Page - 124 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/02

124 | Sakina Loukili www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/2, 107–131 terization of third spaces as places where the hybridity of cultures is recog- nized, this session demonstrates how Muslims use this digital place where their multiple senses of belonging to different cultures (mainly for Muslims with a Moroccan migration background) are only implicitly valid but can be discussed constructively and practically without individuals having to defend or choose one identity over another.81 Another more recent example is the discussion among Dutch Muslims about insulting the prophet Muhammad and freedom of speech in the Nether lands. While this “internal” discussion is part of a larger ongoing public debate in the Netherlands about Islam and so-called “Dutch” values, of which freedom of speech is a particularly cherished example, it became a point of conflict again when, in October 2020, French high-school teacher Samuel Paty was murdered because he had shown caricatures of the prophet Muhammad in class.82 In response to the murder, many Dutch non-Mus- lims had argued that the right response was to show and post even more caricatures, igniting a counter-reaction in the form of a petition calling for legal repercussions for insulting the prophet Muhammad gathering more than 100,000 signatures from Dutch Muslims.83 When DENK defended the petition in parliament, they encountered a vicious backlash: Farid Azarkan, the current party leader of DENK, was called “sick” and accused of oppor- tunistically taking advantage of the moment.84 On social media, however, DENK posted a short clip on Facebook with Azarkan’s contribution to the debate and framed the controversy in parlia- ment as a typical example of how a freedom paradox plays out: Muslims, they suggested, do not have the same freedom to address issues as non-Muslims, coronavirus occurred within communities that were largely Dutch-Moroccan, it became painfully clear that the old ways of performing Islamic rituals around burials (e. g., the burial should take place as soon as possible) were no longer feasible. The Moroccan gov- ernment’s refusal to allow the bodies of Dutch-Moroccans who died during the outbreak into Morocco caused Dutch-Moroccans to become (even more) disillusioned with the Mo- roccan government and has raised urgent discussions on feelings of belonging with regard to Morocco and Moroccan land. 81 The double nationality of many Dutch Muslims with a migration background has been a controversial subject in public debate, with Muslims accused of double loyalties and a tendency to favor their country of origin. 82 Paty was a history teacher at the Collège du Bois d’Aulne in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. 83 The petition was started by Imam Ismail Abou Soumayyah and circulated on social media in the aftermath of Paty’s murder and the strict measures the French government swiftly took against certain Islamic organizations. 84 Meijer 2020.