A Queensland woman has been
sentenced to 180 hours of
community service for a
barrage of social media
abuse towards prominent
Australian Muslim woman
Mariam Veiszadeh.
A Queensland woman has been
sentenced to 180 hours of
community service for a
barrage of social media
abuse towards a prominent
Australian Muslim woman.
Jay-Leighsa Bauman
(pictured above) was
charged with 'using a
carriage service to menace,
harass or cause offence' for
anti-Islamic comments
towards community advocate
Mariam Veiszadeh in early
January.
Twenty-two-year-old Bauman’s
tweets included describing
Ms Veiszadeh as a “rag
head”, “dirty Islamic scum”
and to go back to her “dirty
sand dune country”.
Last year Ms Veiszadeh, a
lawyer, criticised a
Woolworths store in Cairns
on Twitter for allegedly
selling a singlet printed
with “Love it or leave” and
an Australian flag.
“I am relieved that the
matter is finally over,” Ms
Veiszadeh said in a
statement to SBS World News.
“I’ve been quite anxious
about the entire ordeal
given that many bigoted and
white supremacist groups
have been falsely claiming
that I got Bauman arrested
and were using this as a
means to generate further
vitriol against me and
fellow Australian Muslims.”
Bigots need
to recognise
that whilst
they are
entitled to
their views,
there are
consequences
to their
actions -
that mere
words can
lead to
devastating
consequences
for those
whom they
seek to
target.
Mariam
Veiszadeh
“The incident itself and the
barrage of abuse which it
subsequently triggered has
been incredibly testing and,
the entire ordeal,
harrowing."
Australian Defence League
posted the tweet to its
thousands of Facebook
followers, it was picked up
by a right-wing group in the
US, and she was then
subjected to a torrent of
social media abuse,
including from Bauman.
Social media trolls posted
pictures of Ms Veiszadeh’s
head next to pigs and
digitally manipulated images
of her being stoned to
death.
“No one should have to
endure death threats,
receiving abusive phone
calls and messages, have
bacon sent to them in the
mail, have their accounts
hacked all simply because
they dared express an
opinion,” Ms Veiszadeh said.
“Bigots need to recognise
that whilst they are
entitled to their views,
there are consequences to
their actions - that mere
words can lead to
devastating consequences for
those whom they seek to
target.”
When she went public with
the threats, again on
Twitter, the response from
followers and supporters
resulted in the hashtag #IStandWithMariam
trending nationally.
SBS World News has contact
Bauman’s lawyer for comment.
The sentence was handed down
in Ipswich Magistrates Court
on 21 May.
The UK comedian Frankie
Boyle is one of the few
performers currently on UK
television worth listening
to. He insists on pointing
out the complicity of the UK
establishment with mass
child abuse. He talks about
the crimes and exploitation
of the British empire, and
links that to the ongoing
debate around “immigration.”
He criticizes Israel (and
Britain’s complicity in
supporting Israeli
apartheid). He makes the
wrong kind of jokes about
American military
aggression. He protests
against Guantanamo Bay. And
he refuses to talk about
poverty and corruption using
the BBC’s customary
euphemisms (mainly because
unlike almost everyone else
who works for the BBC, Boyle
is working class).
All this means that when
Boyle is allowed to make a
TV show, it doesn’t actually
go on TV. Instead it goes
online only, where the BBC
hope it won’t get seen by
the swivel-eyed right wing
press.
This week, he put out
Frankie Boyle’s Election
Autopsy, an unapologetically
frank assessment of the UK’s
suicidal re-election of the
Conservative Party.
Boyle had the excellent
rapper and writer Akala on
to comment on the
proposition that “Britain is
racist to the core.” His
answer was so good he even
convinced the audience.
Watch, learn and share:
(Warning - colourful
language)
Dr Anver Omar
returns to South Africa for
the 97km Comrades Marathon
up run from Durban To
Pietermaritzburg starting
today (Sunday) at 1pm
Brisbane time from the
Durban City Hall.
Dr Omar is
aiming for his 10th Comrades
medal which will earn him
his hard-earned permanent
Comrades marathon number
having completed some 1700km
in training this year around
the streets of Kuraby
(Brisbane).
My biggest
challenge will be cajoling
my undertrained son, eNCA TV
journalist, Yusuf, to finish
in 12 hours," Omar told CCN.
"We scraped in with 10 mins
to spare last year and the
12 hour process felt like
giving birth to him."
Wow! What an exciting and
fun filled night at the
college on 23rd May, 2015.
Families and friends of AIIC
gathered for a wonderful
evening of activities
organised for all ages. Glow
sticks, face painting, kid’s
movies, find the treasure
stall, lots of lollies and
“make a mask” activities
kept us all busy until the
sumptuous dinner was served.
This delicious menu was
followed by spectacular
fireworks. This very
successful night offered a
great opportunity for all
families and friends to
socialise and get to know
each other and also to share
the wonderful things
happening at AIIC.
Sixty players comprising 15
groups tee'd off from
various holes in the recent
Continental Club golf
tournament held at the
Palmer Gold Coast course on
Sunday 17 May.
By 1:00pm everyone was well
on their way through the
first 9 holes and by 3:30pm
all players had managed to
work their way through an
enjoyable yet challenging 18
holes.
A Good Samaritan who jumped
to the defence of three
Muslim women being verbally
abused on a Melbourne train
does not blame other
commuters for not stepping
in.
Jason Cias, 36, supported
the three women who were
being vilified by two
tradesmen on a
Craigieburn-bound train on
Friday, May 15.
You hear of people getting
hurt, what you don't hear
about is the people that do
step in and nothing bad
happens to them.
The train had left Melbourne
Central station when the
tradesmen began abusing the
women, telling them their
headscarfs should not be
worn in Australia.
"One of them made reference
to her headscarf, saying
'You shouldn't be wearing
that s--- in Australia,'" Mr
Cias said.
He said one of the women
appeared to try to calm the
situation in Arabic, which
was met with another barb
from the men.
"The comment was, 'You
shouldn't be speaking that
s--- in Australia,'" Mr Cias
said.
The women stepped off the
train at North Melbourne.
It was when one of the men
called after them "I'll f---ing
smash ya" that Mr Cias
stepped in.
"I said to the guy, 'Mate,
they're women'. The
implication there was you
don't threaten people,
particularly women," he
said.
Mr Cias said he was told to
mind his own business,
before one of the men stood
over him and punched him in
the face.
Another passenger on the
train filmed the incident on
her mobile phone and tried
to raise the alarm via the
emergency button, but Mr
Cias said he understood why
others did not step in with
him.
"The common response to that
sort of thing is you give
the person doing the wrong
thing a dirty look, but you
don't get involved, that's
the automatic response these
days," he said.
"I understand why, there is
a sense of frustration about
that, but that's countered
by the fact that people are
scared. It's a common fear.
"You hear one terrible story
about something being done
to someone for stepping in
and you assume that's going
to happen to you. You hear
of the occasions of people
getting hurt, what you don't
hear about is the people
that do step in and nothing
bad happens to them.
"You always have to be aware
of your safety, but it's a
matter of weighing up your
own sense of what's right."
Mr Cias said his proximity
to the two men who
instigated the attack
influenced his decision to
act.
"If I'd have been a half a
dozen people back I might
not have felt as
responsible," he said.
His comments echo the "the
bystander effect": a
psychological theory on why
people in large crowds are
less likely to help someone
in distress.
The effect refers to a
"diffusion of
responsibility" that occurs
when people look to others
to take the lead and wait
for someone else to act.
It was the threat of
violence from the two
tradesmen towards the women
that riled Mr Cias.
"I detest violence in any
way, but particularly
violence against women. It's
a personal thing, I just
don't think it's right," he
said.
Mr Cias said he would do the
same again, despite being
punched.
"It's the sort of thing that
does test your beliefs and
you work out if you are true
to your convictions," he
said.
His only regret is that he
did not step in sooner.
"I probably would have said
something earlier … but [one
of the women] seemed to be
holding her own," Mr Cias
said.
"That said, I should have
supported her. She hadn't
done anything that warranted
being subjected to that."
Mr Cias said he was humbled
by the response from the
public to the footage of the
incident.
"People are really
supportive of what I did,
which is really, really
good. Hopefully it does
encourage people to take a
stand, but also being
mindful of their safety," he
said.
Police met Mr Cias and the
witnesses near Kensington
station, taking statements
and copies of the video and
images of the offenders.
Flemington police are
investigating the incident
and have urged anyone with
information to phone Crime
Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or
submit a confidential report
to crimestoppersvic.com.au.
Please be informed that the
Muslim section of the Mt
Gravatt Cemetery will be
open from Tuesday night from
Magrib to Fajr on Wednesday
(2nd and 3rd June).
There will be lighting and
security guards on patrol
throughout this period.
Also be aware that the Mains
Road entrance will be locked
from 6.00pm and the only
entrance available will be
the one from the University
Drive.
UNIVERSITY DRIVE ,ENTRANCE,
IT IS REQUESTED ,that all
who attend do so with
respect & Decorum, in all
manner,& especially in your
driving Habits.
The BRISBANE CITY COUNCIL
,IS TOTALLY CO –OPERATIVE,&
RESPECTFULL, of the function
& always works with our
community ,in such
practices.
"The Islamic Society of
Algester, in conjunction
with the Islamic Council of
QLD have as in the past,
organized the opening
throughout the night on this
auspicious night," Mr Rahman
Deen told CCN. "I would like
to request that all who
attend do so with respect
and decorum, and drive with
care and consideration
around the place during this
period."
Mr Deen also offered his
thanks and appreciation to
the Brisbane City Council
for being sensitive to the
needs of the community.
A Sunni Australian Muslim
community group in Brisbane
believes it's winning the
fight against radicalisation
by providing guidance to
young people that couples
social activities with
religious teaching.
Ali Kadri, of the Queensland
Islamic Council, believes
that camps and nightime
events he's been organising
are lessening the influence
of irresponsible ‘backyard
sheikhs’ and the extremist
online messages aimed at
susceptible young men.
The events attempt to
overcome the feelings of
alienation and
marginalisation that he
believes are key traits
among young people ‘at risk’
of radicalisation.
But the process is sensitive
and young people should not
feel targeted or
stigmatised, he warned. He's
called for an increase in
communication between
government bodies and
community organisations.
Winning the 'hearts of
minds' of young people
Ali Kadri’s community events
in Brisbane’s Holland Park
Mosque – one of the oldest
in the country - generate a
“counter-narrative” to
violent messages and he
believes he’s winning the
information war, and the
“hearts and minds” of young
Australian Muslims.
“We counter the propaganda
that (the terrorist
organisation) ISIS
spreads... Burning pilots
and beheading innocent
people have nothing to do
with Islam,” he said.
“It’s important in the CVE
(counter violent extremism)
space to let Muslims know
that there’s not a war
against Islam, and the
Middle East conflict has a
lot to do with politics.”
Young Australian Muslims who
regurgitate the violent
online messages of
irresponsible preachers are
being “shouted down on
Facebook”, according to
Kadri.
Kadri's group camps and
Tuesday night events teach
the basics of Islam from
historical sources – rather
than the internet – attract
around 100 young Muslim
lads. Friday night sermons
by Imam Uzair (pictured
right) include political
meditations as well as
traditional Islamic
teaching, and are attended
by around 500 Australian
Muslims.
Kadri said Imam Uzair is
“not your typical imam. He’s
a gym head, plays golf and
cricket, and he’s memorised
the Koran. He’s spiritual
yet modern – someone (young
people) can connect to and
be friends with. He mingles
with the boys, plays sport
and then he starts teaching
religion.”
Islam can provide solutions
to countering
radicalisation, Kadri said,
but many young Australian
Muslims “don’t know Islam.”
“But there’s not one factor
(in radicalisation),” he
added, and believes it's
important to help boys
overcome social issues by
guiding them through
training and employment
programs.
“They’re marginalised and
feel like they’re getting
nowhere in life. They can
turn to crime - it happens
to non-Muslims, too, and
they join bikie gangs,” he
said.
Sometimes radicalised
individuals can slip through
such community programs, in
spite of best efforts. Kadri
said he had dealings with
one of the men who was
arrested in Brisbane by a
counter-terrorism operation
in September and charged
with recruting foreign
fighters. “We’d spend hours
debating religious issues,
but he didn’t come to the
lectures.”
He invited him to local
workshops “to try and
involve them in the
democratic way of life, but
he was feeling alienated and
started chatting to people
on the internet.”
“He changed his phone number
and stopped talking to
people who disagreed with
his views,” Kadri said.
Getting it right in the
future
The work of bringing young
men into the peaceful fold
is not without challenges.
Kadri said. When Muslims,
particularly women, feel
like they are being targeted
it can have a polarising
effect on young Muslim men.
“It kills what we do,” he
said.
He believes there needs to
be more interaction between
levels of government and
community organisations like
his, and believes good
communication can go a long
way.
He cited an Australian
non-Muslim who works as a
cultural liaison officer for
the Australian Federal
Police in Brisbane, and has
built strong relationships
with young boys in the
program. “It’s worked well –
he’s changed some of their
views and he’s made a huge
impact,” he said.
He believes more
partnerships are needed for
prevention programs like his
to ensure those ‘at risk’ of
violent extremism can be
brought back to achieve a
truly fulfilling life.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Matt Khoury
is a
Sydney-based
author and
journalist with
14 years'
experience as an
independent,
mainstream and
government media
editor. He has
also reported
from war zones,
refugee camps
and tropical
beaches. He is
the current
editor of
The Point
Magazine.
HERE’S a scoop for you:
halal certified food funds
Islamic terror, erodes our
most basic and cherished
values and promotes a
slippery slope descent into
such perversions as
bestiality, wind farms,
death cults and rampant
secularism.
Thankfully, we have
conservative warrior Senator
Cory Bernardi leading a
charge to tackle this
leftist, Islamist,
politically correct attack
on our Australian way of
life.
If it weren’t for Bernardi’s
common sense in pushing for
a Senate inquiry into the
creeping terror of halal
food certification in
Australia, before long even
our Christmas hams could be
on the endangered species
list.
Such is the insidious nature
of halal that, left
unchecked, our children will
be eating hummus and
chickpeas with lamb broth in
between rolling out their
prayer mats and looking up
roadside bomb-making
instructions on the internet
before you can say Allahu
Akbar.
OK,
we exaggerate slightly, but
if you start seeking
information about halal food
certification on the
internet, all manner of
conspiracy theories present
themselves.
Key “what are halal foods?”
into your search engine and
you will find anti-halal
websites that are about as
honest and informative as
some of propaganda sites run
by the anti-vaccination wing
nuts or chemtrail loonies.
These conspiracy sites –
which link to agitprop from
the likes of Dutch
Islamophobe Geert Wilders –
want halal certification
ended and often call for
boycotts of companies who
certify their products
accordingly.
“Oh my God, I just had a cup
of Dilmah tea with a piece
of Cadbury chocolate … I may
be infected … Jesus please
save me before I go shopping
for a burka.”
What an absolute nonsense
and a waste not only of our
Parliament’s time but also
your tax dollars.
Here are a few facts.
Halal certification is not
that different to any other
certification of food
products, be it organic,
gluten- free or kosher.
Basically it verifies that
there are not substances
such as alcohol, pork or
associated byproducts in the
food, and the meat has been
slaughtered in accordance
with Muslim belief (which
dictates the animal not be
irreversibly stunned prior
to meeting its demise).
Ironically, you’ll find that
kosher foods follow not
dissimilar guidelines and,
in some strict Jewish
families, the standards are
even more stringent.
Interestingly, some white
supremacists refer to kosher
food certification as a
“Jewish tax” and level the
same charges that are made
against halal, so at least
we have some common ground
in our misguided hates. Any
nominal fees charged for
certification (like any
other seal of approval) are
usually absorbed by
companies seeking the
relevant tick and meet the
costs of the certifying
bodies – as is the case with
any other food standards
check.
They
do not underwrite ISIS, go
toward the upkeep of the
secret Nazi moon base,
bankroll the Agenda 21
conspiracy or any other
lunatic twaddle you can
think of.
In fact, for those paranoid
enough to worry about halal
certification and what they
deem to be an “Islamic tax”,
can I ask how you feel about
eating Weet-Bix of a
morning? After all, this
Sanitarium product is owned
by the Seventh Day Adventist
church (arguably one of the
more fundamentalist
Christian faiths) and is
also halal certified.
How do you feel about the
economic welfare of
Australia’s primary
producers, whose meat and
livestock and other food
produce is exported to
lucrative markets in Muslim
nations such as Indonesia
and Malaysia or the Middle
East which place
considerable stock in such
certification? In the same
way Australian consumers may
want to know whether
imported food is safe,
dolphin free, genetically
modified, contains MSG or
whatever, why should we
seriously need to worry
about a halal label?
According to some of the
denizens of the good Senator
Bernardi’s website though,
if a food has been blessed
by somebody who may believe
in a different imaginary
friend then their very
salvation is under threat:
“Could you also find out how
I as a Christian can undo
the halal certification,”
pleads Cheryl. “My beliefs
are that I can’t eat food
that has been prayed over to
a false idol …”
Well Cheryl, maybe in this
globalised world some
Muslims, Jews, Buddhists
(think not eating meat of
the sacred cow), feel the
same way.
The nuttiness has actually
got to the point where
bloggers on the site of
Australia’s one-man answer
to the Tea Party (presumably
Liptons not Dilmah when it
comes to halal issues) are
asking the following:
“Not sure if you get
to read this Cory … but
I would really like to
know how you feel about
the inquiry being
chaired by (Senator Sam)
Dastyari. He would have
opposed the inquiry as a
Labor member. He is also
Iranian born & possibly
a Muslim?”
Lock your doors, and hide
your lamb roasts, for the
halal terror is apparently
upon us.
The Federal Government's
"helping communities counter
violent extremism" Living
Safe Together programme
issued the following message
this week:
Ramadan is an important
and sacred time of year
for Muslim Australians.
It is a time for
self-examination and
increased religious
devotion.
Ramadan is the most
joyful month of the year
in the Islamic calendar
and we would love to see
how Muslim Australians
take part in and
celebrate Ramadan.
So we encourage you to
capture your Ramadan
experience in pictures
and videos, and upload
these to your social
media channels using the
hashtag #RamadanAustralia
We can’t wait to see you
in niyyah (fasting),
your family gatherings,
the iftar meal that
breaks your fast and the
kind acts and charity
work you do during #RamadanAustralia.
Let’s get this trending
and show the world how
we celebrate!
Two prominent Muslim
women, civil rights lawyer
Lydia Shelly and author
Randa Abdel-Fattah, have
spoken about the community
backlash they receive when
they speak out on Muslim
affairs and women’s rights.
Muslim
community advocate and
lawyer Lydia Shelly
(pictured left) said she
went to the Lindt Café,
accompanied by friends, to
pay respects the day after
the Martin Place siege. She
was subsequently subjected
to a barrage of online
attacks from within the
Muslim community – many of
which questioned the
sincerity of her grief.
“I was told I deserved it
because I was a ‘public
person’ and that they had
every right to question my
politics publicly."
“I kept thinking, ‘This is
the reason why we are facing
our problems, because even
in our grief we attack each
other and we are unable to
see our humanity,” Shelly
said.
She understands why some
members within the community
strongly oppose her views
but said it doesn't justify
public threats.
“It is incredibly painful
and demoralising. It causes
me a great deal of angst…
but they say if you’re a
public person they can
attack you publicly.”
I think that
female
advocates
cop it far
more…we are
judged on
our
appearance
and we are
fighting
patriarchy
and
misconceptions
both within
our own
communities
and the
broader
Australian
community.
–
Lydia
Shelley
The experience is shared by
many Australian Muslims who
speak to the media. Many
claim they’ve been abused
and humiliated – both at
community events and online
– and called ‘apologists’,
‘sell-outs’, ‘moderate
Muslims’ and have even
received threats of physical
violence from within their
own communities.
The Muslim community is
racially diverse and there
are different sects of Islam
- and indeed many Muslim
communities - which can make
it difficult to agree on
appropriate spokespeople.
Many Muslim community
members say that genuine
Muslim community leaders and
their concerns aren’t being
listened to by the media.
They’re also tired of having
to continually denounce
terrorism and prove their
loyalty as Australians.
Others believe that the
community's “dirty laundry”
shouldn’t be aired publicly
and disagreements should be
resolved internally within
the community.
Prominent
media spokeswoman, PhD
candidate and author, Randa
Abdel-Fattah (pictured
right) said being a
community advocate sometimes
means being caught in a
“double-bind”.
She told The Point Magazine
she’s had to censor her
views on Muslim women issues
due to the responses it
might trigger within her own
community. “In short, I hold
back because I will be
targeted as a 'western
feminist'.”
“The community is hurting.
It is vulnerable and being
attacked on all sides -
sometimes the disempowered
lash out at the easier
target.”
“We also have some atrocious
spokespeople. The very idea
of being a spokesperson
annoys me. I do not make
this claim.”
“I welcome criticism from
people who are putting in
their own work and effort
because their critique is
credible, but nothing is
more insulting than being
lectured to by somebody who
won't take the time to
inform themselves to the
degree we need to in order
to effectively engage with
the media,” she said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Widyan Fares is
a project
manager at
Multicultural
NSW and writer.
She was formally
a journalist at
SBS and also
hosted SBS
PopAraby Arabic
music program.
What exactly are
"de-radicalisation programs"
and how might they work?
Is it possible to
de-radicalise Isis soldiers,
or members of any extremist
group in the world?
Counter-terrorism expert Dr
Anne Aly explains the
different approaches of
de-radicalisation, and why
it's important for Australia
to take an active and
effective role in
de-radicalising young
Australians.
Returning terrorists can
reveal the horrors of IS
with more credibility than
anyone else. So why strip
their citizenship?
As
things stand, you could
murder the Queen, the
Governor-General and the
Prime Minister, and keep
your citizenship. You'd be
guilty of treason. You'd
almost certainly go to
prison for life. But you'd
die as an incarcerated
Australian, even if you had
dual citizenship.
Australians, you see, can be
just about anything. We can
be frauds, armed robbers and
rapists; embezzlers,
torturers and serial
killers. We'll be named,
shamed and imprisoned for
these things, but none of
them we deem sufficient to
extinguish our nationality.
If you're born an Australian
citizen, it's damn hard to
lose that.
That's what is so
significant about the Abbott
government's policy,
confirmed this week, to
strip dual nationals who've
joined ISIL of their
Australian citizenship. It
reveals that these crimes
exist in a separate
category, characterised not
merely by their badness, but
by their betrayal.
That's what makes terrorism
such a special case even
though it kills so few
Australians compared to,
say, car accidents or
domestic violence. Those
events we characterise
(however incorrectly) as
private tragedies: offences
against private victims.
Terrorism is an offence
against our public selves.
The scale of its repugnance
lies not in the direct
damage it does, which is
limited, but in the symbolic
damage inherent in such a
violent rejection of the
collective us.
That's why there's a
catharsis in stripping
citizenship from these
people. It's a secular act
of excommunication. And,
just like its religious
counterpart, it makes us
feel better about those
still in the fold. We're
purifying ourselves of
disbelievers. But this
implicitly requires us to
view terrorism in one of two
ways: either as war, or as
unconventional politics.
The war analogy, of course,
has dominated our discourse
on terrorism since the
September 11 attacks, and
explains why it is that the
only other way for a dual
national to lose an
Australian citizenship
acquired at birth is to
serve in the armed forces of
a country fighting ours. But
hereabouts we run into
problems. First, that if the
post-9/11 era has taught us
anything, it is that
treating terrorism as war
has been a ghastly failure.
It has only compounded the
disaster and amplified the
problem to the extent we now
consider a terrorist attack
on home soil more likely
than at any other time in
our history.
We're
beginning to
recognise
that we
can't simply
bomb
terrorism
out of
existence.
The task now
is to
persuade
people not
to be
seduced. No
military can
do that.
That is a
task of
politics.
But secondly – and more
intriguingly – this approach
is increasingly at odds with
the way governments and
security organisations are
talking about terrorism.
This is the era of
"radicalisation"; of
lone-wolves and kids
succumbing to radical
propaganda. Islamic State,
as it confronts us in
Australia, is not a
conventional army or even a
structured terrorist
organisation, but a movement
to which people recruit
themselves.
That's why the Prime
Minister spends so much time
talking about the role of
the internet. It's why we
talk about young Muslims
being "groomed" by
recruiters in a similar way
to the victims of
paedophiles. We're beginning
to recognise that we can't
simply bomb terrorism out of
existence. The task now is
to persuade people not to be
seduced. No military can do
that. That is a task of
politics.
The trouble, though, is that
we take the logic of
terrorism as politics only
so far before we abandon it.
Take the other major recent
development: Australians
who've gone to Syria only to
discover that beneath
Islamic State's utopian
promise is a gruesome lie.
Now they're trying to get
out and come home. And as
more Australians inevitably
make the same discovery,
we'll see a lot more of
this.
This might just be the best
news we've had in a year.
We've been sweating on
precisely this kind of crack
in the edifice of IS
propaganda. The truth is
that we can brand IS as
"death cult" all we like. We
can condemn it on some kind
of relentless loop if it
satisfies us but, in
practical terms, none of it
means a thing when it comes
from the mainstream. Radical
politics expects mainstream
rejection – indeed it
requires that for its own
legitimacy. When we tell
ourselves how evil IS is, we
need to be clear: this is a
performance for our own
benefit, not to persuade
people who might otherwise
be charmed.
The one thing radical
politics cannot withstand is
when its own true believers
reveal its hypocrisy. The
Caliph may have no clothes,
but it's his subjects who
must call it out. And yet it
is precisely at this
juncture that we refuse to
take advantage.
The
one thing
radical
politics
cannot
withstand is
when its own
true
believers
reveal its
hypocrisy.
The Caliph
may have no
clothes, but
it's his
subjects who
must call it
out. And yet
it is
precisely at
this
juncture
that we
refuse to
take
advantage.
Asked about the possible
return of such people, the
government eagerly
reiterates: we don't want
them back, but if we must
receive them, we have no
interest in anything other
than punishing them. That
impulse is easy to
understand: after all, the
crime is clear. But is the
impulse strategic? Are these
people of more use to us
stuck in Syria than they
would be telling other
Australians about the
horrors of IS with vastly
more credibility than anyone
else? Is the aim to punish
them, or stem further
recruitment? Are we after
vengeance, or some manner of
victory?
To be clear, I'm not
advocating such crimes go
unpunished. Even the lawyers
of these people accept
they'll be prosecuted. But
it's telling that we can see
nothing beyond this; that we
so resolutely refuse even to
acknowledge this potential
gift because we're too busy
reiterating our hatred for
these people. Somehow, it
was easier to accept the
idea of Soviet spies
defecting to the West in the
Cold War than it is for us
to imagine someone might
have joined ISIL naively,
and has discovered their
error.
Maybe that's because they
rejected us first. Maybe
it's an extension of the
catharsis we feel when we
extinguish someone's
citizenship. But here's the
danger: by rejecting
anything that doesn't begin
and end with condemnation –
as if by reflex – we're
surrendering the politics of
terrorism in precisely the
way ISIL so effectively
isn't.
Waleed Aly is a Fairfax
Media columnist and winner
of the 2014 Walkley award
for best columnist. He also
lectures in politics at
Monash University.
Last week quite a few high
profile people including the
PM have weighed into the
debate on what to do with
these so-called “homesick
jihadis”, wanting to return
home. Unlike the executed
drug smugglers, Mayuran
Sukumaran and Andrew Chen
there is very little
sympathy for these
Australians who have broken
the law and apparently have
had a change of heart. I
believe that most opinions
are based on emotions rather
than rational thinking.
Prosecution and
incarceration can be
effective tools but these
are not the only solutions
or necessarily the best
solutions to address the
issue of radicalisation.
Harsher opinions have varied
from locking the returnees
indefinitely to cancelling
the citizenship of those
with dual citizenships and
those with overseas born
parents. It seems that most
people who are taking a
hardline approach have a
very little to no
understanding of the scale
and the intensity of the
current conflict in the
Middle East and its impact
on our society.
I am not surprised that most
opinions are based on
negative emotions like anger
and fear, when it comes to
‘foreign fighters’. After
all, there is a significant
imbalance in reporting of
terrorist atrocities
compared to brutality of
Assad regime or impact of
drug trafficking. To witness
the impact of negative
emotions one only has to
read an opinion piece
written by Caroline Marcus
with words like
“soft-touches” and “stupid”
are used to describe the
people who suggest a softer
approach. I am sure there
are solid basis for the
anger, fear and anxiety when
it comes to these ‘foreign
fighters’. After all, it is
very hard for a successful
journalist to understand the
appeal of a brutal conflict
against the peace and
tranquility of our country.
Fortunately, the decision
makers of our country still
to a large extent listen to
the advice of experts. One
such expert Associate
Professor Nick O’Brien
addressed the National
Security Conference in
Melbourne last week.
Speaking to ABC later on, he
suggested a softer and in my
opinion much more effective
approach.
"We need to put them through
some kind of
de-radicalisation program
and part of that would be
that they would talk [in
video messages] about their
experiences over there” he
said.
"I think young people who
are considering going over
to Iraq or Syria are not
going to listen to me or the
Prime Minister or probably
not even to senior members
of their community, but they
will listen to people who've
been over there and have had
a bad experience."
With 30 years of law
enforcement career including
a role as a
counter-terrorism chief of
Scotland Yard, it will be
stupid to consider him a
“soft-touch” or “stupid”.
He is not the only expert
who holds this opinion, in
February this year White
House held a summit on
Countering Violent Extremism
to discuss reintegration
programs. It was attended by
major scholars including
Matthew Levitt, who is a
fellow and director of the
Stein program on
counterterrorism and
intelligence at Fromer-Wexler.
Talking about the possible
rehabilitation and
reintegration of radicalised
youth, he explicitly said,
“It is therefore neither
"soft" nor "weak" to be
talking about how to
rehabilitate them”.
If these expert opinions are
not enough to emphasize the
importance, a research
conducted by Dr. Sarah
Marsden of University of St.
Andrews in UK found that
“The UK government’s
increasingly punitive
response to those involved
in terrorism risks
undermining efforts to
successfully reintegrate
former extremists” and such
policies “may hamper efforts
to protect the public from
future terrorist attacks”.
Besides the obvious
prosecution issues with
collecting evidence from a
foreign war zone, the idea
of cancelling citizenships
and locking people away is
counter productive at many
levels. The purpose of any
policy in relation to
extremism should be to
ensure that it results in
safety and security of all
Australians. The challenge
we face is new and is linked
to conflicts, which we have
very little understanding or
control of. The emotional
rhetoric from politicians
and some media commentators
is aggravating the problem
while offering little to no
solutions.
As a community leader who
has worked with young
people, I believe that the
phenomenon of the so-called
“foreign fighters” has seen
its peak. Those who were
going to leave have left or
have had their passports
cancelled. The current focus
of all policy discussion
should be on ensuring that
young boys and girls are
immune to the terrorist
propaganda. The director
general of security at ASIO,
Duncan Lewis, echoed the
most reasonable solution
suggested by many experts
across the world; “social
cohesion” he said is a
“silver bullet” to solve the
problem of radicalisation.
Therefore, when it comes to
rehabilitating foreign
fighters and using them to
deter others, I will take
the opinion of levelheaded
experts and scholars over an
emotional and angry
journalist any day of the
week.
A spectacular event hosted
across Australia featuring
the famed American Poet
Quadir Lateef, the hilarious
American comedian Omar
Reagan, and the inspiring
British Nasheed Artist
Faisal Salah performing his
world premiere of “Smile”, a
Muslim Aid Australia
original.
An unforgettable night to
connect with the orphans,
get to know them, understand
their needs, and Support
orphans from around the
world who need your help.
THE Islamic Council of
Victoria has criticised the
Abbott government for
continuing to sideline
Muslim groups when forming
policy responses aimed at
countering radicalisation.
PRIME Minister Tony Abbott
is expected to announce a
new ministerial position to
improve consultation with
Muslim leaders, aimed at
combating radicalisation, as
part of its beefed-up
response to the threat of
terrorism.
But the peak group for
Muslim organisations in
Victoria has raised
questions about the
sincerity of the latest
move, saying it would have
been appropriate to engage
with their community before
forming a new post that is
supposed to improve
consultation.
"We've
been in three consultations
with the attorney-general
and this has never been
raised," Kuranda Seyit
(pictured right), the
secretary of the Islamic
Council of Victoria, told
AAP on Tuesday.
"This is just an example
where the Muslim community
has been sidelined to the
effect that it's just a pawn
in the political landscape."
The new ministerial post is
likely to be given to
parliamentary secretary for
social services Concetta
Fierravanti-Wells, who will
report to Attorney-General
George Brandis.
Senator Fierravanti-Wells
would be charged with
building better relations
with at-risk communities and
tackling the appeal of
jihadist teaching.
The development comes after
Mr Abbott on Monday
confirmed former ambassador
to Indonesia Greg Moriarty
as Australia's first
national counter-terrorism
co-ordinator, and Justice
Minister Michael Keenan as
the nation's first
counter-terrorism minister.
Senator Brandis on Tuesday
insisted the government
wasn't trying to alienate
Muslims with the latest
announcements.
"The government knows the
vast majority of Australia's
Muslim people are
peace-loving people," he
said.
But Mr Seyit said the
language from government in
relation to the Muslim
community was still creating
fear and suspicion.
The ultimate effect would
only be to drive young
people further towards
radicalisation.
"The overall approach is
abrasive and
confrontational," he said.
Instead there needed to be a
dialogue that included not
just Muslims but other
community groups that had
skills and resources at
their disposal.
In futuristic
setting, heroines ride
motorcycles, fight villains;
a prince’s hope
Saudi
Girls Revolution’ is
a mobile game made
by NA3M, a company
whose founder and
chief executive is
Saudi Arabian Prince
Fahad bin Faisal Al
Saud, above,
grandson of the
brother of the king.
Saudi Arabian
women this year will finally
get the right to drive. It
will just have to be in a
post-apocalyptic world
filled with baboon kings,
crystal giants, fire
dancers, mutants and zombie
cybersoldiers.
That’s the setting for the
coming mobile videogame
“Saudi Girls Revolution,” in
which a group of young Saudi
women race souped-up
motorcycles to fight the
evil tyrannical rulers of a
corrupted Arabian Empire. It
is being made by NA3M, a
company with offices in
Jordan and Denmark whose
founder and chief executive
is Saudi Arabian Prince
Fahad bin Faisal Al Saud,
grandson of the brother of
the king.
“I hope every single
individual who owns a phone
plays,” says the 31-year-old
prince. He even means his
royal family members. “Their
status doesn’t change the
fact that they’re still
consumers,” he says.
“Saudi Girls Revolution” is
set in the late 21st
century, where a world war
over the loss of natural
resources has wiped out
three-quarters of Earth’s
population. The one city
untouched by war: Riyadh,
rich with water. After the
death of the king, unrest
leads to brutal government
camps for women.
Enter the eight heroines of
“Saudi Girls Revolution.”
Dressed in abayas—the
full-length black robes worn
by some Muslim women—they
drive high-speed motorbikes
equipped with magical
shields and energy blasters,
fighting villains and
oppressors across
treacherous landscapes.
These “Mu’tazilah,” a name
with roots in Arabic and
Islamic culture that means
those who break away or
stand apart, possess
distinct personalities and
backgrounds that loosely
reflect various groups of
Saudi Arabian society,
according to the game’s
creators. Um Bandar is the
wise, elderly ringleader who
teaches women to fight for
themselves. Asma and
Allanoud are twins who push
against religious
sectarianism. Hussa is gay;
Leila is from the
disconnected upper class of
society.
There is even an
“ass-kicking” cyborg, Prince
Fahad says. He likens their
skills to the Mighty Morphin
Power Rangers.
A 35-second video on YouTube
gives a taste of the game.
In the teaser, the shadow of
a woman stands beside a
motorcycle, her hair and
abaya blowing in the wind.
Smoke rises amid debris and
rain, as a red meteor falls
from the sky. In the
background, a woman sings:
“From far away they came to
life with knowledge. They
changed our world then left
us without warning.”
Choosing an
alternate-universe version
of Saudi Arabia for the
game’s vehicular setting
might seem pointed,
considering women there are
forbidden to drive. While no
law explicitly prohibits
them from getting behind the
wheel, the government has
refused to grant licenses to
women.
Dozens of Saudi women in
recent years have protested
the decadeslong ban by
driving cars in the kingdom.
Still, a spokesman for the
Interior Ministry reaffirmed
the ban last October,
warning that strong measures
would be taken against
offenders. Earlier this
year, two women were
detained for more than 70
days for challenging the
ban.
Prince Fahad says there is
no political motive behind
“Saudi Girls Revolution,”
though he hopes it will
“inspire women to see
themselves in roles that are
equal to men.” The website
for NA3M says concepts like
the one behind the game can
“challenge convention.”
(Mostly, though, it says it
wants people to “enjoy a
kick-ass game.”)
A poster promoting
the coming mobile
videogame ‘Saudi
Girls Revolution,’
in which a group of
young Saudi women
race souped-up
motorcycles to fight
evil.
Prince Fahad,
who lives in London, grew up
playing foreign-made games
with powerful female
characters like Lara Croft
from “Tomb Raider.” After
graduating from Stanford
University in 2007, he spent
two years at Facebook Inc.
working on an Arabic version
of the social network.
He wanted to empower Saudi
women by showing
them—literally—in the
driver’s seat. “If we can
tell people stories about
women driving, maybe they
will, maybe it will actually
happen,” he says.
Several characters, Prince
Fahad says, are named after
relatives, like his
grandmother.
The inspiration for some
villains, such as the game’s
evil baboon kings, comes
from plants and animals in
Saudi Arabian cities. Take
Ta’if, for example, where
baboons there roam freely,
coercing bananas, dates and
other fruits from passersby.
“If the baboons don’t get
what they want, they jump on
your car,” he says. “You
have to pay the toll.”
It isn’t the first time
Prince Fahad has drawn from
real life for games. He says
an earlier NA3M game, “Run
Camel Run,” was inspired by
his father, who collects
hundreds of camels. Some
compete in camel beauty
pageants.
“My dad is very
conservative,” the prince
says, adding that his father
wanted him to become an
engineer. “He had
reservations about me doing
anything untraditional when
it comes to working. But now
he loves [“Run Camel Run”].
It’s his favorite game.”
“Saudi Girls Revolution” is
slated for release on the
Apple Inc. and Google Inc.
app stores sometime later
this year. It will be free
to download and paired with
a digital comic book that
tells the back stories of
the eight heroines.
“I wanted to engage the
Saudi community…to allow
them to be comfortable and
familiar and used to these
types of visuals,” Prince
Fahad says. He says he
anticipates some backlash in
Saudi Arabia over the
driving theme, but not from
his immediate family because
he was raised by strong,
independent women.
An
early rendering of a
bike being
considered for
‘Saudi Girls
Revolution,’ which
is still under
development and
slated for release
later this year.
Videogames that touch on
politics, religion and
social issues aren’t new.
The Sims allowed players to
create gay characters since
the first game in the
life-simulation series was
published in 2000. The
annual Christian Game
Developers Conference
promotes games made
“specifically to glorify
God.” And in the 2014 mobile
game “Kim Jong Jetpack,”
players take on the role of
the North Korean leader and
try to save the world from
an invasion of evil unicorn
pigs, or “unipigs.”
But few, if any, videogames
can boast developer
credentials linked to
royalty. “It makes a huge
statement,” says Asi Burak,
president of Games for
Change, a nonprofit that
focuses on inspiring social
change through videogames.
Prince Fahad spoke at the
group’s New York gathering
in April.
“You have someone [who’s]
part of the establishment in
a huge Arab country…starting
a game company to deal with
Arab culture and Arab
themes,” Mr. Burak says.
“It’s edgy.”
Mostly, Muslim students are
taught about inventions and
discoveries of Muslims and
they list hundreds and
thousands year old
inventions by Muslims.
But one important fact needs
to be highlighted that
Pakistani scientists, too,
have a great contribution in
where the world is standing
today.
There are hundreds of
capable scientists which
have worked on prestigious
scientific missions and many
of them even have invented
numerous things in their
disciplines.
This list of greatest
Pakistani scientists prove
that Pakistan is not far
behind anyone in development
of today and has a
contribution in the modern
world.
Even though resources in the
country are minimal, yet
these brilliant minds were
stronger enough to take over
the circumstances.
2) Naveed Zaidid
Organic Chemist and Polymer
Scientist Naveed Zaidi
developed world's first
plastic magnet that
functions at room
temperature. Along with his
colleagues Prof. Andy
Monkman, Mr. Sean Giblin and
Dr. Ian Terry from
Department of Physics of
Durham University, research
took 4 years making him
first scientist to develop
world's first practical
plastic magnet.
Every Friday in the regional
Victorian town of Ararat, 50
members of the Islamic
Welfare Association join
each other for prayer at a
tiny brick building next to
the town's train station.
On occasion they hold
interfaith prayer sessions
with the Catholic Church,
but soon they will have a
mosque, following the
approval of the local
council, as well as other
local religious leaders.
Like most country
Victorians, for these four
families, the town's appeal
was getting out of the
hustle and bustle of city
life.
They are proud to call
Ararat, which has a
population of about 8,000
people, home, but said their
religion was often
misunderstood and they are
concerned that they are
feared by the broader
community.
Riaz Mohd, Remandeep
Kaur and their
15-month-old
daughter Aleena
Riaz
Mohd, Remandeep Kaur
and their
15-month-old
daughter Aleena.
Riaz and
Remandeep are both from the
same town in India. Unable
to marry because of their
different religions, they
moved to Australia.
Remandeep has since
converted from Sikhism to
Islam.
The couple moved to Ararat
from Melbourne four years
ago to satisfy their visa
conditions and they now both
work at the local abattoir.
"Riaz is a Halal checker and
slaughterman and I am a meat
inspector," she said.
"They're good jobs and we
have a good life here,
respect."
Remandeep said they had been
welcomed into Australia and
the Ararat community.
"I love Australia, I want to
spend my whole life here and
I am dreaming of my girl's
life here," she said.
But Riaz and Remandeep
feared that stories about
Islamic State and other
extremist attacks were
generating misunderstanding
about Muslim people as a
whole.
"If they are killing
innocent people, then they
are not Muslim," Riaz said.
"If you have a Muslim friend
or live next door to a
Muslim, you will know they
are really good people and
how they live their life;
honestly, no drink, no
drugs, no smoking.
"In every religion, there
are bad people.
"If some people have
feelings of revenge, it is
separate from religion -
Islam is peaceful."
Live Updates
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Two Faiths One Prayer --
Muslims and Jews Pray Together in LA
US: Muslims and Jews
prayed together side-by-side in public
spaces across Los Angeles, in an effort
to show that peace is possible. Despite
the conflicts in Israel/Palestine as
well as the growing Islamophobia and
Anti-Semitism in America and abroad, the
two religions have more in common than
meets the eye, including praying to the
same God.
Protesters berate
Muhammad during anti-Islam protest at
Phoenix mosque
Islamic Community
Centre of Phoenix
US: Counter-demonstrators shout “Go home
Nazis” at contingent of anti-Islam
protesters, some of whom were armed
More than 200 protesters, some armed,
berated Islam and the prophet Muhammad
outside an Arizona mosque on Friday in a
provocative protest that was denounced by
counterprotesters shouting “Go home Nazis”,
weeks after an anti-Muslim event in Texas
came under attack by two gunmen.
The anti-Muslim event outside the Islamic
Community Center of Phoenix was organized by
an Iraq war veteran who posted photos of
himself online wearing a T-shirt with a
crude slogan denigrating Islam and waving
the US flag.
As the event got under way, demonstrators on
both sides screamed obscenities at each
other as police in riot gear swiftly
separated the two groups, each with about
250 people, using police tape and
barricades.
“This is in response to the recent attack in
Texas,” organizer Jon Ritzheimer wrote on
his Facebook page announcing the event at a
mosque targeted in part because the two
Texas gunmen had worshipped there.
More than 900 people responded on the
event’s Facebook page that they would
attend, and police expanded their presence
in the evening in anticipation of growing
crowds. Officers with riot helmets and gas
masks formed a cordon for several blocks.
Among the anti-Islam protesters, some of
whom called Islam a “religion of murderers”,
more than a dozen men in military clothing
carried semi-automatic weapons. Others waved
copies of caricatures of the Muhammad drawn
at the Texas event.
By late Friday night virtually all the
protesters and police had left the area with
no reports of violent flare-ups or arrests.
Depictions of Muhammad, which
many Muslims view as blasphemous, have been
a flashpoint for violence in Europe and the
United States in recent months where those
displaying or creating such images have been
targeted by militants.
Anti-Muslim groups have been active in the
United States, buying ads and staging
demonstrations characterizing Islam as
violent, often citing the murderous
brutality of Islamic State militants in Iraq
and Syria.
The Phoenix mosque targeted on Friday has
condemned such violence and held a series of
sermons at Friday prayers last year by an
imam who criticized militant Islamist groups
such as Islamic State, al-Qaida and
Nigeria’s Boko Haram.
The president of the centre had urged
worshippers not to engage with the
demonstrators. “We should remind ourselves
that we do not match wrongness with
wrongness, but with grace and mercy and
goodness,” Usama Shami told worshippers
during Friday prayers.
While some counter-protesters outside the
mosque responded to the anti-Islam protest
with obscenities, others followed his advice
and chanted “Love your neighbor”.
Todd Green, a religion professor at Luther
College in Iowa who studies Islamophobia,
said that the brutal acts committed by
Islamic State and other militant groups have
colored many Americans’ impressions of
Muslims.
“Almost two-thirds of Americans don’t know a
Muslim,” Green said. “What they know is
Isis, al-Qaida and Charlie Hebdo,”
referencing the January attack on the Paris
office of the satirical magazine Charlie
Hebdo that left 12 people dead over anger at
the magazine’s cartoons of the prophet.
In a similar incident a pair of gunmen on 3
May opened fire near Dallas outside an
exhibit of cartoons featuring Muhammad and
were shot dead by police. Leaders of the
Phoenix Muslim community confirmed both
gunmen had attended the mosque targeted in
Friday’s demonstration.
US officials are investigating claims the
Texas gunmen had ties to Islamic State but
said they had not established a firm
connection.
Corruption a bigger sin
than consuming pork, former Perlis mufti
tells Muslims
Former Perlis
mufti saw some of the Muslims'
reaction as an overreaction and said
that they should be more concerned
with bigger crimes such as
corruption. -
MALAYSIA: Former Perlis mufti
Datuk Dr Asri Zainul Abidin expressed
disappointment with Muslims in the country
who were more concerned over the consumption
of pork, but kept silent over bigger crimes
such as corruption. He said it is as though
the Muslim community does not realise the
sin and harm in matters that are clearly
illegal, such as interest-taking and
corruption, both far greater sins compared
to consuming pork. "Unfortunately, we are
not making enough noise over things that are
clearly haram.
"This is the
understanding of Islam, which only
regards consuming pork as unlawful, but
do not view gambling, interest-taking
and corruption in the same way when
clearly they are much bigger sins and
cause greater harm," he wrote on his
Facebook page today.
He added that it was not a
sin when followers of Islam accidentally
consumed pork, and that Allah would not
punish anyone if it was done unknowingly.
Asri was commenting on the pig DNA that was
found in Cadbury chocolates and lashed out
at the reaction of some quarters, which he
deemed as an overreaction.
York County pastors call
on Christians to love Muslims, ‘fear not’
US: Two dozen Christian
pastors in York County have joined together
to publicly call on members of their faith
to embrace Muslims as their brothers and
sisters.
The Rev. Sam McGregor, pastor at Allison
Creek Presbyterian Church near Lake Wylie,
said he has jump-started the local effort
because of recent threats against Muslims in
the United States that came to light during
the trial of Robert Doggart.
Doggart, a failed congressional candidate
from Tennessee, pleaded guilty this month to
plotting to kill Muslims who live in a
religious community in New York. The FBI
uncovered and stopped Doggart’s plan.
A similar community, called Holy Islamville,
has existed in York County for nearly 30
years. Members of the local community have
said they’re fearful for their own safety
after hearing of Doggart’s violent plans in
New York and learning that he tried to
recruit people from South Carolina to help
him.
“We have got to take a stand,” McGregor
said.
He and 23 other York County religious
leaders submitted a letter to The Herald on
Friday stating they are “opposed to any acts
of violence or threats of violence against
anyone due to their religious affiliation.”
The letter also states: “Any Christian who
uses their faith as a basis for bringing
harm upon another has completely
misunderstood what it means to lift up the
Lordship of Jesus Christ.”
SOUTH AFRICA: As
European countries grow more concerned about
their Muslim communities, the discourse
around radicalisation and extremism becomes
more problematic. Only recently, Mak Chishty,
a senior British police officer, declared
that young Muslim Britons who stop shopping
at Marks & Spencer stores could be victims
of radicalisation. This is a very awkward
line of argument.
Mr Chishty also noted that teenagers who
stop drinking alcohol or wearing “western
clothes” could be extremists. His comments
appear to suggest that all observant Muslims
are essentially radicals in waiting. As for
“western clothes”, many British Muslims
ethnically originate from other cultural
contexts, and may feel more comfortable in
those kinds of garb. In any case, it’s not
particularly clear how this is connected to
extremism.
This will not be the first or the last time
that the loyalty and belonging of Muslim
communities of the West is questioned. Some
may assume that this is a natural situation
for all minority communities – that,
inevitably, Muslim communities being what
they are and the direction of travel of
world affairs being what it is, such
tensions are liable to happen. But there are
lessons to be learnt, perhaps, from lesser
known Muslim communities, such as the one
residing on the Western Cape of South
Africa.
The history of that community dates back
hundreds of years, so there is something of
a long established precedent for Muslim
South Africans, which serves to protect them
against suggestions of being alien or
disloyal.
But beyond that, there is a history of
political activism from among South African
Muslims during the apartheid struggle. While
many among the South African Muslim
religious establishment acquiesced to
apartheid, there were many individuals who
did not and they formed coalitions to
struggle against that dominant force. When
apartheid finally fell, Muslim South
Africans had already, organically, derived
social capital in South Africa and they
converted that into political capital.
In
democratic
South
Africa, this
Muslim
community is
treated as
an integral
part of
society.
There are no
doubts or
suspicions
in that
regard. What
is more, the
Muslim
community
itself would
have it no
other way.
But their
sense of
South
African
patriotism
does not
result in an
unnatural
type of
assimilation
either. They
belong to
South Africa
and they see
no
contradiction
between that
belonging
and their
own
specificities
as Muslims.
Those particularities might strike the
British police commander as somehow
threatening, or evidence of radicalisation,
but that would be far from the facts on the
ground. Their sense of being South African
is taken for granted – as it should be, even
though how they might view themselves may
differ from other communities in South
Africa.
That is not to say that the threat of
radicalism does not exist. Even in this
extremely well-adjusted and socially
incorporated community, the threat of ISIL
exists. In April, a teenage Muslim girl was
stopped at Cape Town airport, en route to
joining ISIL. Her parents were unaware that
she’d been radicalised online. As yet, it is
unclear how a 15-year-old child could
receive the relevant funds for a ticket
overseas – and it is unknown precisely how
many South Africans are already in Syria and
Iraq fighting for the radical group.
But they certainly exist – showing that for
at least some recruits to ISIL, there is a
deeply ideological element to their
membership. Certainly, there are no issues
of social exclusion that could be said to
make these Muslims vulnerable to radical
recruitment – but extremist ideology can
find its way almost anywhere if left
unchecked. Less than two weeks after that
teenager was stopped, another was
intercepted, from the same community in Cape
Town.
The threat of ISIL exists and should not be
underestimated. However, any
counter-radicalisation strategy cannot be
successful if it attempts to create problems
out of anything that is different from the
norm.
Extremism can take root for a variety of
reasons, and there won’t be a “one size fits
all” model for radicalisation. At the same
time, while making problems for Muslim
communities unfairly ought not to lead any
of them to extremism, it certainly makes the
radical recruiter’s job that much easier.
By the
same token,
ensuring the
open
inclusion of
Muslim
communities
in a shared
and open
patriotism,
as South
Africans
have
accomplished,
makes the
radical’s
job that
much harder.
Dr HA Hellyer is an
associate fellow in international
security Studies at the Royal United
Services Institute in London, and the
Centre for Middle East Policy at the
Brookings Institution in Washington, DC
Sixty years ago,
Abdul Sattar Edhi, 82, gave up
everything to devote his life to
helping Pakistan's poorest. Here,
Peter Oborne hails a truly selfless
spiritual sage
Abdul Sattar Edhi, who has
established homes across
Pakistan for the mentally
ill
PAKISTAN: In the course of my
duties as a reporter, I have met presidents,
prime ministers and reigning monarchs. Until
meeting the Pakistani social worker Abdul
Sattar Edhi, I had never met a saint. Within
a few moments of shaking hands, I knew I was
in the presence of moral and spiritual
greatness. Mr Edhi's life story is awesome,
as I learnt when I spent two weeks working
at one of his ambulance centres in Karachi.
The 82-year-old lives in the austerity that
has been his hallmark all his life. He wears
blue overalls and sports a Jinnah cap, so
named because it was the head gear of
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of
Pakistan. No Pakistani since Jinnah has
commanded the same reverence, and our
conversations were constantly interrupted as
people came to pay their respects.
Mr Edhi told me that, 60 years ago, he stood
on a street corner in Karachi and begged for
money for an ambulance, raising enough to
buy a battered old van. In it, he set out on
countless life-saving missions. Gradually,
Mr Edhi set up centres all over Pakistan. He
diversified into orphanages, homes for the
mentally ill, drug rehabilitation centres
and hostels for abandoned women. He fed the
poor and buried the dead. His compassion was
boundless.
Masterchef's Amanda
Saab Is the First Woman in a Hijab on an
American Cooking Show
Some see a chef in
a headscarf; she just wants you to
see a chef.
US: Amanda Saab is Muslim and
wears a hijab, a traditional Muslim
headscarf for women. She is a contestant on
this season's Masterchef on Fox and is,
according to Muslim Girl, the first Muslim
female chef to appear in a hijab on an
American primetime cooking show. Saab never
intended to be a trailblazer; she simply
wanted to follow her passion for cooking.
She has, however, inadvertently become an
inspiration for many.
In an interview with Muslim Girl, Saab
acknowledged the preconceptions of those who
see Muslim women in headscarves. "As with
any profession," she said, "Muslim women
wearing hijab can be faced with ignorance.
In my experience, many stereotypes have been
quickly dispelled as people get to know me.
I believe my presence in the culinary world
is breaking stereotypes that Muslim women
are oppressed and cannot follow their
passions."
Masterchef Australia had a contestant two
years ago, Samira El Khafir, who was Muslim
and wore a hijab. Her exit generated quite a
bit of controversy due to the nature of the
cooking challenge that led to her exit:
cooking a pork hot dog. Pork is a prohibited
food under traditional Islamic custom, and
many questioned the fairness of asking El
Khafir to prepare a meat that was in
violation of her religion.
Saab is a social worker, and originally used
cooking partly as an outlet for the amount
of stress she experienced at her job. "I
needed an outlet; a way to process the
traumas and grief that I had witnessed," she
said. "I would come home to prepare dinner
and would feel better. I soon realized that
cooking was my way to process my day, my
creative outlet, my 'me time.'"
Saab began experimenting with recipes and
started her own blog. Last fall, she saw a
casting notice for the sixth season of
Masterchef and applied. The season premiered
last night. Saab is less concerned with
stereotypes others have of hijab-wearing and
women and more on her own cuisine: "My
cooking is a representation of me — East
meets West. I love American food and I also
love Mediterranean food. I love blending the
flavor profiles and putting my own twist on
classics."
MOVE
over Vegas, the biggest hotel in the
world is set to open in a different
desert.
The hotel will feature four
helipads and 12 towers.
SAUDI ARABIA: Towering
over the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia,
the Abraj Kudai hotel will feature 10,000
rooms, 70 restaurants and four helipads.
Set to open in 2017, the project will cost
around $4.5 billion and has been designed to
look like a desert fortress.
The mammoth hotel will be 45 stories high,
made up of 12 towers standing on top of a 10
storey podium. There will be a shopping
mall, food courts, a bus station and a huge
ballroom to service the millions of people
that converge on the city for the annual
Hajj pilgrimage.
Some critics worry about the
destruction of Saudi
Arabia’s heritage.
Five of the floors will be strictly off
limits to guests and reserved entirely for
the Saudi royal family.
Irfan Al-Alawi, director of the Islamic
Heritage Research Foundation, told The
Guardian that the hotel was proof the city
was “turning into Mecca-hattan”, and
lamented the little heritage left in Saudi
Arabia’s holy cities.
The hotel will be built in the Manafia
district, a few kilometres south of the
Grand Mosque, and is funded by the Saudi
Ministry of Finance and designed by the Dar
Al-Handasah group.
The Saudi royal family has five
levels dedicated entirely to them.
Raheela
Zarmeen (Manager, Pakistani Women's
Football Team)
The 22-year-old Raheela
Zarmeen, not only manages
the Balochistan United FC in
domestic events, but she has
also been a part of
Pakistan’s national women
football team for the last
three years. Her ultimate
career related aim in life
is to become the first
Pakistani to acquire the
FIFA’s master degree which
will qualify her to work
with the Asian Football
Confederation (AFC) and
FIFA.
The Muslim News Awards for
Excellence 2015 shortlist
UK: The readership of The
Muslim News selected and nominated them, and
a distinguished independent panel of Judges
reviewed, deliberated and mused over the
list.
Over the next few weeks
CCN will profile one of the illustrious men,
women, children and projects deemed to be
worthy of short-listing for a Muslim News
Award for Excellence.
These exemplars of good practice, excellence
– our future role models – will be treated
to a Gala Evening in the presence of their
peers and other renowned guests in March,
when the finalists are announced for the
[16] coveted Awards for Excellence
Uthman Dan Fodio Award for
Excellence in Community Development
The East London Mosque is one
the UK’s oldest Muslim centres of worship,
and one of the country’s busiest with over
10,000 worshippers, users and visitors going
through its doors each week.
It not only serves the
spiritual needs of the community, but also
acts a busy hub for community development
and renewal. In 2004, the Mosque established
the London Muslim Centre which houses a
fitness centre, schools and various
initiatives, including a project to support
deaf Muslims.
The Mosque is the only UK
Muslim centre of worship to have Friday
sermons translated into sign language.
In 2013, the East London
Mosque continued its pioneering pace by
establishing the Maryam Centre, a
multifunctional space dedicated to women.
This was accompanied by its
campaign ‘Imams Against Domestic Abuse’ to
ensure there was a clear Islamic stance
against this.
And in 2014, the East London
Mosque entered into a partnership with the
National Archives to record the rich history
of the mosque and begin the process of
institutionalising British Islamic heritage.
Q: Dear Kareema,
I have very weak core strength and am looking
for ways to build a stronger body and better
balance. Any suggestions for a better back and
abs?
A:
The plank is a
great exercise for the entire core, it works
upper and lower body muscles all at once.
The longer you can hold the plank, the
stronger you will become.
The V-sit is
another great exercise for core and it
drastically improves balance – start on your
back and then lift your legs and backup at
the waist as you extend your legs and arms
off the floor to form a V shape. Hold as
long as you can for a stronger core.
The twisting
crunch – Targets all the stomach muscles in
one movement.
Work your abs in short bursts. Execute each
core exercise explosively – working your abs
at a fast tempo activates more muscles than
doing them slowly.
The Legacy of Iraq: From the 2003 War to
the 'Islamic State'
Edited by Benjamin Isakhan
Description
A pressing examination of the complex and
difficult legacies of the Iraq war of 2003 and their
critical relevance today
The first book to dissect the diverse
consequences of the Iraq war and provide new insights into
the reasons why the country has descended into its current
chaos
Looks at wider contexts such as democracy in
the Middle East, foreign intervention in the region,
sectarian politics, sectarian violence, the rise of Islamic
fundamentalism and terrorist organisations.
The Legacy of Iraq critically reflects on the
abject failure of the 2003 intervention to turn Iraq into a
liberal democracy, underpinned by free-market capitalism,
its citizens free to live in peace and prosperity. It argues
that mistakes made by the coalition and the Iraqi political
elite set a sequence of events in motion that have had
devastating consequences for Iraq, the Middle East and for
the rest of the world.
Today, as the nation faces perhaps its greatest challenge in
the wake of the devastating advance of the Islamic State of
Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and another US-led coalition
undertakes renewed military action in Iraq, understanding
the complex and difficult legacies of the 2003 war could not
be more urgent. Ignoring the legacies of the Iraq war and
denying their connection to contemporary events could means
that vital lessons are ignored and the same mistakes made
again.
Using the book club you
can see what books fellow CCN readers have on their
shelves, what they are reading and even what they,
and others, think of them.
KB says: With the
upcoming Islamic College of Brisbane Fete on
Sunday 7 June, our CresCafe stall need your
cupcakes to raise money for the school.
This is an easy recipe which
you can try.
Muffins
that taste like Doughnuts
Ingredients
1ľ cups flour
1˝ tsp. flour
˝ tsp. salt
˝ tsp. nutmeg
Ľ tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup sunflower oil
ľ cup sugar
1 egg
ľ cup milk
Method
1. Beat all the wet ingredients.
2. Sift the dry Ingredients.
3. Combine the both, folding in gently, do not
beat.
4. Spoon mixture into prepared muffin cups and
bake at 180degrees until light brown.
While muffins are
baking prepare cinnamon and sugar topping with
Ľ cup granulated
sugar
Ľ tsp cinnamon
While muffins are hot dip into melted butter and
roll in cinnamon topping
Invite (all) to the way of
your Lord with wisdom and
beautiful preaching; and
argue with them in ways that
are best and most gracious:
for your Lord knows best,
who have strayed from His
Path, and who receive
guidance.
Muharram 1437 – Islamic New Year 1437 (1st Muharram
1437)
PLEASE NOTE
1. All Islamic Event dates given above are tentative and
subject to the sighting of the moon.
2. The Islamic date changes to the next day starting in
the evenings after maghrib. Therefore, exceptfor Lailatul
Mehraj,
Lailatul Bhahraat
and
Lailatul Qadr – these dates refer to the commencement of the event
starting in the evening of the corresponding day.
The Tafseer gets recorded and uploaded on to our website end
of each week, please visit our website to download these
recordings at
www.masjidtaqwa.org.au.
The Monday and Tuesday's Madina Arabic Course is in Urdu.
These sessions too are recorded as well as webcasted live.
For webcast details please contact us via our website
“contact us” page. The recordings are sent via a download
link, if you are interested please again contact us via our
website “contact us” page.
Queensland Police Service/Muslim
Community Consultative Group
Meeting Dates & Times
Time: 7.00pm sharp
Date: TBA
Venue: Islamic College of Brisbane - 45 Acacia Road
Karawatha
Articles and
opinions appearing in this newsletter do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of the Crescents of Brisbane Team, CCN,
its Editor or its Sponsors, particularly if they eventually
turn out to be libellous, unfounded, objectionable,
obnoxious, offensive, slanderous and/or downright
distasteful.
It is the usual policy of CCN to
include from time to time, notices of events that some
readers may find interesting or relevant. Such notices are
often posted as received. Including such messages or
providing the details of such events does not necessarily
imply endorsement of the contents of these events by either
CCN or Crescents of Brisbane Inc.
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and the best feedback come from our community of readers. If you
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The
CCN Inbox: Letters
to the Editor
Mariam
Veiszadeh
OK,
we exaggerate slightly, but
if you start seeking
information about halal food
certification on the
internet, all manner of
conspiracy theories present
themselves.
They
do not underwrite ISIS, go
toward the upkeep of the
secret Nazi moon base,
bankroll the Agenda 21
conspiracy or any other
lunatic twaddle you can
think of.
Muslim
community advocate and
lawyer Lydia Shelly
(pictured left) said she
went to the Lindt Café,
accompanied by friends, to
pay respects the day after
the Martin Place siege. She
was subsequently subjected
to a barrage of online
attacks from within the
Muslim community – many of
which questioned the
sincerity of her grief.
Prominent
media spokeswoman, PhD
candidate and author, Randa
Abdel-Fattah (pictured
right) said being a
community advocate sometimes
means being caught in a
“double-bind”.
As
things stand, you could
murder the Queen, the
Governor-General and the
Prime Minister, and keep
your citizenship. You'd be
guilty of treason. You'd
almost certainly go to
prison for life. But you'd
die as an incarcerated
Australian, even if you had
dual citizenship.
"We've
been in three consultations
with the attorney-general
and this has never been
raised," Kuranda Seyit
(pictured right), the
secretary of the Islamic
Council of Victoria, told
AAP on Tuesday.
post comments on
our Wall
7
August 2011