The Islamic Council of
Queensland (ICQ) extends
its condolences to the
victims of the mindless
violence perpetrated on
innocent people in Paris. We
would like to express our
sympathy to all the victims
of terrorism across the
world including the victims
of attacks in Kabul and
Beirut.
As a peak body of Muslims in
Queensland, ICQ urges the
community to respond to
these horrific incidents
with solidarity, unity and
strength. Terrorism does not
discriminate against its
victims and neither should
we in responding to such
horrific acts of violence.
The only way to defeat this
divisive ideology is through
courage, unity and
solidarity.
Those who use such incidents
to create further divisions
are inadvertently helping
the extremist cause.
Religious fanatism and
divisive extremism are our
common enemy. The Muslim
community of Queensland
along with members of the
wider community stand united
against all those who try to
cause division and strife.
ICQ president Mr. Ismail
Cajee said, "Our thoughts
and prayers go out to the
victims of all the terrorist
attacks. He further states
that "unity is the only way
to defeat terrorism".
The
Council of Imams QLD (CIQ)
Islamic mourns the
unacceptable loss of
innocent lives in today's
attacks in Paris. As
Muslims, we reaffirm our
belief, as emphasized in the
Quran, that whoever kills
one life, it is as if they
have killed all of humanity,
and whoever saves even one
life, it is as if they have
saved all of humanity
(Chapter 5: Verse 32).
"This tragedy has touched
the world," said Imam Yusuf
Peer, CIQ president. "We
call on Muslims in Paris and
all across France to step
forward and assist in all
efforts to help the injured,
find the missing, and
comfort those suffering from
shock and pain."
CIQ is distressed to learn
that the
politically-motivated
extremists claiming
responsibility for the
attack are justifying their
deeds in the name of Islam
when nothing could be
further from the truth about
the true teachings of Islam.
Islam condemns all forms of
barbarity, murder, and
attacks on innocent people.
Muslims, scholars and
laypersons the world over
have, do, and will continue
to condemn these and any
extremists that use Islam to
justify their actions,
which, under Islamic laws
and teachings, would be
punished strictly in a court
of law.
We call for peace, healing,
and justice for the victims,
as well as an end to
violence against the
innocent in any and every
part of the world.
We pray for light, guidance,
and hope at this time of
great darkness.
Worldwide Muslim
condemnation from around the
world can be
seen here.
Muslims stand in solidarity
with Paris and the people of
France. We are profoundly
saddened and shaken by the
attacks that have taken
place.
Many of us used to say
terrorists are not Muslims,
now we wonder if they are
even humans. Period.
Muslims condemn terrorism
all the time.
However, our voices of peace
must be louder than the
voices of terror. Hence, our
engagement with our local
communities, as well as
media at all levels is
crucial and urgent.
As Paris reels from today's
tragedy, please take
following actions right now:
1.
React from a position of
strength, not weakness
The only way we can make our
message of peace louder than
the one of violence used by
extremists is by interacting
and engaging with our
communities and our
neighbors in the broadest
sense of the word.
For example, share your
thoughts on your personal
Facebook and Twitter feed
(see more info about this
below).
Even more important,
encourage Muslims in Paris,
especially if you have
family and friends there, to
assist in the efforts to
help the injured, to open
their doors to the lost (see
the #porteouverte campaign
on Twitter), and help with
counseling traumatized
victims.
Masjids, Islamic centres,
and Muslim organizations
must also be part of this
effort. If you have contacts
with any in Paris, please
encourage them to do this.
The Prophet, peace be upon
him, was a man of compassion
and a man of action, as is
our faith. Show your
compassion and action, not
just your reaction in the
face of these attacks.
2.
Respond to the media
Personally monitor your
media. Ensure that coverage
of this developing story is
fair and balanced. If you
see a story featuring
Islamophobes bashing Islam
and Muslims in general,
please call or email them.
Ask them to be objective and
to not label Muslims as
terrorists. If you come
across a positive story,
please do call or email both
the journalist and the
publication to express
appreciation.
3. Call
the French Embassy
Let your French embassy know
that you are a Muslim and
want to share your
condolences with the people
of France. Emphasize that
Muslims stand in solidarity
with Paris in this horrific
tragedy.
French Honorary Consulate
(Brisbane)
10, AXA Building, 144 Edward
St, Brisbane QLD 4001
Email:
info@ambafrance-us.org
Phone: (07) 3229 8201
French Honorary Consulate
(Sydney)
Level 26, St Martins Tower,
31 Market Street, Sydney NSW
2000
Tél. : (+61) (0)292 682 400
/ Fax : (+61) (0)292 682 431
4.
Express your solidarity and
sorrow on social media
The world needs to know that
Muslims genuinely care for
the people of Paris. Please
use both the following hash
tags:
#MuslimsStandWithParis #PrayForParis
Dear sisters and brothers in
humanity, the bigots have
already started labeling and
blaming immigrants as the
root cause of all violence
and chaos in France. Keep an
eye out for them and counter
them in a civilized manner.
We pray that France follows
the example of Norway, where
77 people were gunned down
by a right-wing Islamophobic
terrorist in 2011, yet, the
Norwegian government didn't
introduce draconian laws
unfairly targeting its
innocent immigrants or
citizens.
May God keep us and our
neighbours safe in this
global village.
May God guide humanity to be
kind and compassionate.
May He transform the hearts
of the terrorists,
war-mongers, and the hate
mongers.
THE attacks in Paris are so
singularly vile, so
unprecedentedly deranged, it
would be impossible to
confuse the murders behind
them with any other group.
But that is what will happen
in Australia. An outspoken
minority will attempt to
link some of our citizens
with the insanity of the IS
conspiracy, the terrorists
most likely to have ordered
and carried out the
killings.
There could be a backlash,
largely driven by confusion
and anxiety, against the
480,000 Australians of the
Muslim faith, as if their
religion was enough evidence
to put them under the IS
banner. As if their worship
meant they also supported
the IS commitment to
butchery.
But it simply is not true.
Undoubtedly the IS business
model of cowardly slaughter
has backers in this country.
They are a tiny group — a
minority speck among Muslims
— who attempt to recruit
others for the evil they
consider necessary.
They are extremists who do
not represent the mainstream
Muslim approach to religion
or the sanctity of life.
Most of the young men who
have been stopped from
leaving Australia to join IS
have come from what might be
called secular Muslim
families.
In many of these cases,
their parents have been only
nominally of the faith or
have abandoned it.
An
overwhelming
majority of
the try-on
terrorists
have not
been
associated
with a
mosque. They
have been
groomed
online or by
a direct
relationship
with a
corrupting
figure
outside
regular
religious
circles.
These are aimless and
ignorant kids who, as
Assistant Minister for
Multicultural Affairs
Concetta Fierravanti-Wells
has said, “think that they
are going over there to play
with AK-47s, get drugs and
women and at night-time go
off to what they were doing
here, go off to McDonalds
and do other things”.
Not only would a backlash
against Muslim Australians
be insupportable, the public
heat and community
instability it could cause
would delight the IS
leadership, who want their
menace to be globally
disruptive.
But it simply has no basis.
Further, any raucous calls
to close mosques and deport
individuals would antagonise
and isolate the very people
we are asking to help track
down the agents of IS, and
alert us to the youngsters
who might be falling for the
IS extremism.
The more
that public
opinion —
and security
authorities
— blame
mainstream
Muslim
Australians
for the IS
atrocities,
the greater
the
possibility
the Islamic
mainstream
will see
terrorism as
the
government’s
problem, not
theirs.
The more isolated and abused
Muslims feel, the less
likely they will be to
assist authorities. The
notion that harassing
Muslims is good security is
usually the monopoly of
those who too scared to
think.
While Australia battles New
Zealand for the Trans-Tasman
Cup there is also intense
rivalry taking place on a
southside cricket pitch.
Representatives from the
mosques in the federal
electorate of Moreton are
taking on the mosques in
Rankin.
“The inaugural match last
year was an opportunity for
the community to come
together for a traditional
Aussie day of sport,” said
Graham Perrett MP, who plays
in the Moreton XI.
Jim Chalmers MP said that
his side was hoping to
repeat their victory from
last year, when the Rankin
team won by just one run.
The teams are made up of
members from a number of
different mosques, including
the Holland Park Mosque, the
Kuraby Mosque and the
Islamic Shia Council of
Queensland’s Mosque at
Underwood.
Mr Ali Kadri, Spokesperson
of the Islamic Council of
Queensland is a keen
cricketer and said that “We
are a sporting nation and
this shows in our national
teams outperforming many
other nations in
international competitions.
Sport like many other things
brings us closer to each
other and this game is a
small step towards that
direction.”
“It is limited overs format
and everyone is welcome and
it’s a great way to promote
harmony and celebrate our
multiculturalism in a
uniquely Australian way,”
said Mr Perrett
“Coming together for a day
of cricket is a great way to
strengthen ties and improve
understanding in our local
communities.” Jim Chalmers
said.
Cricket Queensland will
provide the umpires and
support for the match.
The Match starts at 10am at
the St Laurence’s College
Playing Field #4 at Nathan
Road, Runcorn.
The federal government is
threatening to freeze the
funding of six Muslim
schools around the country
after an audit found serious
governance issues at
colleges run by the
Australian Federation of
Islamic Councils.
Following an audit announced
in June by the Federal
Government, operators of the
schools have been issued
with “noncompliance” notices
warning them they are
failing to comply with
financial management and
government requirements of
the Australian Education
Act.
The move follows a series of
scandals at Muslim school
around the country managed
by the Australian Federation
of Islamic Councils raising
serious concerns about
governance, financial
mismanagement and teaching
standards at the schools.
The six schools affiliated
with the AFIC who will have
to comply with the notices
are the Malek Fahd Islamic
School, Islamic College of
Brisbane, the Islamic
College of Melbourne, the
Islamic College of South
Australia, the Islamic
School of Canberra, Langford
Islamic College in Western
Australia.
Previously concerns have
been raised about serious
financial mismanagement
issues at all the schools
named in the audit.
The Australian revealed this
morning that Australia’s
largest Muslim school Malek
Fahd, at Greenacre in
Sydney’s southwest, had been
warned by its own auditors
it could be trading while
insolvent after using
recurrent funding given to
the school for education
purposes towards building
projects the school.
Malek Fahd was also forced
to pay back $9 million to
the NSW State Government
after The Australian
revealed state funding was
being handed back to AFIC in
the form of inflated rent
and “management fees.”
Both the South Australian
and Brisbane Islamic
colleges are also at the
centre of state government
and police investigations
into their financial
management.
Minister for Education Simon
Birmingham said the formal
notifications followed the
Department of Education and
Training review that had
identified concerns over the
governance, financial and
accountability arrangements
of the schools.
“In May this year my
Department initiated a
formal review into the six
school authorities following
ongoing concerns about their
financial management and
governance arrangements,”
Senator Birmingham said.
“I am committed to ensuring
that all school authorities
meet the requirements of the
Education Act to ensure that
our taxpayer dollar and any
private investment by
parents is being spent as
intended to benefit
Australian students.”
The federal government is
threatening to freeze the
funding of six Muslim
schools around the country
after an audit found serious
governance issues at
colleges run by the
Australian Federation of
Islamic Councils.
Following an audit announced
in June by the Federal
Government, operators of the
schools have been issued
with “noncompliance” notices
warning them they are
failing to comply with
financial management and
government requirements of
the Australian Education
Act.
The move follows a series of
scandals at Muslim school
around the country managed
by the Australian Federation
of Islamic Councils raising
serious concerns about
governance, financial
mismanagement and teaching
standards at the schools.
The six schools affiliated
with the AFIC who will have
to comply with the notices
are the Malek Fahd Islamic
School, Islamic College of
Brisbane, the Islamic
College of Melbourne, the
Islamic College of South
Australia, the Islamic
School of Canberra, Langford
Islamic College in Western
Australia.
Previously concerns have
been raised about serious
financial mismanagement
issues at all the schools
named in the audit.
The Australian revealed this
morning that Australia’s
largest Muslim school Malek
Fahd, at Greenacre in
Sydney’s southwest, had been
warned by its own auditors
it could be trading while
insolvent after using
recurrent funding given to
the school for education
purposes towards building
projects the school.
Malek Fahd was also forced
to pay back $9 million to
the NSW State Government
after The Australian
revealed state funding was
being handed back to AFIC in
the form of inflated rent
and “management fees.”
Both the South Australian
and Brisbane Islamic
colleges are also at the
centre of state government
and police investigations
into their financial
management.
Minister for Education Simon
Birmingham said the formal
notifications followed the
Department of Education and
Training review that had
identified concerns over the
governance, financial and
accountability arrangements
of the schools.
“In May this year my
Department initiated a
formal review into the six
school authorities following
ongoing concerns about their
financial management and
governance arrangements,”
Senator Birmingham said.
“I am committed to ensuring
that all school authorities
meet the requirements of the
Education Act to ensure that
our taxpayer dollar and any
private investment by
parents is being spent as
intended to benefit
Australian students.”
Malek Fahd receives about
$20m a year from state and
federal governments, with
taxpayer funds making up 80
per cent of the school’s
funding.
In 2013, the latest
available data, AFIC schools
received $42m in funding
from state and federal
governments. This year, the
amount is likely to be at
least $45m.
AFIC schools are usual
receive the highest amount
in government assistance
possible because students
are general from lower
socio-economic backgrounds.
Senator Birmingham said
taxpayers and parents would
be expecting public funds to
be used solely for the
benefit of children’s
education, rather than
operating for profit and
enriching certain
individuals. Individuals in
charge of schools must also
pass a “fit and proper
person” test.
“My focus is always that we,
as the taxpayer, get maximum
bang for our buck to improve
education outcomes for
Australian children.
“School governance should be
of the highest standard and
funding should be used for
the benefits of students.
“This action does not come
lightly. All schools must
have effective management
and accountability
arrangements in place to
support the best possible
education outcomes for their
students.”
Following the issuing of the
notices the schools now have
28 days to show how they
will comply, or face funding
freeze from the Commonwealth
Government.
It was an
immensely rewarding and
productive day when
Connected Women conducted
two sessions of the workshop
“Unleashing Your Potential”
on Saturday 7 November. This
was the first in a series of
workshops for women aimed at
developing new skills,
making fresh connections and
deepening one’s
understanding of various
areas related to personal
development. It provides an
opportunity for women of all
ages to come together and
engage in a journey of self
-discovery in a safe,
educational and
non-judgemental environment.
Connected
Women is the brainchild of
Rehana Bibi, former
Editor-in-Chief of the
Australian Muslim Times, who
together with the efforts of
four other extraordinary
ladies (Saalihah Seedat,
Ilham Sabry Ahamed, Shehnaz
Moosa and Gabrielle Skalic)
saw her vision come to
fruition last Saturday. At
the outset Rehana Bibi
provided an insight into the
aim of Connected Women,
which is to bring together
ladies from diverse
backgrounds with a
commitment to learning,
sharing and inspiring each
other.
The workshop was kicked off
by Hanan Al-Alawneh,
registered Hypnotherapist,
NLP Coach and Time Line
Therapist. The insight she
provided amongst other
things, regarding our
perception of the world, the
filters we use, the
principles of success, how
to create goals that result
in achievable outcomes were
invaluable and practical.
Her passion and enthusiasm
is extremely inspirational
in creating and sustaining
positive changes. The
participants felt uplifted,
empowered and motivated to
set attainable goals and
adopt a mind-set that
results in success.
Saalihah
Seedat a Clinical Consultant
Pharmacist who is currently
pursuing a Diploma of
Leadership, Coaching and
Mentoring, conducted a
session on ‘Mindfulness’,
that left the participants
experiencing a state of
complete relaxation and
self-awareness. It
demonstrated the power of
the mind and the importance
of striving to achieve a
decluttered state, which in
turn promotes clarity of
thought, enhanced
productivity and a more
rewarding experience of what
one is engaged in.
This was
followed by an interesting
interview with Mumpreneur
Raeesa Ally Khatree
conducted by Ilham Sabry
Ahamed. In response to very
pertinent questions, Raeesa
shared with the participants
the inspiration to start her
business, the trials and
travails along the way, her
formula for success and also
gave valuable advice
regarding starting their own
ventures for those who
haven’t yet taken the
plunge. Raeesa’s striking
sincerity coupled with
Ilham’s engaging manner,
made for a captivating
interview that inspired and
motivated the participants.
To end off the session on a
high of inspiration was
Silda Sabuncun, a young
architecture student and
photographer residing in
Brisbane. She has studied
and lived in Turkey, which
has led to a profound impact
on her sense of cultural
appreciation. This
ultimately inspired her to
channel her creativity
towards hand-making
beautiful jewellery, gift
cards, T-shirts and
tote-bags under the name
SANAT. She sees her work as
an expressional extension of
herself and is constantly
experimenting with new
mediums and ideas.
It was indeed
an immensely educational,
uplifting and inspiring
workshop where the
participants felt enthused
and motivated. The words of
Iqra Lakshman from Healing
Words Therapy summed it
well, when she said, “…The
Connected Women workshop was
an opportunity for me to
refuel and rejuvenate my
inner-self. I loved every
moment - the connection, the
sharing, the experience of
activities - every moment
reminded me of how unique
and wholesome my existence
is. That I have a purpose
and that I am surrounded by
similar women who have the
equal passion and drive to
feel peaceful and
productive, to make a
difference, to leave a
legacy. Such an inspiring
and empowering workshop -
definitely need more of
these…”
Following the success of the
workshops held on 7th
November, there have been
requests to host similar
sessions at the Gold Coast
and other areas.
Further workshops will be
held in 2016 covering a
range of topics related to
personal development.
Anglicare in partnership
with AMARAH and JK Diversity
Consultants is launching a
new initiative to recruit
foster carers from
culturally diverse
backgrounds.
The first information
sessions are being held with
the Muslim community in the
Logan-Brisbane region at
Sunny bank Library meeting
rooms on Thursday evening
3rd December and on Saturday
afternoon 5 December.
We have over 8,000 children
in foster care across
Queensland who are looking
for someone to provide a
loving, caring home for
them.
If you would like to know
contact the Anglicare Logan
office and please ensure
that you RSVP.
Australian National Islamic
Council (ANIC) are currently
meeting in Sydney for a
two-day conference and AGM.
Over 40 Imams from all parts
of the Australia are in
attendance.
Musa Toure has initiated a
basketball program for the
youth. He trains them at the
Islamic College of Brisbane
court. He plans to prepare
the team to join a
basketball tournament in the
near future.
Crescent Institute invites
you to its next professional
networking event in Brisbane
hosted at the Corrs Chambers
Westgarth office.
The Hon. Curtis Pitt, State
Treasurer of Queensland will
be the Guest Speaker at this
event. Queensland has played
a strong role in Australia's
economic growth and
prosperity. With the current
challenging global economic
environment coupled with
Australia's transitioning
economy, new and innovative
business methods are
required to maintain and
continue economic growth in
Queensland. The Hon. Curtis
Pitt will set out the
challenges and opportunities
for the great state of
Queensland.
You are invited to join with
The Hon. Curtis Pitt, ask
questions and of course
network with your fellow
Crescent Institute members!
Event Details:
Tuesday 15 December
6:00 PM for 6.30 PM Start
(Sharp)
6:30 PM - 7:00 PM - Drinks,
canapés and networking
Susan Carland (left) - is a
respected Muslim sociologist and
wife of The Project host Waleed
Aly (right)
Wife of The Project host
Waleed Aly raises $1000 for
charity by donating $1 for
every vile comment made
about her Muslim faith - and
the tweets keep coming
One half of 'Australia’s
Muslim power couple’ has
found an ingenious way to
turn the hate she receives
from social media trolls
into a way to help others.
Susan Carland - a respected
Muslim sociologist and wife
of The Project host Waleed
Aly - knows all-too-well how
awful people can be on
social media, targeting her
because she wears a hijab
and speaks out about the
rights of Muslims in
Australia.
The former Australian Muslim
of the Year has been called
a ‘terrorist sympathiser’
and an ‘ignorant,
maggot-brained, raghead
defending idiot’ – but is
now turning each slander
into a positive, by donating
$1 to charity for every
hateful tweet she receives.
‘I donate $1 to @UNICEF for
each hate-filled tweet I get
from trolls. Nearly at $1000
in donation. The needy
children thank you, haters!’
Ms Carland tweeted.
Despite her public
statement, Ms Carland will
be donating more money to
children in need as the mean
messages from narrow-minded
Twitter trolls continue to
roll in.
She has been targeted by
trolls on social media because
she wears a hijab and speaks out
about the rights of Muslims in
Australia. Ms Carland is
frequently called upon to weigh
into discussions about faith
The mother-of-two was sent
offensive messages as she
stood by her husband’s side
when Mr Aly was awarded
‘Media Personality of the
Year’ at the GQ Australia
Man of the Year awards on
Tuesday.
‘Terrorist sympathiser and
Muslim apologist,’ spat one
social media user, while the
other declared the
journalist’s award
‘tokenism’.
Ms Carland is often targeted
by anti-Muslim activists as
she grew up in a Christian
household and chose to
convert to Islam as a
19-year-old.
Ms Carland refuses to give
in when she is the recipient
of rude messages, but
instead continues to study
and educate people about
Islam in Australia, in her
roles as both a lecturer and
recent PhD graduate at
Melbourne's Monash
University.
‘Who is this
maggot-brained @SusanCarland
ragheads defending
idiot?’ tweeted one man.
‘@SusanCarland is stupid
enough to convert to a
religion that considers
her half a man,’ read a
tweet.
‘There is something
magical in Islam which
brainwash (sic) a
normal human into a
retard. Susan is just
another idiot convert.’
However, now Ms Carland has
ensured every vile tweet
will make a change for
children in need and is
being praised for her
thoughtful gesture.
‘I’m disgusted you
get so much hate but
well done on turning it
into a great positive #smartwoman,’
tweeted @Annie301 in
response to Ms Carland’s
charity initiaitive.
‘MashAllah! Such a nice
way of wishing them
peace!’ tweeted Kilean
McColl.
At 17, the
Melbourne-born academic
began to ponder her own
spirituality and explore
other religions to see
‘what made sense to me’.
In a 2010 interview she
admitted that Islam was at
the bottom of her list due
to her assumptions it was
‘sexist, outdated and
barbaric.’
However, to her surprise Mr
Carland found Isam made a
lot to sense to her when she
looked at the ‘beautiful,
peaceful, logical’ side of
the religion, which she
found when she stripped away
‘the politics, propaganda
and sensationalism.’
In 2004 she was named
Australian Muslim of the
Year and has been listed as
one of the international
‘Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow’
by the UN Alliance of
Civilisations.
This year she completed her
PhD at Melbourne's Monash
University, titled ‘Fighting
Hislam: an investigation
into Australian and North
American Muslim women
fighting sexism within their
own communities from a
pro-faith perspective.’
Shajarah
Islamic Kindergarten is
Queensland's only Islamic
Childcare Service.
We have now been open for
3 years alhamdulillaah,
inshaAllaah providing our
community with quality child
care in an Islamic
environment.
We are registered with both
State and Federal
Governments as an Approved
Early Childhood Education
and Care Service.
Our Programs include an
Approved Kindergarten
Program subsidised
by the Queensland Government
as well as a new upcoming 2
day Montessori Program
which will be implemented
over the whole service over
time inshaAllaah.
We would like to invite all
parents and any other
interested parties to attend
our Open Day on Saturday
21st November where we
will be providing
information and answering
any questions or enquiries
you may have.
Positions available: We
would also like to invite
Qualified Early Childhood
staff to apply for positions
with us.
An artist's
impression of the proposed
mosque for the site on The
Valley Avenue
A group fighting to prevent
a mosque being built in
Canberra's north have had
their challenge thrown out
by the ACT Supreme Court,
with the judge labelling the
group a "busybody".
It is the second challenge
the controversial group has
lost after the court
dismissed the initial
challenge in July last year.
The Concerned Citizens of
Canberra first launched
legal action in 2012,
claiming there was
inadequate community
consultation, traffic and
parking issues, and breaches
of building codes.
Flyers issued by the group
to many homes in the
Gungahlin area raised
concerns about traffic and
noise and whether the mosque
would be a good neighbour to
the community.
But the Concerned Citizens
of Canberra took their
appeal to the Supreme Court
after the ACT Government
declared support for the
mosque and referred the
flyer to ACT Human Rights
Commission.
Today, in a 40-page
judgement, Justice Richard
Refshauge found the group's
arguments to be lacking, and
said the group had no
greater interest than that
of an "intermeddler or
busybody".
He also said the case would
substantially prejudice the
Canberra Muslim community,
who have already incurred
construction costs of nearly
$200,000.
Three members of the
Concerned Citizens of
Canberra were in court as
Justice Refshauge handed
down his statement.
The only legal avenue
remaining for the group is
an appeal to the High Court.
The 500-person capacity
mosque will be the second
mosque in the ACT.
The ACT's first mosque is
located at Yarralumla, in
the city's south.
Yassmin Abdel-Magied at the Our
Watch framework launch at
Parliament House, Canberra on 10
November 2015
One fish asks another fish:
"How's the water?"
The other fish replies,
"What is water?"
If you're surrounded by
something, it is very
difficult to know that it is
there.
In the same way we can
become oblivious to our
physical surroundings, our
cultural norms are such that
we can often face difficulty
naming them or even
realising they are all
around us. This becomes
especially problematic when
the accepted social norms
cause societal diseases and
enable indiscriminate harm.
Violence against women is
one of those societal
diseases. We talk about
statistics that are almost
beyond belief: in Australia,
we bury a women murdered by
a current or former partner
every week. Every. Week.
Statistically, almost every
time you are in a group with
more than three women,
someone in that group has
suffered from physical
violence. It's just not
okay. It's horrifying.
So in fact no, violence
against women is more than
simply a disease and more
than just an urgent matter
for our parliament, left for
policy change and government
departments to solve.
Violence against women is a
complex issue that affects
us all and, to tackle it,
each and every one of us has
a part to play.
You may be thinking, "Well.
I have heard this before. We
know there should be no
place for violence against
women in society. What is
new in this tale? How can I
make any change?"
On Tuesday, violence
prevention organisation Our
Watch has released a
framework called Change the
story: A shared framework
for the primary prevention
of violence against women
and their children in
Australia. It identifies the
drivers and enablers of the
slaughter in our suburbs.
The root cause: gender
inequality.
We live in a society where
the inequality is so
pervasive, so embedded in
everything we do, that often
we don't realise it's there.
However, the evidence in
Change the story shows that
while there is no single
cause of violence against
women, it is significantly
more likely to occur where
gender inequality is
ingrained in social,
cultural and organisational
structures and practices.
Look around and take notice.
Gender inequality exists
everywhere, from the pink
and blue toy store aisles to
the gender pay gap, and this
engenders an environment
that allows violence against
women to occur.
The insidious things we do
add to tapestry of
inequality we wrap ourselves
so warmly in. Whether it is
the fact that we double take
if we see a young boy
playing with a barbie doll,
or think that sexist banter
is socially acceptable, the
small things we let slide
form the fabric of an
unequal society. Which
ultimately give way to power
imbalances. Which can
ultimately give way to
violence.
As pervasive and intractable
the issue may seem, it is
possible to change. We have
named the underlying cause
of the violence. Now that we
know what we are dealing
with, we can go about
breaking it down.
I am thrilled at the
opportunity to join the
Board of Directors for Our
Watch and to be working with
the team on such an
important issue,
particularly as it coincides
with the launch of Change
the story, which sets the
scene incredibly well –
particularly through the
accompanying video – and
also reinforces the powerful
work being done in the
sector already.
Furthermore, joining the
Board is an opportunity to
ensure the perspectives of
culturally and
linguistically diverse
communities and women are
reflected at a decision
making table.
It has been proven time and
time again, across various
areas where behavioural
change is required, that
different communities need
to be engaged in ways that
suit them in order to affect
real lasting change.
Culturally and
linguistically diverse
communities have unique sets
of challenges and thus, the
communities need to be
engaged in manners that
respect their cultural
practices and their communal
value set but at the same
time, not excuse behaviour
that is harmful and
damaging. It is a fine line,
but hopefully one that Our
Watch can walk alongside the
organisations in the sector
who deal in this space.
Deep, lasting social change
will take time and will be
uncomfortable. However that
discomfort is where real
learning and growth occurs.
Each and every one of us has
a role to play in tackling
violence against women and
we can do so by calling out
gender equality wherever and
whenever we see it. Whether
it's a comment about woman's
dress, or someone telling a
young boy to 'stop acting
like a girl', by nipping
gender inequalities in the
bud we will be addressing
the pervasive environment
that allows violence against
women to occur. It will be
difficult, there is no
doubt, but it is so worth
it.
Foreign Minister, Judy
Bishop, has appointed Sue
Ismiel, Yassmin Abdel-Magied
(above) and Houssam
Abiad to the Council for
Australian-Arab Relations (CAAR).
Sue Ismiel
Established by the
Australian Government in
2003, the Council has built
professional, community and
institutional linkages
between Australia and the
Arab world.
The Council’s flagship
programs focus on supporting
international speakers,
visiting fellows and media
students and on the
promotion of women.
"The new members will bring
a wealth of experience in a
range of fields and greatly
assist the council’s mission
to strengthen our economic,
political and cultural
ties," Minister Bishop said.
Houssam Abiad
Ms Ismiel, a Syrian-born
mother of three, is an
active philanthropist, the
CEO of Nads, an
international cosmetics
company and an Ambassador
for ChildFund Australia.
The 2015 Queensland Young
Australian of the Year, Ms
Abdel-Magied, is a
Sudanese-born engineering
specialist and an advocate
for empowering youth and
women, and promoting
cultural diversity in
Australia.
Mr Abiad is the Deputy Lord
Mayor of Adelaide. Born in
South Australia, Mr Abiad
grew up in Lebanon and
returned to Adelaide at 19
to build a successful career
as an entrepreneur and
community leader.
"I also pay tribute to
current members Anne Aly and
Roland Jabbour who conclude
their terms having made a
significant contribution to
the Council’s work," added
the Foreign Minister.
What happens when an
American writer and a
madrassah-trained scholar
debate the Holy Quran in a
bid to find interfaith
understanding? A powerful
journey to help bridge one
of the greatest divides
shaping our world today.
If the Oceans Were Ink
is American writer Carla
Power’s story of how she and
her longtime friend Sheikh
Mohammad Akram Nadwi decided
to tackle the “ugly
stereotypes and persistent
misperceptions” that were
dividing their communities.
“People are going back to
the basic texts, and they’re
stripping away centuries of
culture and tradition and
looking for what they see at
the heart of the religion,”
she says.
Power provides readers with
details of her year with
sheikh Akram and how the
Quran provided her with many
moments of grace. “I found
comfort in how small I felt
reading the text, as when I
considered the images of the
‘lord if the heavens and the
earth and everything in
between, and Lord of all
points of the sunrise.’ Even
as a nonbeliever, I still
found myself taking refuge
in the Quran classes as a
clam inlet from daily life.”
Power notes the greatness of
the Quran by highlighting
the triviality of worldly
matters like the “close on
Wall Street, the exam score
or dress size, even
happiness itself” that
seemed nothing next to the
fact that from God we come
and to God we return. She
describes this as “constant
reminders of one’s own
puniness and powerlessness.”
She also shares a personal
experience that made her
realise the essence of the
word InshAllah. “When my
mother died, I remember
thinking how sensible it
was, the Muslim practice of
saying InshAllah after every
plan, every promise, no
matter how minor, since only
God can be sure whether next
Wednesday’s lunch date will
indeed be kept. It was a
comfort, in a season of
grief, to hang out with a
community that honored this
world’s certainties.”
On her understanding of
namaz, she writes about it
as a symbol of devotion to
God. She mentions studies on
the postures of Muslim
prayers by scientists who
have concluded that they
encourage calm and
flexibility. While standing
straight strengthens the
arrangement of muscles in
the body, bowing helps
stretch out the lower back
and hamstrings, and sitting
after prostration keeps
joints mobile. In relation
to this, Power notes how
“Akram’s prayers have
rendered him culturally
supple, too, stretching his
humanity in surprising ways.
The act of return, to his
prayer mat, to his Quran and
his classical text–has often
afforded an expansion of his
worldview, not a restriction
of it.”
She beautifully describes
the sheikh offering his
prayers and the meaning
attached to his every move.
She writes, “In standing,
kneeling, bring his forehead
to the earth, then standing
again, his attention returns
to his origins and
destination, which are one
and the same.” She also
shares the words of the
sheikh, who connects the
experience to a “feeling of
returning to the arms of
your mother, when you are a
child.”
The author explains the
meaning of existence for the
sheikh revolves around God,
in the shape of a circle.
The circle has God at its
end, beginning, and every
point in between. This sheds
lights on his belief that
“from Allah he has come, and
to Allah he will return,”
with everyday circling back
to God.
On starting her Quran
lessons, as she was able to
understand its message, she
realised that it is more
than just a book. Instead,
she reflects on its reach to
Muslims around the world as
a “metaphor of return. It is
a place to which the
faithful return, again and
again.”
She explains, “I’d come a
long way from earliest
encounter with the Quran,
but I still hadn’t
understood that it was far
more than a much-revered
book. Over the course of the
year, I began to see that
the Quran was not merely a
set of pages between two
covers. Calling it a book,
something one can read from
beginning to end, embalms it
in expectations. It was just
another way of limiting it
into something small: an
amulet, a manifesto, an
instruction guide, a
political tool. In the life
of a Muslim like Sheikh
Akram, its meaning is much
more diffuse.”
On questioning the sheikh
about how to better
understand the Quran, she
shares his response, “Read.
Keeping reading the Quran.
Read it, and read it again.
Return,” echoing the command
that Prophet Muhammad had
heard upon revelation.
If
the Oceans Were Ink:
An Unlikely
Friendship and a
Journey to the Heart
of the Quran
"Carla Power's
intimate portrait of
the Quran captures
the extraordinary,
living debate over
the Muslim holy
book's very essence.
A spirited,
compelling read."--Azadeh
Moaveni, author of
Lipstick Jihad
If
the Oceans Were Ink
is Carla Power's
eye-opening story of
how she and her
longtime friend
Sheikh Mohammad
Akram Nadwi found a
way to confront ugly
stereotypes and
persistent
misperceptions that
were cleaving their
communities.
Their
friendship--between
a secular American
and a madrasa-trained
sheikh--had always
seemed unlikely, but
now they were
frustrated and
bewildered by the
battles being fought
in their names.
Both
knew that a close
look at the Quran
would reveal a faith
that preached peace
and not mass murder;
respect for women
and not oppression.
And so they embarked
on a yearlong
journey through the
controversial text.
A
journalist who grew
up in the Midwest
and the Middle East,
Power offers her
unique vantage point
on the Quran's most
provocative verses
as she debates with
Akram at cafes,
family gatherings,
and packed lecture
halls, conversations
filled with both
good humor and
powerful insights.
Their
story takes them to
madrasas in India
and pilgrimage sites
in Mecca, as they
encounter
politicians and
jihadis, feminist
activists and
conservative
scholars.
Armed
with a new
understanding of
each other's
worldviews, Power
and Akram offer
eye-opening
perspectives,
destroy long-held
myths, and reveal
startling
connections between
worlds that have
seemed hopelessly
divided for far too
long.
Book review: If Oceans
Were Ink by Carla Power is
an engaging memoir about
faith and friendship
(Hamida Ghafour)
Carla Power’s father was
murdered in Mexico in1993,
in a case of mistaken
identity.
A gang of thugs broke into
the rental property where he
was staying and claimed they
were owed money for a drug
deal. When he protested that
they had the wrong guy –
Power’s father was a law
professor from Missouri –
they beat him to death.
Power was living in Oxford,
England at the time. Reeling
from the news, she ran into
a colleague, Sheikh Mohammad
Akram Nadwi and told him
what had happened.
He stood up in the office of
the think tank in which they
worked, put his hand on his
heart and recited a poem by
the Pakistani philosopher-
poet Muhammed Iqbal. It was
an elegy to his mother: “Who
will wait for my letters
now? Who will wait for me in
the night to return now?”
It was the most comforting
thing Power heard in the
months of mourning and so
began a life-long and
unlikely friendship between
American-born Power, a
former Newsweek journalist
of mixed Quaker-Jewish
descent and Nadwi, a quiet
Islamic scholar from Uttar
Pradesh, India, who was then
making his name in academic
circles.
The accumulation of their
“freakish” friendship, as
Power describes it, is this
warm and engaging memoir, If
Oceans Were Ink, structured
around a year the author
spends with Nadwi learning
the Quran.
The holy book, never far
from the headlines, is back
in the news and for all the
wrong reasons. In America
the controversial writer
Ayaan Hirsi Ali argues in
her latest New York Times
best-seller, Heretic, that
Islam needs a total
reformation because it is
not compatible with modern
society.
In France, Stéphane
Charbonnier, editorial
director of the satirical
newspaper Charlie Hebdo, who
was assassinated by gunmen
in Paris in January has
posthumously published Open
Letter to the Fraudsters of
Islamophobia Who Play Into
Racists’ Hands, a book that
was finished days before he
was murdered. In Kabul, a
young Islamic law student
named Farkunda, falsely
accused of burning the
Quran, was beaten to death
in March on the street by a
mob of men.
Power steps back from the
headlines. Writing with
originality and nuance, she
returns to the original
sacred texts to find out
what the Quran actually
says, rather than what
everyone from ISIL to Hirsi
Ali to centuries of Muslim
scholars claim it says.
“As a journalist for 17
years I wrote about Muslims
as headlines,” Power says in
an interview. “I had seen
the tremendous power of the
text in action but I hadn’t
read the text. It seemed
basic, akin to reading Homer
or Hamlet if you were
studying literature.”
As a teacher, Nadwi’s
credentials are impeccable.
A graduate of the
prestigious Nadwatul Ulama
madrassa in Lucknow, India,
where the curriculum
included Sartre and
Aristotle, he eventually
studied at the University of
Oxford. Nadwi speaks
English, Urdu, Persian and
classical Arabic and
specialises in hadith, the
thousands of deeds and
sayings of the Prophet
Mohammed.
What’s more, he is bound to
the Prophet Mohammed by
isnad, the chain of
narrators that show the
validity of a hadith by
linking it across the
centuries back to the
original source. As a sort
of dinner party trick that
amazes Muslims and potential
donors to Oxford, Nadwi
recites a chain of scholars
from himself to the Prophet.
The pair find common ground
as nomads, not totally at
ease in the West or East.
Power’s interest in the
Muslim world dates from the
1970s when her father took
the family to live in Iran,
Afghanistan and India as a
relief from the boredom of
teaching law in Missouri.
Nadwi’s life has similar
echoes. The book takes the
reader from Mecca to the
lecture halls of Oxford,
from rural India to
cosmopolitan New York and
the sheikh manages to
effortlessly navigate these
disparate worlds, serene in
the knowledge that his faith
transcends earthly
societies.
The journey challenges many
of Power’s assumptions as
well as those held by many
Muslims.
The most compelling chapters
are about the female hadith
scholars. About 15 years ago
Nadwi decided to write a
pamphlet about female
scholars in Muslim history,
assuming he’d find a
handful. The most famous is
Aisha, the Prophet’s wife,
who preserved 2,210 hadiths.
But Nadwi found 9,000 women
over the course of 1,400
years and later published a
ground-breaking biographical
dictionary. These women
raced across Arabia on
camelback to give lectures,
they issued their own fatwas
and in some cases wrote
fatwas on behalf of their
less talented husbands,
Power writes.
“There was one woman who
lectured the caliphs as she
stood leaning against the
tomb of the Prophet. This is
unthinkable today,” says
Power. In many cases, Muslim
notions of female modesty
prevented women academics
from being acknowledged.
Nadwi also believes that
these women scholars were
more reliable than their
male counterparts, who were
often under financial
pressures to relate hadiths,
whether the historical
research stood them up or
not, Power writes.
“Women scholars had no such
pressures on them and the
sheikh thinks because they
were not in fact in the
marketplace and making a
living, they could keep
their narrations pure,”
Power says.
So did this make Nadwi a
modern feminist? Not really,
Power writes. In a highly
polarised region torn apart
by sectarian tensions Nadwi
doesn’t fit into any
category. Critics and
supporters alike denounce
and praise him as a Salafi,
Sufi or feminist, a liberal,
a traditional.
To a Muslim audience anxious
for advice on how to defend
Islam against the Danish
cartoons or Salmon Rushdie’s
Satanic Verses his advice is
to ignore it because that’s
what the Prophet would have
done.
“No matter how much the
Prophet had been abused by
people who opposed him, did
he protest? Did he burn
their houses? Did he harm
them? No! He went to do dawa
(prayer),” he tells them.
Besides, God and Islam did
not need defending.
For those who hark back to
Medina as the first Islamic
state, Nadwi says they are
“misguided”. Again, he turns
to Mohammed’s life.
The Prophet had not wanted
to leave Mecca in the first
place but was forced to do
so because he could not
practise his faith. When he
got to what would become
Medina, it was to find a
place where he could worship
freely. It was not about
pursuing political power.
“He did not especially want
to run a state,” explained
the sheikh. “But when he got
to Medina, he had to
organise it properly.”
Power writes that Nadwi was
driven “by a certainty that
we are just passing through
this earth and mundane
quests for land or power
miss Islam’s point”.
For Power, the year she
spent learning from Nadwi in
Oxford’s coffee houses,
eating biryani with his
family at home, the Indian
village, or following him to
the gym and lectures, also
opened her eyes to her own
views.
When she wonders why he
spends years of loneliness
away from his Indian family
in rainy Britain toiling in
a job that wasted his
talents, Nadwi relates the
story of the Prophet Yusuf,
or Joseph in the Bible.
Thrown into a well by his
family, then sold as a
slave, before being jailed
and finally finding favour
with a king who realises he
can interpret dreams,
Yusuf’s fortunes rise and
fall. But he remains stoical
and faithful to God.
“Akram was proposing an
entirely different response
to the challenges posed by a
fragmented world: prayer and
acceptance,” Power writes.
As an American raised in the
age of Oprah, indoctrinated
with the belief she had the
right to find happiness at
whatever the cost, Power
finds this unsettling.
But what did the Quran
reveal to her? Power writes
that she began the project
assuming she’d read the holy
book and learn what was in
it, like a good student
preparing for an essay.
But what she learnt was far
more compelling. So much so,
she nearly converted to
Islam.
“The only way I could see it
at the end was a return, a
return again and again, like
the 35 times a week prayers
that many Muslims do. The
Quran is a place you return
to and learn of your God,”
she says.
IF YOU type “Anthony Mundine
net worth” into Google it
will tell you the boxer is
worth $30 million from his
sporting career earnings.
It’s wrong.
Mundine doesn’t drink, smoke
or gamble, but he’s blown
much of his wealth.
Maybe blown is the wrong
word. He has given the money
away to his extended family
— or “brothers” as he
prefers to call them. And he
has paid tax like the rest
of us.
For all his faults, there is
no doubting the man’s
incredible generosity.
In a rare insight into his
private life, Mundine said:
“I’m worth about $10
million. I’ve got about five
houses but I’ve given the
rest of it away.”
“I want greatness,” he said,
“It’s about my legacy, and
money is not my motivation.
“I blew a lot of money – I
was pretty dumb. People,
friends, family, it’s not a
bad thing to help your
brothers. It’s always been
hard for me to say no.
“If I had $10 left in my
wallet and someone needed
it, I’d rather leave myself
with nothing.”
It’s been Mundine’s way to
look after family and
friends since he began
picking up the big pay
packets in rugby league and
later in boxing in his 47
professional fights.
As part of his devotion to
Islam, Mundine does not
borrow money from financial
organisations for his
property purchases. He owns
five houses and has an
estimated $2 million in the
bank.
“I used to have a mortgage
when I was young but in
Islam paying interest is a
bad thing,” he said. “Since
I fought the first Green
fight, I’ve been debt free.
“Just lending people money
and being generous. That’s
the way I’ve been brought
up.
“Aboriginal people are not
money driven. It’s our
culture.”
Meat processors are calling
for urgent reform of Australia's
halal beef certification system.
Some of the country's
largest meat processors want
the Federal Government to
urgently reform Australia's
halal beef certification
system.
The ABC has obtained
documents which show that 10
meat processing companies
including JBS, Teys, NH
Foods Australia and Nolan
Meats fear that the current
system is causing "market
access failures" and
"continued loss of
confidence" in Australian
beef by consumers in Muslim
countries.
The companies met with the
Department of Agriculture
recently in Melbourne to
discuss the need for reform,
and want the entire halal
slaughter and certification
system to be overseen by the
Federal Government.
Currently, meat processors
who export to Middle Eastern
countries have no control
over who certifies their
meat for particular markets.
Instead, Muslim countries
decide which individual or
company can certify meat as
halal.
The group argues that it has
led to a monopoly, leaving
them open to the risk of
losing market access at
short notice if a certifier
falls out of favour with the
importing country.
They say containers of beef
ready for shipping sometimes
have to be cancelled,
relabelled and redirected
when an importer suddenly
decides it would prefer to
buy meat certified by a
different company.
National Farmers' Federation
president Brent Finlay said
he hoped the Government
listened to the processors'
concerns.
"There's certainly a role
for the Government to work
with industry to actually
arrive at what is the best
and most sustainable and
effective way to certify a
product," he said.
"And we know that within the
beef and dairy sectors, in
non-tariff trade barriers,
which are protocols, it's
about $2.7 billion worth of
lost opportunity."
Halal Australia chief
executive Dr Muhammad Kahn
said he empathised with the
problems raised.
"There might be some
certification bodies where
they don't follow the proper
procedures according to the
importing country's
government," he said.
"They may be delisted or
deregistered and that needs
to be addressed. It can
create a huge logistical
problem for the companies
like Teys or JBS or any
other companies like that."
But he did not agree with
the proposal to make the
Federal Government the sole
certifier of halal beef.
"There might be a kind of
monopoly from that
perspective as well," he
said.
"Secondly, if the Government
is taking the responsibility
to certify, that may not
necessarily be accepted by
the foreign countries
because of uncertainty about
following these Islamic law
requirements in terms of
dealing with the halal
status for the red meat
industry."
Last year, 65 per cent of
Australia's beef was
exported, and markets like
Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and
Malaysia are important for
the local meat industry.
Halal slaughter methods
require that the animal is
pre-stunned but still alive
when its throat is cut,
meaning all the blood leaves
the body.
The practice and
certification has been the
subject of increasingly
controversial arguments.
Earlier this year, Nolan
Meats was the target of an
online anti-halal campaign
which accused the Gympie
meat processor of passing on
the cost of halal
certification to all
consumers, regardless of
whether they wanted halal
meat.
Halal certification is
currently the subject of a
Senate inquiry led by
Liberal senator Cory
Bernardi.
The ABC contacted meat
processors but none were
available for comment.
The Department of
Agriculture has confirmed
the meeting with processors
took place late last month
and that halal certification
was discussed.
We are seeking Secondary
Teachers for our
DURACK CAMPUS
ESL TEACHER
With TESOL or equivalent
Qualifications
SECONDARY TEACHERS
• IPT Teacher
• Art Teacher
Teachers must be
registered with
Queensland College of
Teachers
Please forward CV to
Australian International
Islamic College
ATTENTION PRINCIPAL
Email:
admin@aiic.qld.edu.au
Applications close by
20th November 2015
Imam
Wanted
Are you
are qualified IMAM,
looking for a full time
job? or do you meet the
following criteria
Scholar (Aalim) - Darse
Nizami, Memorization of
Quraan, Fluent in
English and Arabic, Can
lead five time prayers,
Friday sermon and
prayer, Tarwaeeh ,
Ability to teach Qur’an,
Ability to interact
with youth and people
from different back
grounds.
The job
is located in the
Beautiful city Mackay,
QLD. To apply please
email your resumes at
admin@isom.org.au or
call (07) 4952 2867
Right-wing
extremism equal
to Muslim
radicalisation,
say academics
Right-wing extremism is
emerging as an equal, if not
greater, threat than Muslim
radicalisation in Australia
and multiculturalism is
"close to death" at a
federal level, academics
have told a conference on
social cohesion.
Violent extremism in
Australia is beginning to
mirror that of the US,
counter-terrorism expert
Anne Aly from Curtin
University said.
She highlighted a New
America Foundation study
released last month that
found right-wing extremists
had killed twice as many
people since September 11 as
jihadists.
SMH
Crackdown on
Islamists 'could
push young
Australians
towards
radicals'
Security expert
tells Canberra
conference that
non-Muslims
often miss the
positive appeal
of radical
groups such as
Islamic State
Cracking
down on radical
preachers and
other hardline
security
measures could
undermine the
fight against
Islamic State by
alienating
Australian
Muslims, a
security expert
has warned,
urging the
government to
focus on
building
community
resilience.
The
conference heard
the problem of
radicalisation
was “not
something the
Australian
federal police
would be able to
arrest its way
out of”.
Mounting
passport
cancellations
and terrorism
arrests showed
the government
was “winning the
battle but
losing the war”.
The Guardian
Religious
children are
meaner than
their secular
counterparts,
study finds
Religious
belief appears
to have negative
influence on
children’s
altruism and
judgments of
others’ actions
even as parents
see them as
‘more
empathetic’
Children from
religious
families are
less kind and
more punitive
than those from
non-religious
households,
according to a
new study.
Academics from
seven
universities
across the world
studied
Christian,
Muslim and
non-religious
children to test
the relationship
between religion
and morality.
They found that
religious belief
is a negative
influence on
children’s
altruism.
“Overall, our
findings ...
contradict the
commonsense and
popular
assumption that
children from
religious
households are
more altruistic
and kind towards
others,” said
the authors of
The Negative
Association
Between
Religiousness
and Children’s
Altruism Across
the World,
published this
week in Current
Biology.
“More generally,
they call into
question whether
religion is
vital for moral
development,
supporting the
idea that
secularisation
of moral
discourse will
not reduce human
kindness – in
fact, it will do
just the
opposite.”
The
Guardian
Gun-toting
anti-Muslim
'crusader' at
lead of United
Patriots Front
A central figure
in the
anti-Islam
street movement
the United
Patriots Front
is a
self-described
"biblical
crusader" with a
long history of
posting videos
to social media
in which he
poses with
semi-automatic
weapons and
threatens to
take up arms
against the
Government and
Muslims.
Chris Shortis,
from Victoria,
is one of three
spokespeople in
the United
Patriots Front's
leadership team,
and has spoken
at recent
rallies in
Bendigo,
Richmond, and
CBD.
But his online
statements are
similar to those
of far-right
Norwegian mass
murderer Anders
Behring Breivik.
The Age
As a Muslim man,
I am sick of our
obsession with
the hijab
We must start
addressing the
real issue that
has long been
glaring at us:
attitudes
towards women.
When it
comes to the
hijab, everybody
seems to be
obsessed with
it. More than an
article of
modesty, it
serves as a
symbol of
oppression to
some and a
symbol of
liberation to
others. But,
more peculiarly,
the hijab is
often used as a
benchmark by
conservative
Muslims to judge
the morality of
a Muslim woman
and her “Muslimness”.
Indeed, judging
by the Islamic
discourse that
concerns Muslim
women, one would
assume that the
primary
religious duty
of Muslim women
is wearing the
hijab.
The
restriction of
religion from an
ethical guide to
appearances
(dress-codes,
rituals) is a
curious
phenomenon; a
virus that seems
to have seeped
its way into
mainstream
Muslim
consciousness.
Partly due to
the spread of
Wahhabism, a
deeply
conservative
sect of Islam,
our religious
priorities seem
to have shifted
from spiritual
transformation
to pedantic
details about
rituals and
dress codes.
Thus, the
fixation with
the hijab, I
believe,
reflects the
very cursory
manner in which
we approach
Islam.
From certain
imams insisting
that earthquakes
are caused by
women not
wearing a hijab
to muftis
excommunicating
Muslim women who
do not consider
wearing the
hijab as a
religious duty,
the intellectual
level of
discourse that
surrounds Muslim
women is
excruciating,
and is more or
less concerned
only with
notions of
modesty.
This gives a
gloomy insight –
the obsession
with the hijab
is, in fact, a
form of sexual
objectification.
How U.S. Schools Can Avoid
Britain’s Problems with Radicalization
Screening
US: AFTER
PROVOKING OUTRAGE from civil
rights groups, the FBI has
reportedly delayed the
rollout of an interactive
website designed to help
schoolteachers identify
students on the verge of
turning into radical
extremists.
The program, called “Don’t
Be a Puppet,” described in a
recent New York Times report
as “a series of games and
tips intended to teach how
to identify someone who may
be falling prey to radical
extremists,” was to launch
last week. But the launch
has been put on hold, the
Washington Post says, after
blowback from critics who
said it discriminated based
on race and religion and
focused on Islamic extremism
while ignoring the far more
prevalent forms of violence
facing young people in
American schools.
The FBI’s pause offers the
bureau an opportunity to
take stock of its efforts to
detect extremism in children
and to look at the blowback
such efforts have engendered
in the United Kingdom. Some
experts suggest that the
agency should scale back its
efforts or scrap them
entirely.
In a statement issued
yesterday, the Muslim Public
Affairs Council (MPAC), one
of the organizations that
had been invited to screen
the program last month,
praised its suspension,
saying that it had
“improperly characterized
American Muslims as a
suspect community,” and
would have contributed to
“bullying, bias, and
religious profiling” of
Muslim students if
implemented in the
classroom.
UK:
Government policies,
including those linked to
security and extremism, are
having a "negative impact"
on British Muslims, a
campaign body's report says.
More than 60% of the 1,782
respondents to the report
from the Islamic Human
Rights Commission (IHRC)
said they felt politicians
did not care about them.
Some 56% said they had
experienced verbal abuse,
and 18% had faced physical
assault.
The Home Office said it was
committed to combating
"anti-Muslim hatred".
Of those questioned, 59%
believed political policies
had negatively impacted
their lives. A smaller study
by the organisation in 2010
recorded nearly a third of
people as saying this.
In the latest survey, more
than half (58%) said they
had been treated with
suspicion by society, while
93% said they had seen
negative stereotypes of
Muslims portrayed in the
media.
The research, which was not
conducted in the same way as
standard opinion polls, also
included in-depth interviews
with 50 people.
Muslim community wins day
off of school on major holiday next year
Saqib Ali, a
co-chair of the Equality for Eid
Coalition, has pushed for a
school closing in Montgomery
County, Md., on Eid al-Adha, one
of his faith’s two main
holidays.
MARYLAND, US:
Montgomery County schools
won’t have classes on one of
the Islamic faith’s major
holidays next year, a
significant victory for the
local Muslim community after
years of lobbying for the
same treatment as Christians
and Jews.
Montgomery’s Board of
Education voted 6 to 2 to
support a measure that would
move a professional work day
for teachers and
administrators to Sept. 12,
2016, when the holy day of
Eid al-Adha could fall next
year. The holiday, which
varies year to year and is
based on a lunar calendar,
is expected on Sept. 11, a
Sunday, or on Sept. 12.
The decision marked a
long-sought change in the
156,000-student suburban
Washington school system,
Maryland’s largest.
There are no exact numbers
showing how many students
and staff celebrate Muslim
holy days in Montgomery, but
Muslim leaders say their
community is growing. They
have requested that schools
close on at least one of the
religion’s two major Muslim
holy days. School leaders
have said they cannot, by
law, close schools to
observe religious holidays.
The district closes schools
on major Christian and
Jewish holidays such as
Christmas and Yom Kippur,
but officials cite state
requirements or operational
effects such as expectations
of large absenteeism on
those days.
Montgomery leaders made
national news last year when
they struck the names of
religious holidays off of
the county’s school calendar
document in an attempt to
show neutrality, a move that
drew criticism, including
from the Muslim community.
The school system has
created an additional online
calendar on which users can
view religious holidays and
days of cultural
celebration.
Muslim community leaders say
that the issue is fairness
and that, without a school
closing, Muslim students
must choose between their
faith and their education
when Eid al-Adha or Eid al-Fitr
fall on a school day.
“I am very happy. I am in
tears. I am thrilled,” said
Samira Hussein, a co-chair
of the Equality for Eid
Coalition who said she began
pushing for a Muslim school
holiday two decades ago. “I
cannot wait to see the
children, the students in
the classrooms, being happy
and thankful for this day.”
During the board’s
discussion, several members
said it was time to act on
the Muslim holiday request,
even as the district
continues to work on related
issues of implementation.
“I’m really concerned that
we are putting ourselves in
a place that we give lip
service to the diversity we
have in this incredible
community that we live in
and serve, but in fact the
most important things are
the actions that we take,”
said school board member
Christopher S. Barclay, who
offered the proposal.
Board member Jill
Ortman-Fouse and others
spoke of how long the matter
has been under discussion.
“It’s an issue of fairness,”
she said. “I get off for all
of my holidays. . . .
Obviously it’s an issue of
respect for members of our
community who are very
dedicated to our county and
a very important part of our
school system.”
Many of the
more than two dozen members
of the Muslim community who
attended the board meeting
Tuesday praised the outcome.
“It’s huge,” said Saqib Ali,
a former state lawmaker who
has been a leader of the
effort. Without the change,
he said, “my daughters are
not equal to all of their
little playmates in the
neighbourhood, their
Christian friends, their
Jewish friends. Who could be
against equality?”
Ali said he
thinks the decision would
touch off change in other
school systems; New York
City began giving students
Muslim holidays off this
year. “I think the fact that
New York granted this helped
the effort here, and I don’t
think it’s going to stop
here,” he said.
Islamic finance gains
traction in search for alternative models
Malaysian
prime minister highlights
sector’s strong
capitalisation and
resilience during periods of
volatility
MALAYSIA: Kuala
Lumpur: Islamic financing is
gaining traction even among
non-Muslim countries in a
bid to use sustainable and
equitable form of
alternative models, the
Malaysian Prime Minister
said on Tuesday.
London issued its second
Islamic sukuk after its
first bond issue was
oversubscribed 14 times. In
addition to London,
Luxembourg and South Africa,
Hong Kong has also issued
sovereign sukuks.
“Ever since the global
financial crisis in 2007-08
there has been a sharp
demand for alternative
economic and business model
that reduces the level of
speculation as conventional
model that has inherent
weakness,” Najib Razak told
journalists.
“Over-leveraging is believed
to have been the root cause
of the disaster — but again,
that is prohibited in
Islamic finance. As a
result, Islamic banks
remained strongly
capitalised and resilient
against financial market
volatility, while continuing
to contribute positively to
equitable and sustainable
growth,” he said.
Sukuk is also gaining a
foothold among corporates
and supranational bodies,
such as the Islamic
Development Bank, the
International Finance
Corporation, and the
International Finance
Facility for Immunisation, a
body under the World Bank
which recently issued its
second sukuk this September.
“Islamic finance is about
genuine partnership where
you share the risk and share
the profits,” he said,
adding “interest rate is not
on the basis of cost of
funds.”
In Malaysia, more
non-Muslims use the Islamic
finance products, showing
wide spread support and
acceptance, he added. The
industry has clocked a
growth of more than 17 per
cent from 2009 through 2014.
US: Komal
Ahmad is from Pakistan. Like
most other immigrant
families in US, bringing
food on the table was a
daily struggle for her
parents. She remembers how
her father used to urge them
to finish their food. Even
while growing up, she did
her bit to never waste food,
only to realize that the
amount of food wasted in
America is more than enough
to fill a football stadium
to its brim, on an everyday
basis.
But personal
experiences trigger action
more that statistics do.
According to Independent,
she met a homeless man near
her college campus while she
was studying at the
University of California, in
Berkeley. She took him out
for lunch, where, as they
ate, he told her how he was
a soldier in the Iraq war,
and had run into a rough
patch. After this experience
which ‘blew her mind’, she
started an initiative in her
college which allowed the
dining hall to donate any
excess food to local
homeless shelters.
Taking this model and
implementing this on a
larger scale, She today runs
a not-for-profit service
called Feeding Forward. She
told New York’s Daily News
how excess food-wastage “is
literally the world’s
dumbest problem.” They have
created an app which allows
companies and event planners
to donate their surplus food
to those in need within
their area – with the click
of a button. Feeding Forward
drivers collect the
leftovers, taking them to
where they are needed the
most.
Actively solving the problem
of both hunger and food
wastage in the city, Feeding
Forward currently serves
those in the San Francisco
area, and has managed to
feed over 575,000 homeless
people in the city. In a
story featured on the CNET
news website, Ahmad said,
“We are trying to make the
Bay Area a case study to say
‘Hey, if it works here, it
can work anywhere.'”
‘Lazy, stupid’ Malaysians
turning to religious laws, says Zaid
The former law
minister is a staunch critic of
hudud
KUALA LUMPUR,
March 19 — Former minister
Datuk Zaid Ibrahim chided
Malaysians today for
becoming a “lazy, stupid and
greedy” nation that is now
prepared to let religious
laws govern life.
Comparing Malaysia with his
recent experience in
neighbouring Vietnam, Zaid
said this penchant for an
easy fix has made Malaysians
fascinated with religious
laws that they think can
somehow be a perfect panacea
for the country’s many
problems. “We have had no
such periods of difficulty
and life was never that hard
for us… This benign state of
affairs, however, has proven
to be a curse because it has
made us lazy, stupid and
greedy!” the former law
minister wrote in his blog.
According to Zaid,
Malaysians live in a world
of fantasy, believing that
the country’s wealth will
never run out and political
leaders never need to be
held accountable. “Lately,
we have even become too lazy
to think of all our
problems, and we can’t be
bothered to contemplate the
potentially painful
solutions we need to fix
them,” said Zaid.
“We want easy answers for
everything, which explains
our newfound fascination for
God’s laws. We want
religious laws to regulate
our lives and believe that,
somehow, using God’s laws
will make everything
perfect.”
Zaid claimed that this
fantasy manifested itself,
among others, in the Malays’
purported belief that holy
men should be their leaders,
and moral policing would
lead to honourable and
corruption-free lives. “We
fantasise that moralising is
government business, and to
gratify ourselves with a
sense of power we believe
that others are always less
perfect than we are,” he
added.
“We think it’s harmless to
divide and rule the people
as we have done since
Independence, and that we
can dispense with having
national unity or a national
identity.” The Kelantan
state legislative assembly
today passed amendments to
the Shariah Criminal Code II
1993 to pave the way for the
controversial implementation
of hudud laws in the state.
Zaid is a staunch critic of
hudud, with his column in
English daily The Star today
warning PAS that voters will
punish it in the next
general election for its
insistence on pushing
through its hudud plans in
Kelantan.
The former Kota Baru MP also
said that the Islamist party
is desperate to remain
relevant among voters,
particularly in Kelantan,
following the demise of the
party’s spiritual leader
Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat who
wielded great influence in
the Pakatan.
How U.S. Schools Can Avoid
Britain’s Problems with Radicalization
Screening
A view of the
Mardan Palace Hotel in Antalya
TURKEY: Saudi
King Salman bin Abdulaziz,
who is due to arrive in
Turkey soon for the upcoming
G-20 summit, has reportedly
rented the entire Mardan
Palace Hotel in Antalya for
his 18-day stay in the
popular tourist destination.
The king, who is accompanied
by a 1,000-member
delegation, will pay $18
million for his stay at the
luxury hotel, the Hürriyet
daily reported on Saturday.
The 560-room hotel and villa
complex, branded as one of
the most luxurious hotels in
the world, will be closed to
other guests for 18 days.
Red carpets will be laid
down in hallways in the
hotel and even in the
helipad so that the Saudi
monarch will not have to
touch asphalt when arriving
at or departing from the
hotel.
Hürriyet said the hotel
personnel are being given
special training and the
rooms are being redecorated
to accommodate the king's
taste.
Mardan Palace was acquired
this week by Turkey's
Halkbank. Built by Russian
Azerbaijani businessman
Telman Ismailov at a cost of
$1.4 billion in 2009, the
flashy complex has been put
up for sale by an Antalya
bankruptcy court for TL 207
million worth of debt that
Ismailov owed to another
lender, Garanti Bankası.
In a one-bidder tender on
Monday, Halkbank purchased
the complex for TL 360
million. However, the bank
will reportedly only pay TL
207 million to cover the
hotel's old debts to Garanti,
while it will write off its
own receivables stemming
from Ismailov's separate
debts to Halkbank.
King Salman, head of one of
the world's richest royal
families, rented every room
in the Four Seasons Hotel in
Georgetown for himself and
his entourage during a visit
to Washington in September.
The king's luxurious taste
stirred protests in France
this summer, when more than
100,000 people signed a
petition against the closure
of a beach on the French
Riviera to allow the monarch
to holiday in private.
Brunei puts stop to
Christmas celebrations to protect Muslims,
religious ministry says
Brunei's
Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah is
pressing ahead with the
implantation of Sharia law in
the oil-rich sultanate
KUALA LUMPUR,
Jan 8 — Oil-rich Brunei has
banned public celebrations
of Christmas for fear of
Muslims being led astray,
its religious affairs
ministry said today, in a
country that last year
controversially instituted
tough Islamic sharia
penalties.
The ban, instituted after
Christmas last month when
local children and adults
were seen wearing clothes
“that resemble Santa Claus”,
raises fresh concerns of
religious restrictions after
last April’s announcement of
the introduction of a penal
code that will eventually
include penalties such as
the severing of limbs and
death by stoning.
A spokesman declined to
comment directly on the ban,
but referred to a December
27 statement in which the
ministry said the act of
publicly marking non-Islamic
rituals or festivities “can
be seen as propagations of
religions other than Islam.”
It noted in particular: “For
example, in conjunction with
Christmas celebrations,
Muslim children, teenagers
and adults can be seen
wearing hats or clothes that
resemble Santa Claus.”
“Believers of other
religions that live under
the rule of an Islamic
country — according to Islam
— may practice their
religion or celebrate their
religious festivities among
their community, with the
condition that the
celebrations are not
disclosed or displayed
publicly to Muslims,” the
statement said.
“Muslims should be careful
not to follow celebrations
such as these that are not
in any way related to
Islam... and could
unknowingly damage the faith
of Muslims.”
The statement also said that
businesses that publicly
displayed Christmas
decorations were asked to
take them down and had given
their “full co-operation”.
The latest move comes after
Brunei’s all-powerful Sultan
Hassanal Bolkiah announced
in April that he would push
ahead with the introduction
of a new criminal code which
sparked rare domestic
criticism of the fabulously
wealthy ruler as well as
international condemnation.
Q: Dear
Kareema, I know that exercising during pregnancy
is ok, but how much is ok?
A: Regular to moderate exercise
throughout pregnancy is not only safe, it is
recommended. Providing of course you have
clearance from your doctor and follow through
with your regular checks.
Listen to your body
and keep your intake of water up at all times.
Avoid raising your core temperature- so
exercises like running, spin class, etc., need
to be cut back.
Also, as you get
further into your pregnancy you should not be
lifting heavy weights.
Lying on your back
may also put pressure on your vena cava (blood
carrying vein), so use a gym ball or lay on an
angle if needed.
Yoga, swimming and walking are great choices to
carry through to the end of pregnancy.
To book appointments -
Ph: 3341 2333 (Underwood)
Ph: 3299 5596 (Springwood)
M: 0406 279 591
Website:
www.diversenutrition.com.au
Is Sugar Toxic
for you?
(Part 2)
When you think of
sugar, foods such as cakes, biscuits and
chocolate are the first things that come to
mind. However, there are a lot of hidden sugars
in the majority of highly processed foods, even
savoury biscuits and breakfast cereals.
Because sugars can be listed as many different
chemical names, we, as consumers, may be
inclined to believe that a food item contain
little to no sugar. Ingredients ending with “–ose”
such as sucrose, glucose, dextrose, and maltose
are, in fact, sugars. Other ingredients to be
wary of include syrups and juice concentrates.
When buying a product, look at the nutrition
information panel and try to choose those with
sugar content of 15g or less per 100g. Compare
between the same types of food and use the ‘per
100g’ column.
No time to read labels? Simply choose natural or
minimally processed foods when grocery shopping.
That way much of the hidden refined sugars can
be avoided.
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:
This recipe can be made ahead of time, frozen if
needs be, thawed and baked when required.
Chicken
and Pasta Casserole
Ingredients
1 cup chicken
fillets cut into cubes.
1 tsp chilli garlic paste (½ tsp red ground
chillies + ½ tsp ground garlic)
1 tsp lemon pepper
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp. lemon juice
3 tbsp. tomato puree
2 tbsp. mayonnaise
2 tbsp. butter
125 ml fresh/pouring cream
Bell Pepper (red and green)
½ packet of pasta
Cheese to sprinkle
Method
1. Marinate Chicken
in all ingredients with the exception of the
Butter and Cream for 1 hour.
2. Boil ½ packet of pasta, I used the spiral
ones because the sauce sticks to it.
3. Heat Butter in a non-stick pan and cook
chicken until done.
4. Add Red and Green Peppers (Julienne)
5. Marinade should reduce slightly and must not
dry out completely.
6. Add Cream and toss in the Pasta.
7. Transfer to a Casserole Dish.
8. Grate some cheese over.
9. Bake in a pre-heated oven of 180degrees for 5
mins or until the cheese melts.
10. Serve Immediately
"And Allah advances those in
guidance who seek guidance:
and the things that endure,
Good Deeds, are best in the
sight of your Lord, as
rewards, and best in respect
of (their) eventual
returns."
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.
Zikr
- every Thursday 7pm, families welcome Hifz& Quran Reading Classes (for brothers and sisters) -
Tuesday 5:00 - 7:00pm & Thursday 5:30 - 7:00pm Madressa
(for children) - Wednesday & Friday 4:30 - 6:30pm Salawat
Majlis - first Saturday of every month. Starting
at Mughrib, families welcome Islamic
Studies (for sisters) - one year course. Saturday
10:30 - 2:30pm. Enrolments for 2016 now available Ilm-e-Deen
Degree Courses (for brothers) - Three full-time and
part-time nationally accredited courses. Enrolments
now available for 2016.
Quran Reading Class For Ladies (Beginners
or Advanced)
Every Saturday 2 - 4pm
Lady Teacher
Algester Mosque
Zikrullah program every Thursday night after
Esha
For more details, contact: Maulana Nawaaz:
0401576084
On Going Activities
1. Daily Hadeeth reading From Riyadusaliheen,
After Fajar and after esha .
2. After school Madrassah for children Mon-Thu 5pm to 7pm
3. Adult Quran classes (Males) Monday and
Tuesday after esha for an hour.
4. Community engagement program every second Saturday of the
Month, interstate and overseas speakers, starts after
margib, Dinner served after esha, First program begins on
the 15 August.
5. Monthly Qiyamulail program every 1st
Friday of the month starts after esha.
6. Fortnight Sunday Breakfast program. After Fajar, short
Tafseer followed by breakfast.
7. Weekly Tafseer by Imam Uzair after esha followed by
dinner. Starts from 26 August.
For all activities, besides Adult Quran,
classes sisters and children are welcome.
For further info call the Secretary on
0413669987
IPDC
Lutwyche Mosque
Weekly classes with Imam Yahya
Monday: Junior Class
Tuesday: Junior Arabic
Friday: Adult Quran Class
For more information call 0470 671 109
Holland Park Mosque
All programs are conducted by Imam
Uzair Akbar
DAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
PROGRAM
Tafseer Program
Basics of Islam
Tafseer Program
AUDIENCE
Men
Ladies
TIME
after Maghrib Salat
Brisbane Northside Muslimahs Support Group
To
help sisters on the northside of Brisbane to connect with
their local sisters.
We
will endeavour to have regular meetings, either for a
lesson/discussion on
Monday Tafseer – Juz Amma* Tuesday Arabic Grammer/Tafseer Quran (URDU) Wednesday Reading & Reciting Quran (Adult class) Thursday Tafseer Quran (URDU) Friday Tafseer Quran (URDU)
All the above programs are after Isha salah
All are welcome! See you at the Masjid – The place to be!
Please note that the Tafseer gets recorded
and uploaded on to our website as an mp3 file, so that you
can download and listen at anytime.
Visit our website at:
masjidtaqwa.org.au
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
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Connected
Women is the brainchild of
Rehana Bibi, former
Editor-in-Chief of the
Australian Muslim Times, who
together with the efforts of
four other extraordinary
ladies (Saalihah Seedat,
Ilham Sabry Ahamed, Shehnaz
Moosa and Gabrielle Skalic)
saw her vision come to
fruition last Saturday. At
the outset Rehana Bibi
provided an insight into the
aim of Connected Women,
which is to bring together
ladies from diverse
backgrounds with a
commitment to learning,
sharing and inspiring each
other.
Saalihah
Seedat a Clinical Consultant
Pharmacist who is currently
pursuing a Diploma of
Leadership, Coaching and
Mentoring, conducted a
session on ‘Mindfulness’,
that left the participants
experiencing a state of
complete relaxation and
self-awareness. It
demonstrated the power of
the mind and the importance
of striving to achieve a
decluttered state, which in
turn promotes clarity of
thought, enhanced
productivity and a more
rewarding experience of what
one is engaged in. 
Shajarah
Islamic Kindergarten is
Queensland's only Islamic
Childcare Service. 
ed
by the Queensland Government
as well as a new upcoming 2
day Montessori Program
which will be implemented
over the whole service over
time inshaAllaah. 
Zikr
- every Thursday 7pm, families welcome
post comments on
our Wall
7
August 2011