A picture of Van Klaveren after his conversion to Islam in 2019 (Getty)

Joram van Klaveren played a key role in Geert Wilders' far-right Dutch Freedom Party, but, having converted to Islam, he is now actively working to counter its message.

Claverin was once Geert Wilders' right-hand man, drafting the Freedom Party's letters that called Islam a "lie" and pushed for the ban on the Quran and mosques in the Netherlands, but today he actively works to refute all the lies about Islam he once promoted.

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He said in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian, commenting on his previous role: “The things that I helped them develop are still there... They are still using the tools that I provided to them.” “I literally hear them saying things I made up.”

“I've worked in anti-Islam politics for 12 years, so I have to work to refute that narrative for at least 12 years so I can break even, so to speak,” explains Claverin, 45.

The man, who grew up in a deeply religious Protestant family in Amsterdam, said his initial wariness of Islam was influenced by his church. His position hardened in the wake of the September 11 attacks and the killing of director Theo van Gogh by a self-described jihadist, which prompted Claverin to join Wilders' party in 2010.

He quickly rose through the ranks after doing everything he could to ban mosques, ban the Qur’an, close Islamic schools, and ban the Arabic language in public places, which he says he thought at the time was a good thing.

Claverin broke up with Wilders in 2014 after he saw in his speech what suggested racism against the Dutch of Maghreb origin, so he founded his own party, but failed to obtain a single seat in the national elections, so he decided to leave politics, and instead set his sights on writing a book in which he exposes the threat. Which Islam constitutes.

Wilders (centre) delivering a speech at a post-election meeting at the Newsport Convention Center in The Hague 2023 (French)

Study Islam

But that mission prompted him to study Islam more deeply, and he found himself increasingly fascinated by this religion.

So he collected some volumes and placed them on a shelf, and one day the bookshelf fell and its contents were scattered, so he picked up a Qur’an. He says that he glanced at the place where his finger had fallen in the Qur’an, and it was a Dutch translation of the noble verse: “For it is not the eyes that are blinded, but the hearts that are in the breasts that are blinded.” " (Al-Hajj 46).

Then Claverin says: I thought to myself, “Well, yes, this is really my problem.”

The Guardian says that in 2019, he announced his conversion to Islam, after a local imam urged him. He explained that this was an opportunity to put things right, and he told him, “You also have a responsibility, because you incited hatred in some way.”

Regarding the Dutch reaction to that news, Claverin says there was a deep feeling of betrayal among those who were voting for him.

He added that he received two thousand threats, including threats to kill his children. He says: "It was really extreme. People said they would rape my wife and kill my children, and they sent me the school address to intimidate me."

Things have calmed down since then, giving Claverine space to reflect on everything he once brought upon himself.

A demonstration organized by the PEGIDA movement in Amsterdam to demand confrontation with Muslims (Associated Press)

Experience Islam

In 2020, he joined others to launch a Muslim-led foundation in the Netherlands to introduce people to the faith and history of Islam.

After visiting more than 200 schools, the foundation opened a museum in Rotterdam in June 2023 called the “Islam Experience Center.”

“Its main goal is to remove misconceptions and promote empathy,” he says. “When I was in the Freedom Party, we always said that Islam is foreign to us; Islam has nothing to do with Europe. And of course, when you look at Spain, for example, at Andalusia,” he says. "This is nonsense."

In response to a question about whether he felt guilt or remorse for his actions during his time with the Freedom Party, Claverin said: “Of course I feel ashamed because of what I said. I had plans, but God destined, and my life took a different turn.”

As countries across Europe try to counter the rise of the far right, Claverin called on people to limit themselves to "mature" responses, citing an incident in the Dutch city of Arnhem, where the leader of the anti-Muslim Pegida movement held a demonstration to burn the Qur'an.

But the Islamic groups responded by distributing free Qur’ans to anyone who wanted to. Claverin said: “Every time they burn one Qur’an, we distribute a thousand of them.” He added, laughing: “So, I don’t know if the movement will burn the Qur’ans anymore.”

Source: Guardian