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People affiliated with the National and Liberal parties have significantly higher levels of Islamophobia than people who affiliate with Labor, the results of a survey reveal.
Most Australians – about 70 per cent – expressed a “very low” level of Islamophobia, but 10 per cent were highly fearful.

Those are the findings of a report from the International Centre for Muslim and non-Muslim Understanding.

People with higher levels of Islamophobia were those who had not completed year 12, older Australians and people who align with the National and Liberal parties.

"Respondents with political affiliations with the Liberal and Country parties have significantly higher levels of Islamophobia than those with political affiliations with the centre-left Labor Party," the report said.

However, the report said Islamophobia was low across Australia.

“There are pockets of prejudice and anxiety directed towards Muslims, for example among the aged and those facing financial insecurity," the report said.

The report groups the respondents on a scale of least Islamophobic (1) to most Islamophobic (5).

The report also said since the distributions for the statistics below were not random, the results were statistically significant.

There were no significant differences between the attitudes of women and men.

Where a respondent lived did not have a significant impact, the researchers said.

The survey had a sample size of 1000, with populations, genders and political affiliations represented in (roughly) representative proportions. However only four per cent of respondents said they were Greens supporters, while opinion polls reflect a voting intention of more than 10 per cent for the Greens.
 

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Following recent terror attacks at home and abroad, key figures in the Muslim community are encouraging employers to give young Muslims a chance in the workplace.

Muslim candidates are claiming it’s become increasingly difficult to secure job interviews or progress through the job application process, with some suspecting an element of discrimination based on their Arabic sounding names.

It has been suggested it might be time for Australia to adopt ‘name-blind’ CVs, so hiring managers won’t be able to discount a Muslim candidate, or a candidate of any other ethnicity, on the basis of religion or cultural background.

In an address in Melbourne late last year, Australia Post CEO Ahmed Fahour, revealed the past 18 months had been particularly challenging for Australia’s Muslim community in the wake of increased activity from ISIS in the Middle East and following a number of terrorist attacks committed by Islamic extremists.

Fahour is now urging companies to support trainee schemes targeted specifically at young Muslims, to give them a leg up with employment and provide them with the foundation for a bright future.

Companies in the UK have already adopted a name-blind policy, with Prime Minister David Cameron pledging his support for a pilot program for employers to receive name-blind applications for graduate positions. Companies participating in the program include some of the UK’s biggest employers such as Deloitte, HSBC, the BBC and the NHS.

It is hoped the introduction of name-blind recruitment processes will help prevent unconscious bias and ensure that job offers are made on the basis of potential – not ethnicity, religion or gender.

The UK government hopes the change will prevent discrimination against those with ethnic-sounding names, based on stereotypes. So should Australia take the same hard line stance and introduce name-blind recruiting?

Employment Office Managing Director Tudor Marsden-Huggins says it’s a question of whether the existing state and federal legislation governing equal opportunity employment and anti-discrimination are functioning appropriately.

“The laws are in place to prevent any overt workplace discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity or religion, but as far as the recruitment process goes, it is very possible for the issue of name bias to fall through the cracks and not be under the same level of scrutiny as the interview stage,” he said.

And the data backs up claims that name-based discrimination, whether it’s unconscious or deliberate, is taking place in Australia.

In a 2010 study conducted by the Australian National University, economists sent out 4000 fake employment applications, which revealed the applicants with Anglo-Saxon names had significantly higher call-back rates. Applicants with Middle Eastern names had the lowest rates.

Marsden-Huggins says eliminating candidates based on their name is not only illegal and unethical, it can also result in wider ramifications for the organisation.

“Census data tells us one in four Australians are born overseas and over 40% of people have at least one overseas-born parent. If employers are eliminating applicants based on names they’re not only discriminating unfairly, but they are also closing themselves off from a wide pool of great candidates,” he said.

Marsden-Huggins says to avoid undue name bias, it is important to include tailored online screening questions before candidates reach the CV assessment stage.

“Using online e-recruitment software, it’s possible to ask candidates to submit answers to a series of tailored screening questions before they upload a personalised CV. This means a hiring manager can assess a candidate’s suitability based solely on their responses, without external factors such as name, ethnicity or gender playing a role.

“For now, Australian organisations have not implemented a name-blind recruitment process, but all employers should be mindful of their obligation not to discriminate based on name and the potential religious or ethnic backgrounds those names infer. You could not only be in contravention of the legislation, you could also be missing out on your next great hire based on a stereotype,” he said.
 

Source: Employment Office

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OPPONENTS of Bendigo’s first mosque have been dealt a blow after being ordered to pay $55,000 in legal costs.

Last month, Victoria’s top court rejected an application by a 16-strong group, led by Bendigo women Julie Hoskin and Kathleen Howard, for leave to appeal against two ­decisions of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The Court of Appeal ruled that the grounds of appeal — that VCAT had erred in its ­interpretation of its duties — were not reasonably arguable and had no chance of success.

The court has now awarded $30,000 in costs to the City of Greater Bendigo and $25,000 to the Australian Islamic ­Mission, the group ­behind the proposal to build the mosque.

Should the total sum be ­divided equally, each of the 16 mosque opponents — who also have their own legal ­expenses to meet — now faces a bill of around $3400.

However, that sum is less than the $150,000 the group members said they had been asked to provide as security before the appeal.

In last month’s judgment, the court said most objections expressed fears that granting the permit would lead to more Islamic practices, resulting in cultural change and socially objectionable behaviours.

But the three appeal judges — Chief Justice Marilyn Warren, Justice Robert Osborn and Justice Joseph Santamaria — said that these objections were “overstated”.

After the appeal court ­decision, Ms Hoskin said she would seek further legal advice and vowed to take the matter all the way to the High Court.

The proposal for a mosque has divided Bendigo, leading to several heated protests.

A rally in Melbourne in July saw violent clashes between rival protesters, and protests were also held in Bendigo in August and October.

All three rallies involved Victoria Police running major law and order operations to keep the peace, which involved more than 400 officers and which cost taxpayers about $750,000.

Ms Howard and Ms Hoskin, who is recovering in a wheelchair after a nasty fall outside the Supreme Court last month, could not be reached for comment about the costs order.
 

Source: Herald Sun

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In November 2013, the first conference around the theme of Government Intervention in the Muslim Community was held in Sydney, Australia. Since then, a series of significant events have taken place that are of concern to Muslims living in Australia. This timeline tracks the notable occurrences, developments, media controversies surrounding matters of concern to the Muslim community over the last two years.

This timeline was presented as part of the Campaign Publication released for the “Innocent Until Proven Muslim?” Conference in late 2015.

December 2013: The Australian Federal Police and NSW police charge two men with an array of foreign-incursion offences – the first such charges to stem from the Syrian conflict.

December 2013: ASIO suddenly cancels the passports of 20 men from across Western Sydney, accusing them of being prepared to ”engage in politically motivated violence” if they were allowed to travel overseas or of having a ”jihadi mentality” making them a threat to national security.

20 January 2014: Scott Morrison says the government could seek to remove the Australian citizenship rights of dual nationals fighting in Syria, along the lines of powers being exercised in the UK.

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Dr Mehreen Faruqi, a Greens MP in NSW Parliament took to social media today to criticise security at Los Angeles International airport after she was “interrogated” today.
 

Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi said she and her husband were subjected to racial profiling at Los Angeles airport when they were asked "how they got" their Australian passports.

Currently visiting the United States on a drug law reform fact-finding trip, which she says is self-funded, Dr Faruqi, who is Australia's first female Muslim MP, tweeted the following this morning after arriving at LAX:

Dr Faruqi told SBS News it was "quite distressing and horrible to be put through an interrogation and questioned about your background".

"I've been an Australian citizen for over two decades," she said.

"You feel really vulnerable and disempowered. But the worst thing is that these intimidating techniques are used on people every day because of their background and where they are from.

"Despite what happened, I'm looking forward to getting on with my trip and meeting with experts, advocates and campaigners in the drug law reform sphere."

In a statement issued on Friday, Dr Faruqi said she and her husband were "asked how 'we got' Australian passports and then about my Pakistani history", which she said pointed to racial profiling.

"It is quite ridiculous, nerve wracking and scary to be treated so suspiciously for no reason and sent off to be interrogated,” she said in the statement.

"There is no excuse for treating people this way.

"I've come to the US to find out more about drugs policy reform and to meet family.

"To be treated with such hostility at Los Angeles airport is the last thing you expect."

Source: SBS

CAIR Seeks DHS Probe of Muslim Australian MP’s Detention, Interrogation at LAX

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today asked the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to investigate an incident in which an Australian Muslim woman who is a member of that nation’s parliament was detained, interrogated and fingerprinted after arrival at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) for a fact-finding trip on drug law reform.

In a letter to DHS about the case of Dr. Mehreen Faruqi’s detention, CAIR Civil rights Department Litigation Director Jenifer Wicks wrote in part:

“Media reports indicate that both she and her husband were grilled about why they were in the United States, their links to Pakistan and how they got Australian passports. They were even asked for additional identification after providing their passports. Dr. Faruqi migrated to Australian in 1992 and has been a citizen of Australia for 22 years. She is a Muslim member of parliament in Australia, in New South Wales, and a member of The Greens party.

“Ms. Faruqi said, ‘I have lived in Australia for 24 years and having raised my family here, it is a real kick in the guts when people treat you like that. Unfortunately this racism and Islamophobia is only going to get worse with the declining level of political debate around Muslims both here in Australia and the United States.’

“These concerns, as well as others raised concerning the denial of visas to a number of British Muslim families, reflect a real and growing perception in the Muslim community that it is being increasingly targeted by DHS officials and that racial profiling of Muslims is being implemented informally. We respectfully request that your office investigate these most recent incidents and ensure that DHS officials do not religiously profile those seeking to enter the United States.”

A copy of CAIR’s letter was sent to the Australian ambassador in Washington, D.C.

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
 

Source: CAIR

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ABSTRACT
The rhetorical use of labels in the war on terror has become an important tactic post 9/11.

One such example is the deployment of the categories of “moderate” and “extremist” within counterterrorism discourse, with Muslims distinguished as either friend or foe based on this dichotomy.

The moderate Muslim label is a relational term, only making sense when it is contrasted with what is seen as non-moderate (i.e., extremism).

Such binary constructs carry a range of implicit assumptions about what is regarded as an acceptable form of Islam and the risks posed by the Islamic religion and Muslim communities.

In this article, we explore the implications of this labelling for Muslim communities.

In particular, we explore the interpretations Muslims themselves accord to the dichotomy of moderate and extremist and consider whether the use of such binary terms is at all helpful as a way of rallying Muslims to the cause of tackling terrorism and radicalisation.

We draw on focus group data collected from Muslims living in Australia to inform our analysis.

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SYDNEY: Australia's right-wing anti-Muslim groups have surfed in on the debate about a new mosque planned for South Hurstville, encouraging people who live outside the area to oppose the $3 million development.

Organisations in Queensland and Victoria have been posting on social media against the development dubbed the "mega mosque" proposed for King Georges Road, south of Sydney.

And public supporters of the mosque have reported receiving "text messages of hate campaigns" from people opposed to the development.

Anthony Mundine has said previously problems about a prayer room in South Hurstville were about prejudice not parking.

Reclaim Australia, Stop the Mosque in Bendigo, Aussie Angels Against Sharia and other group sites have been pushing an online petition opposing the plans.

On another site named Stop the Mosque, which has more than 9000 followers, there are comments such as "A Mosque is a place that serves as a meeting place for people who are obligated to bring down Australian Democracy, A planning place for those committed to replace the Australian Constitution with Sharia Law, acting on instruction to implement Jihard [sic] to achieve this goal as soon as possible".

On the online petition,Say No to 849 King Georges Road, South Hurstville Mosque, is this comment "the mosque will change our lives and our children's lives. We worked hard to live in this area and now people want to destroy this,"

Kogarah City Council has received more than 900 submissions and spokeswoman said the number is still growing. It is not yet known how many support the mosque.

The public exhibition period for comment on the plans has been extended to the end of February, but lawyers for the applicant have already taken it to the Land and Environment Court because it was not dealt with by council within the required 40 days.

The applicant for the mosque is Nasser Hussein from architectural firm Ghazi Al Ali on behalf of the company MSAR Holdings Pty Ltd, which has authority from the land owners to lodge the application.

The company lists Mohammad Safwan Abdul-Rahman as the sole director and secretary, but he could not be contacted for comment.

Trouble erupted last year when the plans were submitted for the development showing the mosque would have three levels of underground parking and two levels above ground, including two prayer rooms for a total of 78 worshippers and two classrooms to accommodate 45 people.

Worshippers have been gathering at another private home in South Hurstville for Friday prayers, but that property too has had troubled history with the council temporarily closing it in 2012 because of complaints about parking and noise.

At the time Anthony Mundine, the former footballer and world boxing champion who used the prayer room, believed the problem was prejudice, not parking.

He told Fairfax Media his mother lived next door in the big wide street where every house had off-street parking, so was "baffled" by the objections. He believed it was just an excuse to shut down the mosque.

But online community opinion is evenly split with petitions opposing and as well as in favour of the mosque attracting almost 5000 supporters each.

The "Kogarah Council: Yes to the South Hurstville Mosque" petition on Change.org includes comments from Leila Khaled, who says she is a local resident, arguing it is important for the mosque to go ahead so local Muslim residents have the freedom to practice their religion in their own neighbourhood.

"It will reach out to youth and teach them how Islam is a religion of peace. This needs to be done before the current political radicalisation narrative negatively affects them. It will have open days to reach out and welcome the wider community. This is an opportunity to build bridges, ease concerns, and address misconceptions."

Another comment posted by from Tarik Hussein noted the double standards regarding other developments such as a church built in a residential street with no car park with no objections. He also multiple pubs clubs in the area offering topless waitresses and attracted police attention because of fights, intoxication, drugs, and gambling – "Yet this behaviour seems to be more socially acceptable & encouraged than a place of worship for Muslims".
 

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

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Dec. 8 marks the opening of the Jubilee of Mercy, a yearlong celebration of God's compassion. Pope Francis, who has made mercy the motto of his papacy, hopes that this year will be "a true moment of encounter with the mercy of God." One way Catholics can become better acquainted with this divine mercy is by more deliberately encountering another religion that takes God's mercy as its central focus: Islam.

Faced with news media images of violence and black flags in the Middle East, the last thing many Catholics might associate with Islam is mercy. Aside from knowing about Muslims' frequent prayer and Ramadan fast, most are unaware of Muslim religious practices, let alone their beliefs about God. But written at the beginning of every chapter of the Quran but one, and recited by Muslims at the start of every meal, prayer and task, is the invocation Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim, which can be translated "In the name of God, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful."

In his papal bull announcing the jubilee, Francis referenced both Islam's and Judaism's emphases on God's mercy, writing, "There is an aspect of mercy that goes beyond the confines of the Church." He urged Catholics to use the Year of Mercy as an opportunity to learn about Islam and other religions to "eliminate every form of close-mindedness and disrespect ... violence and discrimination."

Like a parent

As Francis has described in homilies throughout his papacy, God's mercy isn't simply pity or forgiveness after we've done wrong. Rather, mercy is God's overarching disposition toward creation, a parental love that extends to all. This is also true in Islam.

Muslims don't refer to God as "Father," but the parent-like nature of God in Islam becomes clear when we examine the Arabic roots of the word for mercy: rahmah. This word -- and the names for God al-Rahman (the Entirely Merciful) and al-Rahim (the Especially Merciful) -- comes from rahm, the Arabic word for a mother's womb. The Prophet Muhammad compared God's rahmah to that of a nurturing mother.

In the Quran, God identifies rahmah -- which Muslims also translate into English as graciousness, compassion and loving kindness -- as his chief attribute, and says that the name al-Rahman is but a synonym of Allah, the Arabic word for God. In a famous hadith, or saying of the prophet, Muhammad tells his followers that God has more mercy toward his servants than a mother does toward her child.

For both Christians and Muslims, God's mercy is also characterized by infinite patience and a constant reaching out to wayward humanity.
 

Francis frequently cites Jesus' parable of the prodigal son, or what the pope calls the story of the "merciful father." In the parable, a young man runs away from his family, abandoning his elderly father and living a life of selfishness. After he squanders his money, he returns ashamed to his family home.

As the Bible tells it, "While [the son] was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him."

An oft-cited saying of Muhammad echoes this picture of God. He said, "God says: When a servant of mine draws nearer to me by the length of a hand, I draw toward him an arm's length; and when he draws near to me an arm's length, I draw near to him the distance of a wingspan; and if he comes to me walking, I go to him running."

The motherly quality of God's mercy in Islam also speaks to God's creation and sustaining of the universe. All things have been created by God, who, as the spiritual master Ibn Arabi put it, "mercified" the universe into being.

God's infinite compassion (Quran 7:156) embraces the whole world (as a mother's womb), and his attributes are partially made manifest in his creatures, particularly humans.

This universal and constantly flowing mercy of God is also paired with what scholars of Islam have called God's particular or secondary mercy, which is bestowed in response to humans' efforts to live as God wants. This special mercy (ultimately achieved in salvation at the end of life) is not guaranteed, since humans are free to turn away from God's universal care.

Still, like a patient parent, God constantly offers mercy, which, as Muhammad described, always "prevails over" his wrath.

Model of mercy

Muslims also believe God's mercy was expressed through messengers who conveyed his revelation to humanity. These messengers include many figures that are familiar to Christians, such as Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, of whom God says in the Quran, "We have not sent you [Muhammad] but as a mercy for the universe" (Quran 21:107).

For Muslims, Muhammad is the model of merciful living. They look to his example of rahmah toward animals, the elderly, his grandchildren and everyone he met as a blueprint for their own lives, striving to emulate his caring nature and to be a mercy to their own universe.

"CelebrateMercy," an online educational initiative started by American Muslims, strives to share the life and legacy of the Muhammad not just with Muslims but with those who have only countered negative stereotypes about Islam and its prophet.

In learning about the centrality of mercy in Islam, Catholics can become more cognizant of the emphasis of mercy in our own tradition, finding resonances to the Islamic notion in passages like this one, in Isaiah: "Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you."

This Year of Mercy is a time for Catholics to re-encounter God's rahmah through our own Scriptures and tradition, but also through the religion of our Muslim brothers and sisters. What we will discover is that, even with our doctrinal differences, Muslims and Christians share a core belief in a God who approaches all of creation with the loving kindness of a parent.

Perhaps then, we'll find ourselves beginning each prayer, each task and each meal with an invocation of God's mercy on our lips.

[Jordan Denari is a research fellow at Georgetown University's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, where she works for the Bridge Initiative, a research project on Islamophobia.]
 

Source: National Catholic Reporter

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2. Ahmed Mohammed

2015 was also the year that a young boy got arrested for his talent. I’m talking about ‘Ahmed with the clock’, or Ahmed Mohammed. He got arrested at MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas for bringing a clock to school.There was a widespread public reaction that included allegations of racial profiling and Islamophobia.

Many people showed their support, like Mark Zuckerberg, Obama and many others. Even the hashtag #IstandWithAhmed was trending for days.
 

NEXT WEEK: 3. Hasan Minhaj

Source: MVSLI

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Nouman Ali Khan, well known Islamic scholar and teacher was in Kuwait for the first time to present a lecture at the Masjid Al Kabir organized by the Indian Muslim Association. Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan as he is referred to is renowned for his strong command of Arabic, deep understanding of the Holy Quran and engaging lectures. He is also the CEO and founder of Bayyinah Institute in the US.

Nita Bhatkar Chogle caught up with Ustadh Noman during his whirlwind visit to the Middle East, especially for The Times Kuwait, to find out more about the man, his mission and his unique method of outreach through modern media.

The Mission

What is Ustadh Noman’s overarching message to Muslim youth and all Muslims in general?

To this he quotes an Ayah (verse) from Surah Al Baqarah, “Allah does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear.” (Quran 2:286)

He explains it saying, “One of the meanings of this Ayah is that Allah did not burden any single person except with their own potential. There are many different meanings of this Ayah but one of them is that my big burden in life is my own potential. What it means is (that) Allah’s rules are easy, that is not a load. The real load in my life is - am I living up to my potential?”

And this is what he would like to communicate to the Muslim youth. He drives them to live their full potential and not settle for mediocrity. “Ask yourself did you honestly make the most of your day? Did you honestly say what you wanted to say in the best way that you could have said it? I don’t expect perfection. I know I am not perfect. But what I expect is a constant desire for improvement.

For Muslims all around the world he has several messages, mainly driven by thoughts about what is happening currently in the Muslim world and particularly about religious discourse. These drive his messaging.

Ustad Noman says, “I feel that the conversation about Islam is skewed – that’s what I personally feel. There are good scholars, good resources and good books but overwhelmingly what is being heard in the Ummah (community) about Islam is skewed. How is it skewed? On the one hand it is a literal reading of the text without any due diligence. So you don’t look at history, the context and or even look at the depth of the language itself. It is a very surface level translation with no depth and then drastic conclusions are made without diving into this depth. That then presents a very ugly picture of Islam that is itself a disservice to Islam. So Islam is being disserved in some cases by people who are quoting it. That is one problem.”

The other problem he says are people who call themselves traditional. There are many who are incredible he says, but there are also a good number of them unfortunately, who do not represent the depth, breadth, vastness or sophistication of the tradition itself. Also people who call themselves traditional are not even open to discussions or conversation and don’t have any idea of the history.

“So between people who take things literally and people who pretend to be traditional the average Muslim is caught - who do you listen to? The literalist who makes it sound crazy or to the traditionalist who makes it sound close minded. It’s not thought provoking.” highlights Ustadh Nouman. When you look at the spectrum, due to the lack of intelligent discourse on Islam, you feel maybe this is all Islam has to offer, and this he feels eventually turns people off religion all together.

Raised without a heavy dose of religion in a middle class Pakistani family, he considers himself to be in the middle, a moderate.

So what is the solution? “To me, we have to reclaim the text, reclaim the tradition and present it intelligently. This needs to happen. I think studying Islam is important but how you study it, what thought process you have and having a lot of knowledge is glorified. Anyone who has a lot of knowledge is perceived to understand Islam better. I don’t agree with that. Having the lot of knowledge is the same as having a lot of information. Having information, processing information and using information are three different things. Just because someone has a lot of information doesn’t say much about their ability to process it properly. Processing is like an intellectual thing. You have to engage what you know and really think about it.”

There is a lot of emphasis on the collection of data but no emphasis on processing, he feels. And that is often the case with Islamic studies. You have people that are memorizing what people have previously said but there is no discussion on why they said it.

Ustad Nouman firmly believes that students of Islam should be encouraged to ask questions unlike the trend of not questioning the teacher as is common practice in religious schools. He quotes the Arabic saying “In al sualu nisf al alm” which means, asking questions is half of knowledge.

On the creation of Adam, even the Angels who never disobey Allah, asked a question and didn’t get into trouble, explains Ustad Nouman. “If angels can ask a question why can’t I ask my teacher? This is a sign of intellectual stagnation. If you don’t ask question and remove your doubts and if you are not satisfied you should be able to say it. I am not convinced. I need more. If you don’t do that you don’t reach real faith. That’s my message – learn you religion. Learn your faith but learn it with an open mind. Ask questions. Learn to ask questions. Learn to create the discourse if it’s not around you.”

So what is his mission? “I want to influence change at a very high level. I want to be able through my research team myself I want to pick up top talent in the world. I don’t want to just give lectures. I want to make files documentaries, movies cartoons talk shows. Where is the Muslim John Stewart? I want to make one. I want to beat Oprah at her game because that is where influence lies.” explains Ustad Nouman.

And that is my cue to quiz him on Bayyinah Institute that operates with a mission to enrich individuals, families and institutions by making Arabic and Qur’anic studies accessible to the world. “Bayyinah is a continual though process. What I thought when we started is not what I am thinking now.” explains Ustad Nouman.

How Bayyinah started is a very interesting story. Ustad Noman studied computer information technology and got an offer to work as a design director for a technology company in New Jersey when he was in his senior year of college. He took the job but soon after suffered the effects of the dot com crash. Being one of the newcomers, he was one of the first to be laid off. He continued to be jobless for about six months. Interestingly this was the same period in which he got married to his long time fiancé on the insistence of her parents which was quite unusual!

After he lost his job he also lost interest in the tech industry. The constant need to be updated with the latest technologies was a full time effort and he wasn’t keen on constantly reinventing himself to just get a paycheck at the end of the month. He wanted something more.

His experience teaching Arabic was something he really enjoyed and he decided to experiment with an Arabic class in his community. Starting with 30 – 40 people in the local Masjid, his student numbers increased to about 100 in a few months and soon people started requesting out of town classes.

That is when he used his tech background to put a website together. Surprisingly enough, with no Google and no advertising people still found him! And he started going from one community to another presenting his lectures and teaching Arabic. He could have kept going but he realized that this needed to be institutionalized properly. And that is how Bayyinah was born.

His primary objective with Bayyinah was to do something he loved as a career and to do something that served the community. “I don’t want to do this because I want to make money I want to do something because I love. If I make a living for my family on the way well and good but I really want to do what I love.” he explains.
 

NEXT WEEK: The Media

Source: THE TIMES Kuwait

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Blue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey
Majestic, magnificent and utterly beguiling, the Blue Mosque has six needle-like minarets that form an essential part of Istanbul’s skyline, and is an unmissable part of any break to the city. Terry Richardson, Telegraph Travel’s Istanbul expert, describes how the “interior gleams with the famous blue Iznik tiles from which its name derives.” It was built under the reign of the Ottoman ruler Ahmed I between 1609 and 1616, and is now open to non-worshippers every day outside of prayer times.
 

Source: Telegraph UK

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We have failed you.

While jihadist movements continue to expand their reach, anti-Muslim bigotry is becoming more and more mainstream. Both narratives mean to deny the possibility of meaningful coexistence. Which is the identity and the reality of thirty million of us.
 

Thirty million Western Muslims, spread out across Europe (excluding Russia), the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. But though we had every reason to speak out, we have barely begun to come together.
 

When we are talked about, it’s either as a problem (terrorism) to be solved, or as the solution (counter-terrorism) to the problem we’re held responsible for. We have little to no relevance outside national security.

And because we do not seem to matter, we might begin to feel as if we do not exist.

I will not excuse myself by saying that we could not have known how bad it would have gotten, or that the forces arrayed against our narratives were too entrenched. I will not soften the blow, either, by hoping it is always darkest before dawn. Because it may get darker.

God does not change the condition of a people until they change themselves. I ask myself how we have gotten to this juncture. I reflect on what I could have done differently. If my life’s experiences can be of any benefit, even as a cautionary tale, then I offer them.
 

What follows is neither exhaustive nor conclusive, but an outline for what you can do, and what I think you must do, to reverse this state of affairs, to help build the kinds of communities our history and heritage promises we can.

Part I covers our relations to the wider world; Part II concerns our own communities and identities.

Part I: All allies, foreign and domestic (continued from CCN583)

3. Eurabia’s outermost boundary
 

You will hear some speak loudly of Islamic unity, and condemn you when your actions do not support their idea of solidarity. But here is the painful truth: Many of your political choices will be hard choices. They will not have easy answers. It is natural to want to see Bosnia and Albania in the EU.

But Ukraine is a Western country most of whose citizens, including its Muslim minorities, want into Europe, too. You have a moral obligation to consider Ukraine’s right to European Union membership, and to appreciate that they want what we have. But Russia, which has a substantial, growing Muslim population, believes otherwise.
Russia is a Western country, too. But their Western identity is not the same as your own. Identity involves culture, worldview, but also and critically, political circumstance. The levels of integration that develop between the hugely diverse communities of the Muslim West will never extend equally to Russia. The West actively tries to accelerate integration.

That integration shapes you.

Egyptian, Saudi, Iranian, and Turkish religious bodies have long competed to build influence across the Muslim world. In your lifetime, Western Muslim institutions will begin to project their religious, cultural and social soft power across the rest of the ummah as well. But while Russia and other nations may welcome the receipt of some of our ideas, they will draw the line at our enthusiasm for democracy.


They may even spurn you for it. That doesn’t mean ignoring the Muslim-majority world, or the world. Accept what you can do, and what you cannot.

NEXT WEEK IN CCN:   Fairly balanced
 

Source: QUARTZ

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4. "Can I Kick It?" A Tribe Called Quest (1999)

Okay, technically not all of the members of 'A Tribe Called Quest' are Muslim, but two of them are (Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad) so they're on my list. Try and stop me.

Can they be a thing again already? I miss them.

 

NEXT WEEK: 5. "High Noon," The Kominas (2010)
 

Source: PRI

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What have Muslims ever done for America? If your sole source of information were Donald Trump, you’d think that the answer was not much – apart from murdering its citizens and trying to destroy its values. The Republican presidential hopeful has called for a halt to Muslims entering the US until American authorities “can figure out” Muslim attitudes to the US in the wake of last week’s killings in San Bernardino. If only, you might well think, Scotland had had the same thought about Trump before he was allowed in to blight Aberdeenshire with another of his golf resorts.

What Trump doesn’t seem to grasp is his own country’s history, and how many American achievements worth celebrating are the work of the kind of people – Muslims – he wants to keep out.

Here, then, is a guide to some of the things Muslims have done for the US. It’s not an exhaustive list – but it’s still more impressive than what Trump has done for his homeland.

Giving hip-hop its greatest MC
 

NEXT WEEK: Inventing the ice-cream cone

Source: The Guardian

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Al-Mustapha Institute of Brisbane

Enrol Now - Only 4 Places Left in Islamic Studies
 

Day: Every Saturday, starting 30 January 2016
Time: 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Duration: 1 year course with holidays aligned with school holidays and time off during Ramadan
Subjects: Islamic Law (Fiqh), Hadith, Tafseer & Islamic History
Location: 39 Bushmills Court, Hillcrest
Cost: $400
Lecturer: As-Shaykh Mohammad Ibrahim As-Shami

The course in Islamic studies is open to brothers and sisters. For more information or an enrolment form please visit our website www.almustapha.org.au or email info@almustaphainstitute.org.

Amanah Institute’s Annual Orientation/Enrolment Afternoon
 

A message for all parents looking for high quality Islamic education for their children…

Don’t miss the Amanah Institute’s (formerly the Kuraby Madrassah) annual parent orientation/enrolment afternoon: Thursday 28th of January from 4.00 – pm to 6.00 pm.

Interest in the ‘Amanah approach’ continues to grow and numbers are limited.

Attendance at the enrolment/orientation afternoon is a condition of enrolment and compulsory for parents wishing to enrol or re-enrol their children in 2016.

The programs at Amanah are designed to be contextual and relevant. Feedback from young people and their parents is extremely positive!

Amanah caters for students 5 years of age through to 19 years of age.

* We are expanding our program further in 2016 offering classes 2 days/week for busy high school students from grade 8 through to 12.

KURABY HOUSE FOR RENT

3 bedroom House in Kuraby for rent! 2 bathrooms, DLUG with shade sail for extra covered parking on driveway. A/c in living area, main bedroom and garage, alarm system and solar power installed.

Walking distance from mosque, school, bus and train station.

Available early Feb 2016. Rent $445 p.w. Call 0439786653 for more details.

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           Post your comment hereHP160101

When spoken to by a suspicious stranger, reply in a language the stranger doesn’t understand and keep on moving.

Replying in a different language is better than not replying at all: No reply leads to repeated attempts of the “test line,” perhaps with closing the distance.

An incomprehensible reply confuses first and then makes strangers understand that they can’t communicate with you.
 

No communication → No compliance
 

Click here for contact and registration details for Southside Academy of COMBAT

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The CCN Book-of-the-Week

YASSMIN ABDEL-MAGIED - YASSMIN'S STORY
 

Monday 29 February 2016
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
In store at Avid Reader Bookshop
Register until 29 February 2016 6:00 PM
 

Join Yassmin Abdel-Magied for the Brisbane launch of her memoir Yassmin's Story.

 
At 21, Yassmin found herself working on a remote Australian oil and gas rig; she was the only woman and certainly the only Sudanese-Egyptian-Australian background Muslim woman.

With her hijab quickly christened a 'tea cosy' there could not be a more unlikely place on earth for a young Muslim woman to want to be.

This is the story of how she got there, where she is going, and how she wants the world to change.
 

Born in the Sudan, Yassmin and her parents moved to Brisbane when she was two, and she has been tackling barriers ever since.

At 16 she founded Youth Without Borders, an organisation focused on helping young people to work for positive change in their communities.

In 2007 she was named Young Australian Muslim of the Year and in 2010 Young Queenslander of the Year.

In 2011 Yassmin graduated with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (First Class Honours) and in 2012 she was named Young Leader of the Year in the Australian Financial Review and Westpac's inaugural 100 Women of Influence Awards as well as an InStyle cultural leader and a Marie Claire woman of the future.
 

Yassmin has now been awarded Youth of the Year in the Australian Muslim Achievement Awards.
 

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"One who does not read is no better than one who cannot read."

Would you like to see the cover of your favourite book on our book shelves below?

Then simply email the title and author to thebookclub@crescentsofbrisbane.org

Double click a book cover to find out what others think of the book

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Back to school lunchbox ideas

A BBC reporter was doing a story on gender roles in Afghanistan.

She noted that women customarily walked a few metres behind their husbands.

Impressed she approached one of the Afghani women and said, "This is marvellous! What a nice gesture of respect to a husband. Is there any specific reason to this custom?"

The lady whispered, "Land mines"
 
 

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Events and Functions

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Islamic Programmes, Education & Services

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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, except for Lailatul Mehraj, Lailatul Bhahraat and Lailatul Qadr – these dates refer to the commencement of the event starting in the evening of the corresponding day.

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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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