[Music]
while I can see the light is
there uh that was a very inspiring
speech we heard uh I'm just very
professional and I'm not a very
professional speaker so I want to
apologize for my poor English it has
never extended the of high school
English so I try to uh to make myself
clear um I didn't prepare uh uh well I
didn't have I don't have a written
speech um I I would like to speak from
my heart from my own experience uh I
just wrote down some keywords uh to
remember uh what I want to say but
that's about it um I'm very honored to
be here and I'm very honored to be uh a
guest of the CDA and to be here in this
beautiful country
so I would like to tell something about
myself very uh short about my uh my
family uh my parents uh my uh um uh
political career if you call it like
that and then I want to talk about some
um Solutions or cures of islamophobia
well I'm not a magician so I don't have
all the answers and I will tell you what
uh the plans are that I have for the
near future so my name is uh Arnold vorn
I'm 47 years old uh uh I come from a
original uh I'm I'm Dutch I'm born uh in
in the Netherlands and I'm raised in the
Netherlands and all my family they all
live in the Netherlands I'm 40 years old
uh I come from a Christian background uh
I was raised as a Christian with all the
the the the the norms and values that um
come with it and a lot of people say um
I think it's it's hard to to convert
from a Christian to Islam I don't think
that's the case because if you are a
Christian you are uh um you you are
familiar with the discipline that comes
with uh being religious uh we share uh
only one God uh we recognize the
prophets uh and if you call them Jesus
or Isa you know we all from the same
book of of Abraham so uh for me the step
from a Christian to a Muslim is not that
big I think it's much uh more
complicated if you're an atheist or a
non-believer and then you uh become a
Muslim I think that's that's really a
huge step
so um I have four um foster children I
have no children of myself the youngest
is 9 years old Jamal he's also a Muslim
he's from uh Moroccan origion and the
oldest is 22 and uh he already left my
house so um my original profession is uh
I'm I'm a Youth and Family counselor I'm
used to work in the more difficult areas
of the bigger cities in the Netherlands
where there is a lot of poverty and and
crime and and uh a lot of problems and I
uh uh I'm I'm used to work with um uh a
lot of um Islamic families also there in
the past um how did I become a member of
the the P of fa fromers that's a
question that a lot of people are asking
me um I'm I never was an islamophobe I
was really critical about Islam I had
all the Prejudice feelings that a lot of
people in the Netherlands and the West
have like uh Islam is is violent it's
oppressing woman women
um it's it's it's um they're all
terrorists and and all this you know
rather dumb ideas about Islam it's it's
ignorance but that is not an excuse it's
not an excuse for other people it's not
an excuse for me but I was already a
member of the the he city council uh for
a local party so I was familiar with the
political structure with the the
political work I had I've had some media
training um not like this I'm not used
to to speak for a big audience like this
this is completely new for
me uh especially when it's in English
but I had some experience and k wers um
uh asked me uh well do you want to help
me uh building uh a party and that was
about a year of five six years ago and
then he was really small and he was
building up his uh his organization and
I thought well yes that might be
interesting and it's it's something new
it's some it's something you know uh
it's always uh something special if you
have to to build a new political party
or new organization so I said yes uh I
would I would like to do that so I
become uh I became a member of the the
pay for Fe and uh well I was uh
responsible for uh for example uh public
relations uh
media uh uh PR uh in in the way of how
to influence uh the people um how to
influence uh media and uh I was also
writing speeches for her Builders and um
things like that more on the background
um I also um became after the elections
uh 3 years ago a member of the he city
council uh for the pay of K Villers and
well so I had to quit my original job so
I was completely into the work of her
builders for 60 70 hours a
week um why islamophobia why did it grow
so much and why is it growing so much in
in the Western countries especially in
the land um I'm not sure about it but I
think there are several reasons uh we
have the the crisis and uh people are um
well we are we know that from the from
the from the history that it's very easy
to to create scapegoats and in this uh
case I think uh the Muslim Community in
the Netherlands is is the scapegoat for
the crisis and they say everything is
because of them we have a lot of crime
it's also because of them it's because
of Islam Islam is evil and uh well even
politicians and media are using this
feelings to create uh well they want to
create uh an enemy and they are
succeeding in it and that's really um
well that's really a problem but before
we go to there um uh a more important
thing is and a lot of you a lot of you
want to know how did I become from a
very critical person uh very critical
about Islam actually to to convert to
Islam um I was within the pay
for maybe 3 years and then I was having
some doubts uh people are talking to me
Muslims and they said from you're wrong
you're wrong about Islam you're wrong
about these ideas actually it's a very
peaceful religion it's a very wise
religion and I thought yeah right of
course you're supposed to say that but
it's not the truth but still something
inside of me
was like this is not good something is
wrong I'm I'm I'm I want to know more
about this if it's really that evil um
and I started to read not only the
things what I was supposed to read
That's the proper Grand that formed the
pay but I was reading for myself and I
started to read Quran I was reading U
about sunna about had and I thought
there are so many wise and beautiful
things in all this information so it
can't be really that bad and I was
getting more and more curious about
Islam and finally a colleague of mine in
the he city council uh he's also a
Muslim he invited me to come to the musk
in the hake and I I thought oh no no I
don't want to go to a musk because it's
dangerous and it's so violent and you
know they want to attack me and
ridiculous ideas of course but he
convinced me uh to come with him and
I've been to The Masque and I was really
surprised I thought they they probably
hate me but they were very friendly I
really felt welcome right away and um I
was invited and we had a long
conversation I think I arrived in the
morning about 11:00 in the morning maybe
12 and I've been there till 8 9:00 in
the evening
so that was not what I expected I
thought well we have a short
conversation and uh I will see that I'm
right about Islam and they're all uh you
know evil people and then I leave and I
think okay I was
wrong but something happened as I told
you
before I don't know exactly what
happened
but something inside it hard to explain
said to
me this is a very this is actually a
wise religion this is a beautiful
religion this is very peaceful and when
I was in the MOs I really had a warm
feeling and I didn't surprise that and I
was a bit confused and I later today in
the evening I went home and I was really
my head was full of information and a
lot of doubt and I was really confused I
didn't sleep for a night and then the
next morning I thought well I have to go
back and I went back to the musk and we
had another conversation and then I was
starting to read and to learn and to
speak with a lot of uh Scholars and
other Muslims and during this process it
would have taken maybe six seven months
I thought well I started out of
curiosity but in the end I thought it's
not only curiosity it's this is
something beautiful it's something that
fits me uh and and that was really
something I didn't expect to happen and
but it did
and after two months I quit the pay
party of wers and I said uh this is not
my place I'm not supposed to be here
what I've done was wrong um and I quit
and that was a big step because at that
moment I didn't have any job uh I had no
income uh and I went home on my bike and
I sat on the couch and now I thought
what have I done I have nothing I've
left my job there's no way I'm going to
get another job uh because you're too
familiar uh people know you and
you but I thought I don't care I felt
strong at that moment and this Inner
Strength was growing and growing and
growing in the months coming
and it felt like a warm blanket
basically the more I was reading about
Islam the more I was studying Islam the
more I was talking with other Muslims
the more it felt like this is
me and that ended in um the Shaha of
course very emotional moment in the Mosk
in the I was there alone with only the
Imam and I was really emotional I
actually had some tears and uh from that
moment well I was a
Muslim well
thank you thank you thank you and well
um if it's about Islam I'm I'm I'm I'm
not a scholar I have to learn a lot I
have to read a lot and I have to study a
lot at least 10 20 years maybe longer um
well if you study Islam you have to
study until you die there's no end I
know that I'm I'm I'm I'm not a scholar
I'm not a u um I don't know that much
about Islam it's but I know it's good I
know it's it's it's wise I know it's a
very peaceful and and it it has
solutions for everybody and for for all
sit situations for any person uh there
are no exceptions
and from that moment I thought well I
have to do something with this I'm I'm
I'm not I'm not alone there are in in
the Netherlands there are almost 2
million uh Muslims we have 17 million uh
people living in the nland two million
of them are Muslims and uh there are
more and more people converting to Islam
and that's really a a good thing
um so they are losing the War uh on
Islam I'm sure I'm sure uh only this
year we have 20% more people that are
converting to Islam than in the entire
year
2012 and almost all of them are young
people most of them are below the age of
25 and that's why I think we have to
reach out to the young people to the
youth because they are the future they
are the future a lot of people of my
generation and older their mind is too
polled with wrong information by media
by politicians I consider them maybe
without any exceptions well there are
exceptions of course I'm standing here
um but I consider them A Lost Generation
and I think we should not put too much
infor effort in into them to try them to
convert to to try them to get knowledge
about the Real Islam but I think we have
to reach out to the youth um a lot of
young people are really interested in
Islam because they hear so many
information and everybody's telling them
it's wrong it's evil but the funny thing
is because it's so it's it's an issue
and young people think most of them so
was I at that age um if other people
tell you what is wrong and right then
you want to know it for yourself and you
want to find out for yourself so that's
a good thing that's a good thing and I
think uh there are no Solutions there
are no solutions to to fight
islamophobia but I think if we can reach
the youth then we
are we are gaining where we we go to to
we are going to a right path I think and
there is a lot of hate against Islam a
lot of people really hate Islam and it
it has is completely usage to get into
debate with them to try to convince
them it's it's it's just a waste of
energy
um but the Young
Generation Um they are curious and we
have to be patient we have to listen to
them we have to listen to their
arguments we have to get into debate
with them dialogue that's the most
important thing that we have to do as
Muslims because dialogue is the basis of
all our civilizations and young people
are um they want to to they want this
dialogue and they are interested and um
of course a lot of a lot of Muslims are
are are angry about what's going on
about islamophobia
um but that's exactly what a lot of
people politicians want they want this
picture of you know angry and and
violent people and that's exactly what
we want we should not do that we should
not we should we should give the right
example they should the young people
especially young people should know that
we are normal people we are not violent
we are not oppressing women we're not
supporting terrorism we're not all
criminals and if we could if we give the
right example and listen to them and
being
impatient and having this dialogue then
they will see hey they're all in normal
wise intelligent
people and they will listen and they
will listen and they will be interested
in Islam and they don't all have to
convert it would be nice of course but
at least if they know what Islam is
really
about then that will fight islamophobia
and I think that is something that we
all want and that is going to happen I'm
sure of it um despite all the efforts of
media and a lot of
politicians they are not winning Islam
is too strong it's too strong
[Applause]
but we have to be patient this is not
something that will happen within a few
weeks or in a few months or within a
year it's going to take 5 years 10 years
20 years it doesn't matter we have to be
patient patience think I think is the
key
word at this moment I am also um trying
to establish in the Netherlands uh a
Youth
Organization uh I want to uh or to
organize uh seminars and discussions and
uh a lot of
information uh that is easily uh
reasonable for for young people for
children um from the age from the
youngest groups that we have it's they
are about 78 years old Muslims and
non-muslims until the age of 20 22 25 uh
most of them are uh within the age of 12
and 18 and so that's the age that we
they are really uh interested in in in
in new information and well I think as I
told you before that is the Future and
another thing is I have learned within
the pay of Builders I I learned all
these skills you know about uh media how
to influence people but relations uh and
they really hate me for this because now
I'm using all this information on the
opposite of course so I try
[Applause]
people that's one of the reason that I'm
here of course so
uh it's only four days but well I want
to come back and I I travel a lot and I
want to spread uh my story uh around
world I'm not a very important person of
course not it's not about me I'm just a
humble instrument in the hands of Allah
but still uh I think um if I can tell my
story to people like you to other people
to non-muslims to young people and to
all people I I hope and I think that we
can uh bring the message about the true
Islam um I think there are a lot of
people uh that have questions for me um
uh um I know this the this this this the
speech that I just held is it's like
maybe 15 20 minutes it just I'm sure uh
not all the answers are um not all the
questions are answered so if there are
any questions I'm I'm happy to answer
the questions uh only one thing I don't
want comment on uh political uh
situations like Egypt and Syria because
that's uh a bit sensitive I want to keep
it only for me as a person and about
Islam in general
so please
[Applause]