Denmark: Muslims happy with DPP mosque attack

Denmark: Muslims happy with DPP mosque attack

They're not exactly happy but this time the Muslim organizations obviously decided to approach PR differently.

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Prominent Danish Muslims are anything but angry about the Danish People's Party's (DPP) ad which calls on Danes to oppose the construction of mosques in Copenhagen.

Both the spokespeople for the Muslims' Common Council, and the Islamic Faith Society are enthusiastic that the DPP had 'exhibited their shoddy handling of the truth' black on white, as the spokespeople put it.

"I will not tie up the DPP's freedom of expression and their right to lie in a national ad, and I'm also very pleased that the Danish newspapers printed it. In this way the DPP doesn't only exhibit their ignorance, but also their methods, which belong to times and regimes we do not want to compare ourselves with," says the spokesperson of the Muslims' Common Council, Zubair Butt Hussain.

Yesterday both the Muslims' Common Council and the Social Democratic deputy mayor for integration in Copenhagen, Jacob Hougaard, criticized the DPP for lying in their ad, by writing that a Grand Mosque financed by Saudi Arabia will be ready in three years.

The Common Council and the mayor explained that they have not yet begun to collect money for the mosque, and that therefore nobody knows how it will be financed or when it will be ready.

But at the same time, Zubair Butt Hussaid of the Muslims' Common Council is glad that the ad was printed:

"Through ads like these I'm convinced that the thinking, enlightened residents can easily see through the DPP's arguments that that they're not valid, and that they are putting obstacles in the way of us being able to live together in a transparent society with democracy, freedom of speech and space for diversity," he says.

The same reaction comes from the Islamic Faith-Society in Denmark:

"It's good that that the DPP's views are expressed in the newspapers, since at one time or another all reasonable people should understand that their messages and campaigns aren't valid," says Imran Shah, spokesperson for the Islamic Faith Society.

He thinks that the DPP violates freedom of religion with the ad:

"The DPP causes a split between Muslims and Danes by printing an ad like this. They should take a course in the constitution and all its aspects when it comes to freedom of religion," he says.

Source: Berlingske (Danish)