QUESTIONS have been raised about whether the southside really needs another mosque.

 

A KEY figure in the Muslim community has questioned the need for another mosque on Brisbane’s southside when one remains unfinished only 2km away.

 

Yasmin Khan, president of the Brisbane Muslim community’s largest fundraising event, questioned the decision to build a new mosque in Eight Mile Plains.
 

Ms Khan is the president of Eidfest, the festival celebrating Muslim culture, which marks the end of Ramadan and is the Brisbane community’s biggest money earner.
 

The Brisbane Islamic Centre has a development application before Brisbane City Council for a supersized mosque at 161 Underwood Rd, Eight Mile Plains, that will include a community hall, library, offices, kitchen and 319 car parks.
 

Just 2km away, at 2674 Logan Rd, the Rochedale Masjid mosque — being built by the Bosnian Islamic group — remains unfinished after five years of delays.
 

No one from the Rochedale Masjid was available for comment last week, but the group’s website says the mosque was due to open on August 12 last year.
 

“We require another $300,000 to finalise the project before we can start using this wonderful mosque,” the website states.
 

A visit to the site of the Rochedale mosque showed landscaping work being done, but the doors to the mosque and neighbouring offices were closed.
 

Ms Khan said if the application for the new mosque was approved, the bulk of the funding would likely have to come from Eidfest, and questioned why the first mosque was not being completed before a new one was being proposed.
 

“I wonder what is the future of the mosque in Rochedale?” she said.
 

“(The Rochedale Mosque) has been there for five years, what is the issue with that?
 

“We, the community, have got to fundraise to build a new one and they haven’t finished the last one.
 

“There is a mosque that has run out of money that we need to fix up and allow people to use and now we are being asked to fund a new one.”
 

It is understood as many as eight mosques in the southeast Queensland region are reportedly incomplete.
 

Roy Sommerville Surveys (RSS), on behalf of the Brisbane Islamic Centre, is the team behind the development application for the new Eight Mile Plains mosque.
 

RSS senior town planner Judy Sandmann declined to comment on the issue except to say RSS was still negotiating with council on the future of the development.
 

The development application for the proposed Eight Mile Plains mosque project can be viewed online at council’s Planning and Building site at pdonline.brisbane.qld.gov.au.

 

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In response to this article, Ms Yasmin Khan (pictured left) sent the following statement to CCN:

 

Salaams

I understand that there are many people concerned with statements attributed to me in the Southern Star last week. There seems to be lots of emails going back and forth, however no-one has had the decency to ring me or talk to me – you’ve just all assumed that what was written was correct. It’s amazing though that in one of the emails that I saw, there was a reference to “current anti-Islamic and hostile media” and yet in this situation you believe it – shame.

Where this all started was about two months ago when I received an email about a fundraising dinner to support the building of a mosque in Toowong/St Lucia, and I made a comment on Facebook that we have a number of mosques around Brisbane that are not complete and yet the community is being called upon to fund another mosque. This was picked up by the ABC who wanted to do an interview, which I refused. I was then called some days later and I gave an interview about the mosques around Brisbane that are incomplete, and that as a community we should be building mosques together, put all our effort into it, then when that mosque is finished then we move onto the next mosque – a co-ordinated effort that can be planned properly and that meets the demands of the community.

Since then I have had a number of requests to continue to talk about this subject and I have refused, until the other day when the Southern Star rang. What I said to the Southern Star was this – “I don’t understand why we need a mosque at Underwood Rd, when the mosque at Rochedale is not finished.” The end! (And this quote was not even used!) I believe that we as a community need to be a community – as someone whose family have been here for nearly 150 years, we grew up in areas that never had a mosque, never had halal butchers or restaurants or madrassahs. Today we have them, and that is because of the legacy of our families who came before us, that have been working tirelessly so that we as a community can pray together and celebrate together. It was a big deal for us when we visited Brisbane to go to the Holland Park Mosque, a place that my forefathers built and a legacy of which I am proud.

I appreciate the grand plan that is going to be Underwood Rd, I applaud it and I welcome it. I know that I have been involved in meetings and conversations about community facilities, aged care homes etc. for more than 20 years, so to see something actually being done is great because I have seen far too many fights and arguments and politics within our community for too long. But I also see that we as a community have not finished Rochedale and if we were smart we should work together to finish one mosque, use it, enjoy it and then move onto the next one – with some proper planning and leadership.

What was written in the story was incorrect – the quotes attributed to me I did not say and the inference about Eidfest was completely made up – Eidfest was not even discussed in the conversation. Eidfest, as an organisation committed to bringing the community together, supports all community initiatives, however we are not in a position to financially help as we are a not for profit organisation.

I have spoken to the journalist concerned and called him a liar – because he made up a story with information that is totally false. The “current anti-Islamic and hostile media” are printing a correction next week. What is totally disconcerting is that some in our community have believed it and lacked the basic Adab (manners of courtesy) to seek the truth.

To clarify one other point – in all my years of working in the media and even the last five years being a regular panelist on the ABC, I have never introduced myself as anything other than the President of Eidfest. I have never made statements that are representative of anything or anyone other than Eidfest or myself.

If anyone was hurt by the story I offer my full apologies because that was not my intent – it was to be a clarion call to our community that we are not working together and we constantly look to what is different between us, rather than celebrate and enjoy the enlightening, comforting, spiritual community that Islam is supposed to be.

Regards

Yasmin Khan

A WA Liberal MP has claimed Australians are unknowingly being converted to Islam by eating Halal meat.

In a speech to Parliament yesterday, backbencher Luke Simpkins (pictured left) said most Australians did not know that most of the meat they ate came from animals killed in accordance with Muslim law.
 

“By having Australians unwittingly eating Halal food we are all one step down the path towards the conversion, and that is a step we should only make with full knowledge and one that should not be imposed upon us without us knowing,” Mr Simpkins told Parliament.
 

“What is happening is wrong. Too often the minorities in this country are looked after without regard to the majority.”
 

Mr Simpkins said he had carried out an unofficial survey in his northern-suburbs electorate of Cowan and had discovered that most meat at major chains such as Coles or Woolworths had been killed under Halal conditions, but had not been labelled as such.
 

He tabled a petition demanding that all Halal meat be clearly identified, complaining people could not buy meat for their “Aussie barbecue” without the influence of the “minority religion”.
 

Mr Simpkins said that Mohammed the prophet of Islam had talked of how the religion could be expanded around the world by getting people to eat Halal meat.
 

“He reportedly said, ‘The non-believers will become Muslims when, amongst other things, they eat the meat that we have slaughtered’. This is one of the key aspects to converting non-believers to Islam,” Mr Simpkins said.
 

The petition tabled by Mr Simpkins had been organised by the Barnabas Fund, an organisation that supports Christians living in Muslim countries.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said Opposition Leader Tony Abbott should pull Mr

Simpkins into line.
 

“All members of Parliament should be looking to promote understanding and harmony between religions. Mr Simpkins has done the complete opposite,” he said.

 

Artist, Peter Gould, has initiated an international collaboration inviting messages of peace from around the world called the SalamWall.

 

You can write your message on a sign, take a photo of yourself holding it and send your image to salam@salamwall.com if you would like to be featured in the project.

The SalamWall project intends to use the images on its Facebook page, and as part of international artwork projects such as a live display wall at the Milton Keanes Islamic Arts & Culture Festival in August 2013.
 

About Peter Gould

Award winning brand designer & digital artist: www.peter-gould.com "Peter has become the 'go-to' designer for many leading Islamic companies.. (he) is among those young urban global Muslims leading the emergence of a new Muslim cool." BBC, August 2012

Peter's acclaimed work has reached many international audiences through art exhibitions, presentations, publications and graphic design projects. He runs a commercial design studio serving clients internationally including Etihad Airways, Sami Yusuf and Zaytuna College. Peter has also developed a contemporary Islamic clothing range, children’s books and regularly consults for design projects across the globe.

The Islamic Council of Queensland (ICQ) will be holding its Annual Dinner and Awards Night on 28th September. The purpose of this event is to recognize the work of those who have worked over the years as volunteers to serve the community in Queensland.

This year the awards will be in two categories – (a) adults and (b) youth.

The ICQ is inviting CCN readers to nominate any person who you think should be considered for this award.

 

The nominee must meet the following requirements:

1. The nominee must be a Muslim and a citizen/permanent resident of Australia
2. His/her contribution must have been for the Muslim community in Queensland
3. He/she must have served as a volunteer for at least ten years or five years in the case of a youth volunteer.
4. To qualify as a youth volunteer the nominee must be below the age of thirty years as at 31st August 2013.
5. He/she must have served the broader Muslim community not just one organization or ethnic group.
6. The nominee must be a respectable member of the community and should not have committed any criminal offence in the last five years.
7. The decision of the ICQ selection committee will be final and no correspondence or appeal will be entertained.
8. Nominations must be on the approved form and can be downloaded from here.

Nominations close on 23rd August 2013 and should be sent on the nominationform to the President, Islamic Council of Qld, P.O. Box 204, Sunnybank Qld 4109. Email : president@icq.net.au.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The foundation was laid for the building of Masjid Ibrahim in Southern River, Perth, WA, on Wednesday 26th June.

Broken Cameras" is a 2011 documentary film directed by Palestinian Emad Burnat.

 

It is a first-hand account of protests in Bil'in, a West Bank village affected by the Israeli occupation. The documentary was shot almost entirely by Emad Burnat (a Palestinian farmer), who bought his first camera in 2005 to record the birth of his youngest son.

 

Structured around the destruction of Burnat's cameras, the film follows one family's evolution over five years of turmoil. The film won a 2012 Sundance Film Festival award and was nominated for a 2012 Academy Award.

Date: Saturday 6th July 2013
Location: Level 1, Queensland Multicultural Centre, 102 Main Street, Kangaroo Point, QLD 4169
Price: $10.50 per ticket (can be purchased at door or online via www.trybooking.com/52359. 
Doors open at 6pm for festivities and film starts at 7:15pm.

 

View the poster here.

Today (Sunday 30 June) from 10.30 AM to 12.30 PM, there will be a janaza class at Islamic Society of Algester for men.

 

The Imams will cover the procedure of ghusl and burial.
 

All are welcome to attend.

Venue: 48 Learoyd Road, Algester.
 

Call 0403 338 040 for more information.

Imam Ahmad Abu Ghazaleh and Dr Mohamad Abdalla will be teaching a full course titled Introduction to Sharia for Griffith students at Nathan and Gold Coast campuses.

Course Description: For Muslims, Sharia is religion and law at once, and is the corner stone of all things Islamic. Yet, it is the most misunderstood of all laws in the 'West.' Any attempt to understand Islam and its civilisation must begin with an understanding of Sharia. No student of Islamic studies can do without it. This course, therefore, will introduce students to this most important of Islamic subjects. In doing so, the course will enhance students' understanding of the meaning of Sharia, its primary and secondary sources and its higher purposes (maqasid). Additionally, the course will provide practical understanding of these through the use of case studies that examine the Sharia's views on jihad and terrorism, violence against women, ethical finance, human rights and democracy. This is a crucial course for any student who wants to understand the foundations of the Islamic world, and will help enhance job opportunities in a variety of fields such as media, politics and education.

 

Lectures at Nathan Campus are every Thursday beginning on Thursday 25 July and ending on Thursday 17 October. Time: 2:00-4:00pm. Venue: N78 -1.12

Lectures at Gold Coast Campus begin are every Monday beginning on Monday 22 July and ending on Monday 14 October. Time: 12:00-2:00pm. Venue. G06 2.35.

 

For more information email M.Abdalla@griffith.edu.au.

In response to an article in CCN entitled: Palmer candidate peddles discrimination quoting Palmer United Party's Mr Rob Messenger's media release, Mr David Forde, posted the following Facebook message on Mr Messenger's wall:

Rob, the problem is you attempted to smear an entire community here in Australia who had nothing to do with horrendous killing that happened in London for cheap political gain. As a member of a Lions Club in Brisbane, we have done a lot of charity work involving local Muslims (and other diverse members of society), many actually born here. But as one Muslim said to me; at times we ask what do we have to do when we are constantly vilified no matter how much good we do. Or what about the Muslim students in Brisbane who took part in our District RSL ANZAC Day Passing of the spirit? You risk undoing much good work and have created genuine fear among many females that they will be physically targeted based on their religion. Perhaps if you spent more time building an inclusive society you might get broader support, or indeed go and meet these people you are condemning - you may be surprised. Sure there are a very small minority of bad apples, but that applies to all cultural or religious backgrounds. Of course if your intent is to seek election through division and exclusion you will dismiss my comments.

CCN looks forward to reporting on Mr Messenger's response.

CresWalk2013 sponsor, Crescent Wealth is Australia's first Islamic Wealth Manager and now Australia's first provider of Islamic Superannuation options.

This short video is an introduction to Crescent Wealth, its Directors, its achievements, its vision and its journey in creating new opportunities in ultra-ethical investing for all Australians.

 

 

Ms Heena Akbar, a PhD student at Queensland University of Technology originally from Fiji, is seeking help from women from Fiji living in Queensland. Ms Akbar is undertaking a study to gain a better understanding of how migrant women from Fiji manage their diabetes.

 

Women will be invited to participate in interviews and group discussions and asked to complete a survey about how they manage diabetes. Ms Akbar said this research will give women the opportunity to tell their stories about their experiences of living with type 2 diabetes and to discuss useful ways to manage diabetes and lead more healthy lives.

If you are a woman born in Fiji, over 18 years of age; been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and willing and able to participate in the study, Heena would very much like to hear from you. She can be contacted by phone or email and is keen to hear from women. Heena said she will give more information to interested women so they can be sure of what is required of participants in the project.

Heena’s details:
Heena Akbar │ PhD Candidate│
School of Nursing; Faculty of Health; Queensland University of Technology; Kelvin Grove; Email:h.akbar@qut.edu.au; Phone: 61 07 3217 2948 / 3138 0573; Mobile: 0423460211

 

 

 

The Grand Mufti of Australia, Professor Ibrahim Abu Muhammad, wrote a letter of congratulations to the Hon Kevin Rudd, assuring the new Prime Minister of Australia of his sincere support to help "bring hope back to Australia, the Muslim Community and Palestine".

 

Following the last Muslim Youth Speak Out (MYSO) in 2009, FAMSY, ALNISA & REVIVAL have teamed up together to host the MYSO 2013.   "The aim of MYSO is to empower Muslims living in Australia to live as Muslims in the manner shown to us by the Prophet SAW," one of the organizers told CCN.

MYSO aims to undertake this by:

• Addressing relevant issues faced by Muslims living in secular societies;
• Getting counsel from our learned scholars and elders; and
• Providing an opportunity to discuss these issues in person.

Guest speaker Dr Zachariah Matthews from Sydney will be in attendance talking about the Importance of Self Reformation whilst Working in the Community.

 

Four young Brisbane men and women will also be presenting on the following topics;

Dawah in the Modern World and Working Together with non Muslims - Bilal Coovadia
Integrating and Working with the Indigenous Community - Dylan Chown
Current Trends in Social Media - Emane El-mezin
Marriage and Living Happily Married - Maryam Yousefzai

This will be followed by a panel discussion including a Q&A, before everyone will break up into small groups to discuss and share their views on the topics above.

Details of the event can be found here.

Saturday 6th July 10am to 2pm
Venue Griffith University Mt Gravatt Campus. Building M10 Room 1.30
Food (Nandos) and Zuhr prayers will be provided at the venue
Gold coin donations at the door