AUSTRALIAN MUSLIMS CELEBRATE EID AL ADHA AMID ISLAMOPHOBIA SWEEPING THEIR COUNTRY
AUSTRALIAN MUSLIMS CELEBRATE EID AL ADHA AMID ISLAMOPHOBIA SWEEPING THE KANGAROO COUNTRY
by Syarif Hidayat*
Thousands of Australian Muslims gathered to celebrate Eid al-Adha, as the country politicians pushed for unity and denounced bigotry. Eid al-Adha, also known as ‘Festival of the Sacrifice’ is a Muslim holiday that celebrates the Prophet Ibrahim for his willingness to sacrifice his own son, Ismail at the order of Allah.
Political and religious leaders have used an Eid celebration in Sydney’s west to call for respect and peace amid growing tensions. About 20,000 people gathered in Sydney’s southwest to mark Eid al-Adha, which also celebrates the end of the annual pilgrimage, known as hajj, to Mecca.
Prayers rang out through Lakemba Mosque in Sydney’s west on Saturday, October 4, 2014, when the Muslim community gathered to worship and feast at the end of the annual Hajj. While politicians from both Australia’s major parties stood among the colourful hijabs and the white thobes donned by men to preach a message of unity.
New South Wales Premier Mike Baird addressed the crowd as “family”. “In NSW we are one family: we have different faiths, we have different backgrounds but we are one family.” “Let’s be honest, over the past few days and months it has been a difficult time,” he said. The security presence had been strengthened for today’s events after the mosque was among a number to receive threats in the wake of recent anti-terrorism raids.
Strengthening of community trust
Members of government, opposition and Muslim community leaders at Sydney’s Lakemba Mosque called for a strengthening of community trust.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said the Eid Al-Adha celebration is a reminder of the need to celebrate peace and freedom. Addressing those gathered, Mr Morrison praised Muslims who showed what was “true and pure”. “I commend those of faith here today who came together in spirit of peace and of unity,” he said. “I assure you of the government’s support of this community.”
“We also come together as Australians to remember those who are a long, long way from here today,” he told the 20,000 people gathered at Lakemba Mosque to mark one of Islam’s biggest festivals.
“Australian Defence Forces on all of our behalfs today and in weeks and months ahead will represent all of us who will seek to restore peace and freedom to those who have had it taken away. “So it is important that as a community of faith that we celebrate peace; and all of those who seek to have that peace restored all around the world but particuarly in the Middle East.”
Opposition leader Bill Shorten used his speech at the event to urge all Australians to stand up against bigots and racists in the wake of divisive debate about the burqa in parliament. “In Australia, the very least we can do to complement the efforts of our troops overseas is on behalf of our community to stand up against sectarian idiots, bigots, people who would seek to put prejudiced views and call them mainstream,” he said.
“I’m not singling individuals out, but what I will say to politicians – whereever they are please do not be headline hunters by engaging in the dimunation of people’s customs and cultures. “People who come to Australia should leave their conflicts behind. We have one set of laws in Australia, but also as a nation, our values are to value diversity.”
Federal opposition leader Shorten also emphasised tolerance.
“Let us declare that the bigots, the racists, the haters, the extremists do not speak for people of faith in modern Australia,” he said.
There was no room for intolerance, racism or prejudice, he said, echoing earlier statements by Immigration Minister Scott Morrison.
The ‘Easterners from the West’
Some people in Indonesia call Australians as the ‘Easterners from the West’ and some others call them as the ‘Westerners from the East’. The reality is that until now it seems Australians (white Australians) still have difficulties to integrate with the community of nations in the East including with Aborigine people, their hosts in Aborigines Land.
On the contrary these ‘Easterners from the West’ blame Aborigines for not being able to integrate into the western culture and they don’t respect the well-established rule in the world civilization that the new comers or the immigrants who should (or make efforts to) integrate into the local/national culture of the host country (land).
The Australians still prefer to have close relations and cooperation with the Western countries rather than Eastern countries. They are even still acting as merely imperialist exploiters of the Eastern countries including Indonesia, a Muslim majority country.
Aussie Muslims threatened by wave of Islamophobia
A fresh wave of Islamophobia has swept through Australia, threatening the country’s Muslim community as they witness a rise in racially-motivated hate crimes, Press TV reports. Community leaders have urged Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to condemn Islamophobia in the country, after reports of Muslim women being verbally abused and mosques defaced.
A number of Muslim figures in the country have also reportedly received death threats. Australia’s grand mufti, Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, as well as other religious leaders called on the Muslim community to exercise restraint and reject the ISIL Takfiri cult’s call for Muslims to indiscriminately kill Australians.
Earlier this week, Australia announced that it was deploying armed security forces to guard the country’s parliament after it allegedly foiled a plot by militants linked to ISIL Takfiris in Syria and Iraq to carry out “public executions.” The rise in hate crimes targeting Muslims in Australia comes after the government announced plans to introduce new anti-terror legislation in parliament.
The new laws would make it illegal for an individual to deliberately counsel, promote, encourage or urge a terrorist act while police would be also granted powers to secretly search the homes of suspects. On September 18, 15 people were arrested after some 800 state and federal police forces raided more than one dozen locations in Sydney.
The Australian government says that up to 60 Australians are fighting alongside the ISIL Takfiris operating in Iraq and Syria, while another 100 are actively working to back the terrorist group inside Australia. Observers believe the US and its allies, including Australia, are directly responsible for the rise of Takfiri terrorist groups such as ISIL in the region because of their interventionist policies, particularly in Iraq and Syria.
Islamic leaders in Australia have called for restraint amid a series of recent threats and attacks against Muslims and mosques in the country. On Wednesday, September 24, 2014, Australia’s grand mufti, Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, as well as other religious leaders called on the Muslim community to exercise self-control and reject the ISIL Takfiri cult’s call for Muslims to indiscriminately kill Australians.
“The recent so-called ‘fatwa’ from overseas, making reference to Australia as a target, has no religious authority and must be rejected,” the religious leaders said in a statement, adding, “We call on everyone to exercise restraint and civility. We must not let emotion take over common sense.”
This is while Muslims and mosques in Australia had been targeted in a backlash over fears about potential terror attacks.
In recent days, extremist groups vandalized mosques and spray-painted threatening messages on property and cars.
“A number of women, particularly in hijab, and children have been verbally abused and threatened… . In one case, a western Sydney mother and her baby were spat on and … [the baby’s] pram kicked. In another, a man in Perth tried to rip the scarf off a woman’s head,” said Mariam Veiszadeh from the Islamophobia Register.
Australian jihadists fuelling Islamophobia
The Australian government has announced plans to introduce new anti-terror legislation in parliament after allegedly foiling a plot by militants linked to the ISIL in the country. Under the new laws, a terrorist act would become illegal and the offence would carry a maximum five-year jail sentence.
The legislation would also make it illegal for an individual to deliberately counsel, promote, encourage or urge a terrorist act while police would also be granted powers to secretly search the homes of suspects. Canberra believes up to 60 Australians are fighting alongside the ISIL Takfiris, while another 100 are actively working to back the terrorist group in Australia.
Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh in his article titled “Australian jihadists fuelling Islamophobia” published in The Canberra Times, June 26, 2014, wrote There may be more than a 100 Australian Muslims fighting with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. In security circles, these people are assessed as high risk for Australia.
Their militant ideology and practical knowledge of weapons use could pose a threat to Australian society upon their return. But the risk they pose is actually far greater than the immediate security threat. They threaten the very social fabric that has fostered Muslim communities. They put Australia’s tradition of multiculturalism at risk and offer fodder to Islamophic commentators who see all Muslims as terrorists at heart.
There is an old saying in Persian: it takes one fool to drop a stone in a well, and many wise men to bring it out. This proverb captures the Muslim experience in Australia. There is no doubt that some Australians feel uncomfortable with the Muslim presence. Muslim traditions, habits, and beliefs are often seen as alien and confronting. The Howard government tried to capitalise on this anti-Muslim bias to bolster its position by looking and sounding tough towards asylum seekers, generally from Muslim backgrounds.
The under-current message was simple: Muslims are governed by un-Australian principles and an inferior value system. This was a blatant political gimmick. But it tapped into a vein that has proven too rich to be ignored by subsequent governments. The latent Islamophobia presents a challenge to Muslims in Australia. And many Muslims have risen to it.
Muslim organisations have learnt plenty about the need for proactive engagement. In the past, Muslim organisations were generally concerned with their own community affairs. These were inward-looking organisations/communities. They often reacted to events and external criticisms about their beliefs and traditions, feeling dejected with accusations and pointed questions that implied a link between Islam and terrorist activities. The sense of victimhood was a defining feature of Australian Muslims.
But in the last decade, many old and new Muslim organisations have tried to get on the front foot. They have come to realise they will never be taken seriously by the broad public, let alone the tabloid press, if they limit their public activity to issuing statements to deny the presumed link between Islam and terrorism, and protesting Muslims’ innocence.
Muslim organisations have tried to offer alternative views and set the agenda, rather than wait to be called by a frantic journalist on an urgent story. Islamic leaders now engage with NGOs, policy and opinion-makers, as well as government departments and the police to help reset relations between Muslims and the broader community. Their message is simple but powerful, Australian Muslims are part of the solution.
This proactive engagement, however, has caused a stir within the Muslim communities and presented the Muslim leadership with a new and unlikely challenge. This one emanates from the fringes of Australian Muslims, and draws on suspicions of the government agenda to stigmatise any Muslim organisation that engages with government agencies.
As a result, Muslim organisations are often forced to work on two very different levels. On the one hand, they work with a range of government and non-government organisations to bolster social harmony and a sense of shared purpose. On the other, they work at the community level to dismiss allegations of betraying Islam. This is a daunting task and they look all the guiltier to their radical critics for trying to deny such outrageous allegations.
This is where the fool and wise men analogy comes in. A few misguided Muslims who choose the path of adventurism and break the law to join the ranks of ISIL undo years of hard work by Islamic community organisations. They perpetuate an image of Islam as fanatical and bloodthirsty, damaging the Muslims’ reputation in Australia.
Ultimately, they play into the hand of Islamophobes who make life hard for the law-abiding Muslim citizens of Australia, concluded Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh from the Centre for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University. (T/P3/R01)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
*Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) (He can be contacted via emails: [email protected])
Bibliotheque:
1.http://www.canberratimes.com.au/
2. http://www.presstv.ir/
5. http://www.sbs.com.au/
