At a glittering special ceremony held during the week at the Beenleigh Events Centre, Janet Deen, president of the Queensland Muslim Welfare Association (QMWA) accepted the Logan City Council Australia Day Award for Outstanding Community Organization.

Before an audience of over 500 volunteers and business people, community groups and dignitaries, the QMWA was presented with the Davida Steel Memorial Award for the exceptional work it has done in the short period of a year since the op shop was established at the Parklands Shopping Centre at Woodridge.

"I was stunned because there were so many wonderful organizations, Boystown and the PCYC and people I couldn't imagine," Janet Deen told the Albert and Logan News.

"It's been really a mammoth job to start something up when you have no experience. We're going through all the teething problems but we feel that we've achieved something."

Since February last year the Association has built its reputation around providing services to people from all walks of life.

Its op shop clients include homeless people looking for warm clothing and bedding, single parents on the hunt for school supplies and disadvantaged families hoping to find everything from furniture to shoes.

Most are either given the items free or charged a low nominal fee.

One of the group's greatest services is its assistance for new arrivals or migrants looking to establish a new home. So far the organization has helped fully furnish seven houses.

Ms Deen and Ms Wilma Bothwell, both retired teachers, run the organization's op shop where they have built a reputation for acting quickly and providing help and assistance without red tape.

Baby Dayyaan Idrees Akbar was born on Sunday 17 January at the Mater Hospital to parents Asghar (Oscar) and Aysha Akbar.

Dayyan was 3.3Kg at birth.

He is the proud grandson of Hajji Latief Goss, Hajun Ameena Rane, Hajji Mohammed Akbar and Hajun Zorah BeBe Akbar.

 
The Australian Muslim Youth Network (AMYN) together with Sunnah Inspirations Inc., held a special fund-raising BBQ at the AMYN Islamic Centre and Library on Sunday 17 January. The aim of this special event was to raise funds for the family of the late 14-year old Salman, who very recently drowned in a Brisbane creek.

A large number of well-wishers from the local Muslim community attended the event. Also showing support at the event was the Logan City Council Mayor Pam Parker along with local and community leaders.

After the BBQ had been wrapped up, the attendees gathered for a shortened version of the regular weekly Sunday evening Islamic talk at the AMYN Centre. This time round, Shaikh Aslam spoke on "The True Islamic Brotherhood", and highlighted some of the many good ways of helping each other.

The proceeds of this fund raising event along with other donations of bedding and furniture were handed over to the family on Monday 19th January 2010. The family has thanked the community for their support.

With this emotional moment on Sunday 17 January there was another exciting moment for the family. The family received the newest addition to their family - a baby girl - who was born on Sunday afternoon. May Allah bless her and all those who supported the fund raising drive to make it a success.
 

 
FORMER Defence Force chief Peter Cosgrove has urged Australians to confront the nation's dark pockets of racism, in a speech dealing frankly with violence against Indians and tensions with Muslims.

General Cosgrove said attacks on Indian students in Australia had become ''a major problem'', and the nature of the attacks made it easy to conclude they were racially motivated.

He also declared there was ongoing estrangement between the broader society and elements of the Muslim community.

His comments, in an Australia Day address titled ''Sunshine and Shade'', deal more openly and directly with race issues than many political figures have been willing to do.

But the speech also highlighted Australia's history of tolerance and positive attitudes to immigrants.

General Cosgrove, a former Australian of the Year, said the issue of violence towards Indians had been brewing for some time, but ''has erupted over the last several weeks to become a major problem''.

''I sense in relation to the spate of attacks on largely Indian people, in Melbourne and elsewhere, Australians are very concerned and disinclined to downplay, much less dismiss, the potential 'racist' elements in what is becoming a litany of criminality,'' he said.

''The problem for us is that the criminal incidents are cowardly and sly and it is easy to conclude that they are racially targeted.
 

It is unsurprising that some of them then perform in ways which stigmatises the whole Islamic community

''We are all dismayed that there might be some kind of warped campaign in progress.''

He said the vast majority of Australians who totally rejected any such despicable behaviour would welcome the rigorous prosecution of those ''preying on these visitors''.

''Only that outcome will satisfy our determination to be, and to be known as, a just and equitable society.''

General Cosgrove said he had lived in India for a year in 1994 and ''I love the place''.

Speaking to The Age after his address, General Cosgrove said that the number of incidents against Indians seemed ''too many to be coincidences''.

''Attacks recently by groups of people on individuals looks like a profiling approach to people from the sub-continent . Rather than say 'nothing to worry about', I'd rather look more closely.

''If you didn't suspect a racial strand you'd be mad,'' he said.

In his speech, General Cosgrove said that Australia's history back to early colonial days showed that periodically there had been ''episodes of bad blood between sections of the community based on ethnicity, or very occasionally on religion''. ''Yet they have almost invariably been quite limited in scope and duration,'' he said.
 

By the time of September 11, 2001, some of Australia's Islamic community already felt alienated and isolated from the mainstream. ''It is a volatile mix when especially younger people are told that they are surrounded by corrupt and impious behaviour at every hand.

''It is unsurprising that some of them then perform in ways which stigmatises the whole Islamic community.''

He said that amid the ''elevated temperature and polarised views'' that characterised this problem, it was hard to have a neat prescription. But ''we must not be panicked into somehow changing or restricting our immigration patterns because of these sorts of issues''.

''Secondly, we should be very careful before assigning major blame for the problem to our broad Australian way of life, as if the estrangement was all somehow our fault and we should change accordingly.''

His comments on violence against Indian students are in contrast to those of police in Victoria, who have consistently downplayed suggestions that they have been racially targeted.
 

Source: The Age

Last Sunday (17 January) members of the Queensland Intercultural Society (QIS) joined the St Martin's Parish community in Eight Mile Plains at the 9.30am Mass to explain the Muslim celebration of Ashura and share Noah's Pudding.

The occasion is celebrated annually by both Muslim and Christian communities in the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries.

Noah's Pudding is usually prepared and shared with neighbours "as a sign of unity and the essential relationship of humans to one another and to their Creator."

Ms Emriye Yildiz (pictured left) of QIS explained the tradition to the congregation who then stayed over after Mass for a helping of one of the 150 bowls of Noah's Pudding that was distributed that morning.

 

Partaking of the Pudding	QIS Directors, Yasar Savran and Fatih Asar
QIS representatives with Parish Priest, Fr. Ian Wren (top row, second from the left) and Ms Margaret Naylon of Ecumenism & Inter-religious Relations (middle row left)

 
View the video of the proceedings of Australian Law for Muslims: Children and the Law, presented by Hyder Gulam on Nov 14 2009.

Australian Family Law for Muslims Program: Children's Issues, Family Dispute Resolution with presentation by Board of Imams (Session 2)

The conference was held at the University of Melbourne and organized by the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies Australia.

Topics discussed included: Children's Issues; Child Support and Maintenance; Family Violence; Misc Matters - Adoption, Paternity Testing, Name Change, Location and Recovery Orders; and Family Dispute Resolution
 

 
Programme Brief: Searching for their own identity in a changing world, young Muslims in Australia face a plethora of backyard imams and internet sheikhs. Many are turning to simplistic and conservative interpretations. The emphasis can be on small rituals rather than the complex and subtle spirituality of Islam. It's a phenomenon known in many religion.

Extracts from the discussion:

Kuranda Seyit: There is no real unity within the Muslim community, if we want to call it a community. Basically what we've got is different ethnic groups, and then within the ethnic groups you've got different schools of thought, and different political alliances and factions. I can say for example the second-largest community, which is the Turkish community, more or less alienated itself from anything that was remotely Lebanese.

Irfan Yusuf: My dad always used to say to me 'Keep away from the Islamic industry'. He always called it the Islamic industry. It's all these people who otherwise can't get jobs anywhere else, and so they hang out in these organisations and dominate them, and dominate them, and dominate them, because it pays their bills.

Student: Because the older generation have come here with their preconceived ideas about this society, they've come with their own ideas about their home countries, and how Islam should be, and how we should be doing things. And it doesn't relate with our views on life.

Ikebal Patel: I think that's a very fair comment. I myself am quite perturbed with the name Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, it's too long, it's too cumbersome to say, to understand. AFIC has to re-brand itself, if you want to really reach out to the community.

Waleed Ali: For migrants, for the first generation migrants, they are coming from Muslim majority countries, where a lot of these movements have been around for a long time, and they're kind of known a bit more, and there's a kind of inculcated sense of religiosity that you get in these communities because it's just embedded in the majority culture of that country. Here, if you've been born in Australia and you've grown up here, it's a very different situation. You're not growing up in a Muslim majority country, Islam is not something that's inculcated in the dominant culture, and so Islam is something that you actually have to search for, and where it's something that you have to search for, it really depends very much on what's on offer.

Sahar: I think most lectures now are targeted at youth because we are going to be the future of Islam in Australia and Western cultures. And like if we don't learn and gain knowledge, how are we going to present ourselves and represent the true Islam within the Western society like if we don't learn our religion, and we believe our religion itself is perfect, but like it's usually the imperfections of the Muslims is usually what is shown through media.

Maimounah Abdullah: I find people on the street are more wary of a Muslim. So it just takes more ice-breaking. You have to start the conversation, I don't mind doing, but you have the start the conversation, 'How are you going? Good morning. I am normal, I'm not fundamentalist in that sense.' So it's just you have to take that extra step.

Read the full transcript.

 
The Islamic Society of Queensland (ISQ), in collaboration with the Brisbane City Council, is hosting a Seniors' Lunch at the Kuraby Community Hall (Svoboda Park) today (24 January) starting at 11am as part of the Seniors Week Celebrations.

Ms. Judy Spence, MP will be in attendance to explain the importance of recognizing our Seniors and the part they have played in society.    

The invitation is open to all Seniors and you are most welcome to attend.

Contact Dr. Sadeq Mustapha on 0421 892 648 if you need any further information.

 

	On the morning of Saturday 16 January, just over 40 of our excited Muslim youth gathered at the AMYN Islamic Centre and Library in anticipation for the eagerly-awaited Youth Weekend Out organised by the Australian Muslim Youth Network (AMYN). The weekend kicked off with a Saturday morning bush-walk through one of Brisbane's beautiful forests.   Thereafter, it was all excitement and enjoyment, as the group thoroughly enjoyed their time getting wet and swimming, playing soccer and making the most of the other fun activities lined in store for them!   Best of all was holding a three-metre long live python, and feeling its sleek, silky body slither on your arm!
The AMYN Weekend-Out was a great opportunity for our youth to get to know new faces and develop lasting friendships!   They shared experiences with each other, and helped each other to develop physically, mentally and spiritually.   All in all, the inaugural AMYN Youth Weekend Out was a resounding success, where the youth cemented the ties of brotherhood while having fun as the same time!   A special thanks from the Australian Muslim Youth Network (AMYN) to so many who helped to organise or took part in this wonderful Weekend-Out of loads of fun and iman! To view snippets of the Weekend-Out, log on to the AMYN Forum: www.amynweb.com/forum/gallery.

Adapted from Australian Journey - Muslim communities

The Australian Journey – Muslim communities, a new DIAC publication, is characterised by contributions of Muslims from all over the world who have made Australia home.

In this, and following issues of CCN, we highlight one of the successful Muslims in Australia from the report and their thoughts about what it means to be both a Muslim and an Australian.

 

Mohammed Haddad Emergency Services (NSW Fire Brigades)

Firefighter Mohammed Haddad was born in Australia to an Italian mother and Lebanese father.   With his father already a technician with the NSW Fire Brigades, Mohammed believed that by joining the Fire Brigades himself, he could help the Muslim community in further understanding the role of the Brigades.   The NSW Fire Brigades recognises that New South Wales is a culturally, linguistically and religiously diverse community and will continue to develop and create partnerships that increase opportunities for all people to participate in and access our services.   Mohammed Haddad