is reporting that three Islamic organizations including the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Holland (FION) have offered to protect Coptic Churches in the Netherlands following the recent bomb attack on a Coptic church in Egypt. A press release issued by the three groups offered to guard churches in three Dutch cities to “guard against the threat from Al Qaeda”:
We must do this precisely, because Al Qaeda says it is acting the name of Islam. Christian Copts, indeed all the Dutch, have exactly the same enemies: the terrorists. It is high time to clarify this out loud. We cannot sleep at the thought of Christian Copts in the Netherlands being attacked, we can not sleep.
FION had earlier issued a condemnation of the attack on the Copts which said:
…all Islamic rules, norms and values ban such attacks on innocent people. The precepts of Islam require that other faiths should be free to worship as they please. That churches and synagogues should be guaranteed safety and protection is therefore beyond any discussion. This horrific attack, regardless of who bears responsibility for this, is condemned. The RMMN and FION protest terrorizing the Christian community in Egypt and express their sympathy to the Egyptian people, and express their solidarity with the victims, their families and survivors. It is indisputable that the attack in Alexandria in the first place is directed against Egyptian unity and cohesion and brotherhood of Muslims and Christians that is rooted in Egyptian history. Therefore call we call on the Egyptian people, Muslims and Christians, to give expression to unity and solidarity.
The Federation of Islamic Organizations in Holland (FION) is the Dutch member organization of the Federation of Islamic Organizations In Europe (FIOE), the umbrella organization representing the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe. Previous posts have discussed FION and its leader Yahia Bouyafa. It should be noted that the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR), the theological body associated with FIOE, is head by Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi who recently reaffirmed his support for suicide bombing in Israel. FIOE has also issued its own condemnation of the Egyptian attack.
Earlier this year, a post discussed the invitation by FION to one of its conferenced extended to Salah Soltan, a global Muslim Brotherhood leader known for his virulently anti-Semtic statements and whose resume expressed a wish “to die as a martyr.”