Rotterdam councilman Marco Pastors resigned after making anti-Muslim comments in an interview. Asked why he concentrated on Muslims and not on Christian immigrants such as those coming from the Dutch Antilles, Pastors said in the interview that Muslims use their religion as an excuse for criminal behavior and implied that Muslims only steal from non-Muslims.
He added that it was hard to deal with such issues due to the separation of Church and State and that he sees by Muslims an organized resistance to accepting Western norms and morals.
Islam, according to Pastors, has therefore earned special attention, and the Muslim immigrants are not just “regular people from another land”.
Criminologists and Islam scholars came out against Pastors’ claims, saying Islam forbids theft of any kind.
According to criminologist Hans Werdmijlder, Moroccans who don’t steal from other Moroccans do so because of greater social supervision inside their own communities, citing young criminals who said “I listen only to Allah and to my father.” Additionally, Moroccans who feel discriminated against by ‘whites’ might feel they’re repaying in kind by stealing only from whites. However, such behavior is considered racist by other Moroccans as well.
Islam scholar, Herman Beck concurs that Islams forbids theft, but adds that religion can be a handy excuse to mitigate your own mistakes.
The Dutch Police Institute will be undertaking a study to examine victimization in the non-Dutch community, thereby answering the question whether stealing is confined only outside the ethnic community.
