Fitna

Fitna may refer to:

Fitna (word)

Fitna (or fitnah, pl. fitan; Arabic: فتنة , فتن‎: "temptation, trial; sedition, civil strife") is an Arabic word with extensive connotations of trial, affliction, or distress. A word freighted with important historical implications, it is also widely used in modern Arabic. As with any word in Arabic, one should distinguish between the meanings of fitna as used in Classical Arabic and the meanings of fitna as used in Modern Standard Arabic and various colloquial dialects. Furthermore, because of the conceptual importance of fitna in the Qur'an, its use in that work will be considered separately, though in addition to, the word's general lexical meaning in Classical Arabic.

Root and forms

Arabic, in common with other Semitic languages like Hebrew, deploys a system of root letters combined with vowel patterns to constitute its whole range of vocabulary; it is, therefore, essential to identify the root letters of any word, in order to better understand the word's full semantic range.

Fitna (film)

Fitna (Arabic: فِتْنَة‎) is a 2008 short film by Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders. Approximately 17 minutes in length, the film attempts to demonstrate that the Qur'an motivates its followers to hate all who violate Islamic teachings. The movie shows selected excerpts from Suras of the Qur'an, interspersed with media clips and newspaper cuttings showing or describing acts of violence and/or hatred by Muslims.

The film argues that Islam encourages – among other things – acts of terrorism, antisemitism, violence against women, violence and subjugation of infidels and against homosexuals and Islamic universalism. A large part of the film details the influence of Islam on the Netherlands. The film was published on the Internet in 2008. Shortly before its release, its announcement was suspended from its website by the American provider because of the perceived controversy. It stirred a still continuing debate in the Netherlands as well as abroad, and a criminal prosecution for hate speech.