While Jewish leaders were busy defending Muslims from the vicious and vitriolic attacks of a Jewish Professor, Muslim leaders were busy until the weekend jostling and jockeying for positions on the executive of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC).
The last time AFIC had an election, the two sides ended up in court. The court appointed an administrator. The peak body was thus out of action at a time when its leadership was needed to deal with the Hilaly debacle.
The new President, Ikebal Patel, is from the ACT. He is under pressure from a number of state councils (including the Islamic Council of Victoria) to do something about getting rid of the position of Mufti.
If my last conversation with Patel is anything to go by, Mufti Day won’t be coming to an end soon. On that occasion, I was in Canberra for a Multicultural festival. It was at the height of the Hilaly affair, and Patel asked my better half and I to stop writing articles critical of Hilaly and realise that the attack on Hilaly was “a grand media conspiracy”.
It’s great to see Muslims can look forward to a continuation of savvy AFIC leaders.
© Irfan Yusuf 2007
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