Even Auschwitz Can't Help

I just read an interesting piece in de Volkskrant today. Actually, the article was from 2 weeks ago (May 17th), but I think it is a recent issue and still interesting enough.

The article evolves around the story of a mother, who had to painfully witness her son changed from a "playful, outgoing young man" to an extreme salafi Islam follower. And of course, for the sake of privacy, real names of the characters are disguised. What intrigues me, is that the way the mother "described" her son now, resembles the picture of a typical (or stereotypical) fundamentalist Muslim portrayed in the media, which are:

1. Baard laten groeien (growing beard)
2. Vijf keer per dag bidden (pray 5 times a day)
3. Arabisch studeren (studying Arabic)
4. Ongelovigen aanspreken op hun gedrag (preaching the unbelievers for their manners)

What even more interesting, is that this mother said it all started when his son was addicted to the game "American Army", which mission is to assasinate "Mr Jihad". Because of his addiction to the game, he became a lousy student and hardly could concentrate in his study anymore. Then she decided, to give her son a breath of fresh air (and eventually to separate him with internet connection), she sent her son for a holiday to Israel, where her daughter lives since she got married with a Palestinian man, with the assumption that in Israel there are no internet connection therefore his son could reduce his addiction to the game(doh!). Isn't it a perfect resemblance?? Far too perfect, I reckon.

In Israel, her daughter took her son for a visit to the Al Aqsa masjid. and it was also during that visit, when her son declares her faith in Islam and converted to the religion. A perfect, perfect picture...

When her son eventually returned to the Netherlands, she noticed an extreme difference in his behavior. It was like he changed into a totally different person. She believed that he got "brainwashed". It was even more terrible since, upon his return, he started to learn about Islam in As Sunnah Mosquee in The Hague and became Imam Fawaz's pupil. Imam Fawaz is a renowned salafist Imam here in the Netherlands, whom the media regularly report from time to time with his "fundamentalist" and "extreme" movement.

Eventually, her son stopped his study and became an extreme muslim, and kept distance with the family. She said "my son doesn't want to keep in touch with the kafir (unbelievers) and avoid living the haram (bad) life. He also didn't want to eat the chicken that his mother cooked because it is not "halal". He didn't pay attention anymore to his well being, he brushed his teeth with siwak like what Prophet Muhammad did and he once lived by only eating bread and milk.

Finally she decided to pay a visit to Imam Fawaz and asked him to "bring his son back".

All real names are disguised, but they were given fake names. The mother character were named "Mieke Janssen" and the son "Joost". Thus, I assume this was the story of a Dutch family. Moreover readers were told that "Mieke Janssen" and her family are atheist.

So much for a perfect picture of an extreme Muslim. Declared his faith in Al Aqsa Mosque when visiting a sister who lives with her Palestinian husband in Israel. (Couldn't the juxtaposition become any clearer?) Became Imam Fawaz's pupil. Wow.

Anyway, the most interesting point is the title and how this story connect to Holocaust. The title was "EVEN AUSCHWITZ CAN'T HELP". Mieke Janssen told the readers that, to bring back her old son's self, she assigned him to a "trip" to concentration camp Auschwitz where 40.000 Dutch Jews were killed without mercy. Why? Why must she choose the Holocaust location? Is it to awake the nationalism inside his son's mind - a feel of belonging to the Dutch? (Since, supposedly, the Holocaust was an important tragedy in the Dutch's history). How would nationalism in any way become the ultimate solution to overcome juvenile extremism? The article did not tell us anything about the reason behind Mieke's decision to assign Joost to the Holocaust trip. And even if nationalism could help de-brainwash Joost's mind, it would still not make any sense since Holocaust was rather a commemorated tragedy for the Jews in particular, not ALL Dutch. (I thought the article made clear that Mieke and her family are atheist, not Jews). Above all, isn't modern Holland proud of its multiculturalism and religion diversity, and its high tolerance?

Mieke said that the reason why she took Joost to the holocast place was because "Joost had learned about Holocaust in the past, and we visited the execution place once - it made a lasting impression for us." Maybe, it would touch Joost's respect in humanity, but certainly it would not serve as an anti-counter towards his support for Muslim. Wasn't holocaust committed by Nazi, not Muslim?

There are so many things that confuses me in this article.

I will write and analyze more when I got back from work. Now I gotta be off to work.