Al-Sudais honors Dutch revert

Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, head of the Presidency for the Two Holy Mosques, on Tuesday honored Arnoud van Doorn, a prominent Dutch politician who embraced Islam, by conferring on him his cloak. Van Doorn was a leading member of the rightist Freedom Party of Geert Wilders who produced “Fitna” film abusing the Prophet (peace be upon him).
The heart-warming event took place at the opening of a conference on Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) at Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh. The conference’s participants, including academics and religious scholars, applauded Sudais’ gesture.
“This again reflects the greatness and truthfulness of Islam as a divine religion,” said Fuad Kawther, an engineer interested in dawa activities. He also pointed out that some of the staunch enemies of the Prophet used to stand near by his house during the night to listen to his recitation from the Holy Qur’an.
“Three staunch enemies — Abu Jahl, Abu Sufiyan and Uqbat — agreed among themselves not to visit the Prophet’s house to secretly listen to the verses from the Qur’an, but broke that deal and visited the house again and again because they could not resist the divine word and also because they were fascinated by the literary beauty of the Qur’an,” Kawther told Arab News.
The embracing of Islam by Van Doorn and many other Westerners shows that it is the true and final religion, Kawther said. “Islam will spread all over the world despite the smear campaign against the religion and its Prophet.”
He also referred to the American guard at Guantanamo Bay prison, Terry Holdbrooks, Jr., 29, who accepted Islam after months of midnight conversations with Muslim detainees.
People go to extreme lengths in attacking Islam without trying to understand the divine teachings. “Before embracing Islam, Van Doorn was abusing the Prophet and Muslims, although they had not done him any harm. Allah guided him to the right path and he became a Muslim,” he said.
Kawther commended Sheikh Sudais for his noble gesture. “This shows the magnanimity and tolerance of Islam. Gifting someone’s cloak to show his love and admiration toward the recipient is a nice Saudi tradition,” he said and hoped it would encourage more people to study about Islam and Muslims.
In an interview with Arab News in April this year, Van Doorn acknowledged that his views on Islam were formed 10 to 15 years ago based solely on negative stereotypes and prejudices spread by the media. He expressed sorrow and regret for distributing Fitna, although he had no part in the film’s production. He intends to make a film about the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to present a true picture of Islam.