Nijmegen municipality sees no reason to withdraw its subsidy to an ultra-orthodox Islam website. According to Mayor Thom de Graaf, all unacceptable content has already been removed from the site.
The centre-left D66 mayor, the party’s national leader between 1998 and 2003, acknowledges in a letter to the municipal council that some text, cartoons and links which were on the Ar Rayaan foundation site were completely “unacceptable.” But the municipality demanded that the Islamic foundation remove these from its website and that has been done, according to De Graaf.
The local conservatives (VVD) had requested an explanation. The party questioned how it could happen that a foundation that promotes Sharia should receive 3,500 euros from the Nijmegen budget for integration and participation, as became known recently.
Alderman Floris Tas has had a meeting with Ar Rayaan, at which apologies were reportedly made. The municipality says a “sharper” eye will be kept on the activities of the foundation, but it is not withdrawing the subsidy for 2010.
In fact, the website remains a patchwork of controversial texts. For example, the visitor can still read that men and women should only speak to each other if it is strictly necessary. The site also says that Western dress invites rape and that Islam “takes strong action” to effect the rule of the laws of the Koran.