Humiliation by Glorified Clay

Last night, I attended a meeting of a peak organisation. A variety of people spoke at the meeting to discuss a recent summit organised by the PM with certain people claiming to be leaders of the 400,000 Australians that have Muslim faith as a segment of their identity.

Following the meeting, I received a lecture from someone who regards themself as a senior worker and leader of the community.

I have a lot of respect for this person. Notwithstanding the fact that this person has family members that owe me and my former employer over $15,000 in fees for legal and other services rendered, and that I assisted these people with a Federal Police investigation that could have landed them in gaol.

I respect this person notwithstanding that the organisations with which they are associated were almost single-handedly responsible for bringing down the most successful Muslim youth body in Sydney (known as the Islamic Youth Association or IYA) in 1991/92.

I respect this person notwithstanding the fact that I acted for one of the organisations associated with this person’s family members in an industrial law matter. The organisation was an independent school, and they were being sued by a former administrative staff member for unfair dismissal.

I ran the case for that organisation, and it went for a 5-day hearing. I charged a discounted rate of $100 per hour, around one-third what I should have charged. I engaged a top industrial barrister who charged under $10,000 to run a 5-day hearing plus preparation.

It took that institution 5 months to pay the barrister, and they only did so when he threatened to wind them up. It took them some 18 months to pay me.

The former administrative worker who was forced to settle made a complaint about me to the Law Society. That complaint was eventually dismissed as frivolous and vexatious. However, it was the first time anyone had complained against me. The investigation took place during the early months of my marriage. The pressure of the investigation was a major factor that led to the break-up of my marriage.

So there you have it. This person and their family have dominated certain Muslim institutions for over 20 years. I have protected them, covered their collective butts and saved them from almost certain imprisonment. I have defended them at discount prices, and am still owed over $15,000 in fees. My marriage broke up thanks to assisting them in their legal affairs.

And then this person tells me that I need to work with them. I sit there and listen.

“You are so talented, ‘3arfan. Why do you waste it on attacking the community? I do all this work for free. I am helping the community. You shouldn’t hang our dirty laundry on the line. I want you to work with me. You shouldn’t work by yourself.”

And on and on. All in public, in the presence of 10 or so people. I kept my mouth shut and smiled. And I could feel the angel on my right shoulder writing furiously.

So let me take the opportunity of telling these so-called community leaders what I really think of them.

Before you start lecturing me on community leadership, pay me the $15,000 that you and your family owe me from 1997. You earn all this money holding paid community posts. Pay me. The Prophet (peace & blessings of God be upon him) said: “Pay the worker before their sweat dries”. My sweat dried back in 1997.

Before you start telling me about family and community, write a letter of apology to my ex-wife for not helping us as we faced this investigation and stress jointly and as we struggled to survive financially because it took you so long to pay my fees.

Before you start asking me to help you, just accept that God doesn’t need you to do Hid work. I don’t need to work through you to get the job done.

You have had 20 years to do the job. Instead of doing the work, and instead of letting me do the work, you actively obstruct me.

And don’t lecture me on airing your dirty laundry on the line. You are the dirty laundry, not me. You are our dirty laundry, and we must hang you on the line so that our people, our fellow Australians of all faiths, can see that you are not from us.

We are not dirty because you people stack branches for Labor Party MP’s. We are not dirty because you appoint persons without even a Year 12 certificate to run community schools. We are not dirty because you give false intelligence to ASIO and other security apparatus against your internal enemies. We are not dirty because you have been leaking things to journalists for over a decade.

I am not hanging dirty linen on the line. I am exposing you. You are the dirty linen. Go have a wash.

I don’t need you and your organisations to work for God. If you want to speak to the ghetto and for the ghetto, go for it. I have no time for the ghetto Muslims, the loud-mouthed minority that marginalise me and that claim to speak for me.

You say you are the community. Which community? The community of unemployable dole bludgers? The community of permanent consultants to Centrelink? The community of people who refuse to speak English and who insist on always looking and acting differently?

Muslims have been at the heart of mainstream Australia for over 150 years. We are part of this country. We are sons and daughters of the Australian soil. But because of your inaction and stupidity and hogging of resources, we are being marginalised.

The time has come for you to move over and move on. But you cannot move on. Because these organisations butter your bread. You are professional Muslims. You make money out of being Muslim.

As for the rest of us, we are Muslim professionals. And Muslim students and businesspeople and academics and artists and writers and public servants. We contribute to this country. We see our community as the Australian community. We operate within Australian parameters.

When John Stone talks assimilation, he means you, not us. When Dr Nelson speaks of learning Australian values, he refers to you, not us. Because people like you give us a bad reputation.

You are the scum of the Muslim Australian community. You are our worst. We suffer because of you. And we also suffer because we do nothing to rid ourselves of you.

Thank you for your advice, your lecture and your public humiliation. I will consider it and file it in the appropriate part of the council bin.

God doesn’t need you for God’s work to be done. You are just glorified clay. Stop pretending God needs you. Stop pretending you are the community.

© Irfan Yusuf