COMMENT: Time To Come Clean

Recently I read the announcement by our Citizenship Minister, John Cobb, about a Muslim Community Reference Group set up in the aftermath of the Prime Minister’s Summit with Muslim leaders.

Among the names was that of an allegedly non-aligned young Muslim male. Non-aligned? Really?

I have known the young chap for some years now. He is associated with a body called “Darul Fatwa Islamic High Council of Australia”, an alternative umbrella Muslim body competing with the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) for leadership of the deeply fragmented Muslim Australian faith-communities.

Darul Fatwa is an organisation which is based in Lebanon, and it follows the teachings of one Sheik Abdullah Hareri al-Habashi. Among Lebanese Sunni Muslims, this group has a controversial history of cooperation with the Syrian occupation forces.

In Australia, representatives of this group have been involved in attempts to take over a variety of mosques. At one stage during the late 1980’s, they had taken over the King Faisal Mosque in Commonwealth Street Surry Hills. Their first act was to close the library and burn thousands of dollars worth of Islamic literature which they regarded as heterodox.

In the near future, and on the other side of the ideological spectrum, Mr Ruddock will be dining and enjoying the hospitality of a man who is now known as “Sheik Shafiq Khan Abdullah”. Uncle Shafiq (as I always call him) is an old Pakistani gentleman who used to represent interests of the Libyan Islamic establishment in Australia. After having a falling out with the Libyans, Uncle Shafiq then fell into the lap of the Saudis.

Over the years, Uncle Shafiq has sent numerous young Muslim Australians to study in some of the most conservative Wahhabist institutions in Saudi Arabia. Wahhabism is the name often given to the official religion of Saudi Arabia. I have described some of the characteristics of this sect in an article published in the New Zealand Herald in the context of a visit by Wahhabist preacher Abdur Rahim Green:

Green is part of a minority so small it could not even be regarded as a sect. He belongs to the "Salafi", an offshoot of a small fringe sect known as the "Wahhabis". The Salafi strain includes elements from the benign to the outright dangerous. Osama bin Laden belongs to the Salafi strain. But so do most Saudi religious authorities. The various Salafi strains have a number of common
features. Salafis take an anthropomorphic view of many of God's attributes. For instance, when the Koran speaks of God's hands, most Muslims take this metaphorically. But Salafis insist God literally has two hands. They regard anyone who rejects this view as "kafir" (infidel). As a result, Salafis regard most Sunni Muslims as kafir. But it isn't just Sunnis that Salafis reject. Salafis reject Shia Muslims as kafir. And their worst venom is reserved for Sufi Muslims (both Sunni and Shia).

… Salafis regard many Sufi teachings as outside Islam. One of Green's fellow Salafi preachers, an African-American named Dawud Adib, once told an audience at Melbourne University that a prominent Sufi text written by Imam Ghazali (known in Europe as "Algazel") was worth less than
a mosquito wing. Because the Salafis reject mainstream Islam, they are regarded as being on the very edge of the Muslim fringe.

I doubt Uncle Shafiq subscribes to such fringe theology. But he does represent the interests of Saudi organisations and institutions that sponsor this fringe from which al-Qaida and so many other terrorist groups have emerged.

The point here is not so much the theology. What is really at issue is the failure of many of the PM’s favourite Muslim leaders to chalk out an indigenous Australian vision of Islam. Most of the PM’s select leaders are still clinging to foreign regimes of questionable democratic credentials who have provided (and in some cases, continue to) support and finance to these Islamic institutional operations.

If the PM wishes to be seen hob-knobbing with this crowd, that is his business and his risk. But what the PM must be prepared for is scandal. Because when the spotlight is put on many of these bodies, there will be scandal and plenty of it.

Many of these bodies have actively sought to push mainstream Muslim Australians away from their institutions. Others represent the most laughably incompetent bunch in the Muslim communities. One school principal invited to the Prime Minister does not have an HSC. He has been the chairman of a peak NSW Muslim body for over 2 decades.

His younger brother was hand-picked to lead a rotten borough “Islamic Youth Association”. The same brother was employed by the umbrella body as an employment case manager. He went onto win a job-search tender under controversial circumstances in 1998, and is yet to have paid the consultants who helped him write the tender.

So you win a $2 million contract, but you won’t pay $4,500 to your consultant. Makes sense?

Lack of professionalism, incompetence, nepotism, jobs for the boys. All the hallmarks of so many of Mr Howard’s favourite Muslim leaders. If it happened in the ALP, Mr Howard would be gleefully scandalising it in Parliament. But he invites the same types of people to be partners in national security.

This culture of nepotism and incompetence was fostered in organisations which always relied on overseas governments and bureaucracies to butter their bread. In Saudi Arabia, all senior government posts are held by the Royal Family and their cronies (including the bin-Ladin’s). In NSW, select Lebanese, Pakistani and Fiji-Indian families are ruling the roost.

It is time for Muslim community bodies to come clean on the exact extent of their links to overseas groups and bodies. They need to disclose the exact extent of their past and present financial and other links to various regimes and religious institutions in Muslim countries. These people claim to speak for Muslims, most of whom have only tenuous links to countries outside Australia. Aussie Mossies have a right to know, especially now that our national security and not just communal reputation is at stake.

Words © Irfan Yusuf

Making A Difference On the Margins

“What right do they have to speak for us? She doesn’t even wear hijab properly. He doesn’t have a beard. You never see them at the mosque. They don’t belong to our madhab/manhaj/tartib. She isn’t Sunni/Shia.”

How often do we hear these words. And how often do they cause grief to people on the margins.

What we often forget is that, in the current environment, marginal Muslims feel the most pain. They spend most time with the broader community. They don’t hide in the coat-tails of the ghetto. They hear first-hand the nasty words and attitudes of some ignorant and hostile non-Muslims toward their culture and faith.

And they are always the first to experience the first spray of an oncoming tsunami of hatred toward Muslims. They then start building the bridges to enable the wave to flow underneath. And when they go to their Muslim communities to warn them, those very same Muslims sabotage the bridge-building process with excuses such as those in the opening paragraph.

We, the so-called “practising Muslims”, the ones who go to the mosque and refuse to go to the pub, we think we have the sole right to represent this faith. But our history has always shown that it is people on the margins who often make all the difference.

The Messenger of God (peace be upon him) recognised this at the Battle of the Ditch. He was approached one night by Nuaym bin Masud, a man with a reputation for drinking and womanising and for his excellent relations with the enemies of the Prophet.

“I have come to declare my allegiance to you, but my tribe don’t know it. I want to stay with you now”, declared Nuaym.

“No, stay where you are. Do what you need to do. For war is treachery and deception”, was the blessed response.

Using careful diplomacy, Nuaym ended the Battle without a single life being lost. He manufactured suspicion and resentment between a treacherous Jewish tribe and their allies, the Quraysh and other invaders.

Of course, if Nuaym had approached us ghetto Muslims today, we would find excuses to condemn or to pick faults or find excuses. Or worse still, we would allow Nuaym in and give him a sensitive post without testing his true intentions. We are either on one extreme or the other, not using our strategic sense.

Why do we have this attitude? Do we think we own Islam? Do we think God is not powerful enough to make Islam strong unless we are involved? Does God really need us?

Some weeks back, I appeared on a late-night current affairs show. I was accompanied by a prominent Victorian of Turkish origin. He was a young Labor MP, and we spoke about the state of Muslim Australians and their leadership. Yet today I visit Muslim online discussion forums and read ghetto Muslims say this man is a “kadhab” (liar) and a charlatan. These same people then complain about lack of Muslim representation in parliament.

Yet this fellow has no incentive to identify himself as a Muslim. If anything, him doing so is compromising his political career. He faces a backlash in a future preselection and election.

Some weeks back, I felt my faith was dropping a few notches. I had stopped praying. I told a friend of mine whom many would hardly describe as a practising Muslim. On her way to work at a watering hole, she took time out to advise me on salaat and Islam.

“Irfan, have you ever tried meditation? You should try it. Maybe if you meditate for a while, you will feel the urge to get up and make salaat. And try reading Deepak Chopra. You know his greatest inspiration was Rumi.”

She was right. And I am right. Muslims on the margins often make all the difference!

© Irfan Yusuf 2005

John Cobb and Marginalising Muslims

Australian Citizenship Minister John Cobb claims that there is a huge communication divide between Muslim Australians and the rest of Australia. He says this is caused by cultural and language factors. He says much racism against Muslims arises from the fact that Muslim leaders just do not know how to communicate honestly and appear up-front in the eyes of the broader community.

Thanks, John, We could have told you that years ago. I am now 36. I could have told you that 20 years ago after going to my first Muslim youth camp. And I could tell you a whole heap more now.

Young Muslim Australians brought up in Australia and speaking English as their mother tongue could have told you and the PM all this. But instead of inviting us and our representatives, you chose to invite a group largely consisting of the same unemployable bunch of no-hopers.

These “uncles” (women are rarely welcomed in their circles) have been hogging Muslim leadership positions. They have little or no loyalty to Australia, having built their empire and fortunes from the largesse of shonky despotic Arab governments. At least one of them is still on the payroll of Saudi religious institutions (not to mention Saudi intelligence).

Mr Howard chose to invite 2 delegates from the irrelevant Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, an umbrella body of state and territory councils of little relevance to mainstream Muslims. AFIC is riddled with nepotism and corruption. Soon, the executive officer of AFIC will be exposed in the media was a fraud who made a substantial fortune out of picketing halal meat funds. Also revealed will be his setting up of a secret account containing a donation from a Libyan organization.

Then there is the royal family who have been ruling one of three Islamic Councils in NSW. Members of the family owe at least 2 lawyers over $15,000 in legal fees, including one member who was investigated by the Federal Police in relation to a tender for employment services. This fellow was employed by his older brother as a case manager, and his older sister has also been at the heart of operations of that council and many of its member-societies.

The ex-chairman of that council is currently Principal of a government-funded Islamic primary school, despite not having even a Higher School Certificate.

Then there is the PM’s favourite wahhabi Muslim. The PM loves visiting his school, and has even allowed Mr Ruddock to have dinner at the man’s house. Mr Howard wants a scandal. He is not satisfied with the industrial relations debacle, Telstra fueds and revelations of religious extremism inside the NSW Branch of the Liberal Party. Mr Howard wants to be seen hob-knobbing with a man who has sent hundreds of young Australians to extremist seminaries in Saudi Arabia and who invites and hosts extremist Saidi religious scholars to give lectures and classes in Australia.

Mr Howard will not invite young 2nd and 3rd and 4th generation Muslim professionals and business people. He won’t talk to Ahmed Fehour or John Ilhan or Irfan Yusuf or Adem Somyurek or Waleed Aly or Hanifa Dean or Randa Abdel-Fattah or Dr Tanveer Ahmed or others of that ilk. He is too busy talking to middle-aged Indian men to worry about what Aussie Mossies think.

Mr Howard only speaks to self-appointed leaders on the very margins of the mainstream Aussie Mossie community. He wants to speak to those busy marginalizing Muslim Australians. He would rather speak to institutions most Muslims ignore, bodies that appoint people to positions such as “Mufti” without defining their role of giving them proper resources.

John Cobb is correct in saying that young Muslims needed to be involved in the security debate. After all, these same young Muslims live and study and work in Australia. Their closest ties are to Australia. Their loyalty is beyond dispute. They understand Australian culture and values because they practice these as their own.

Yet sadly, it is these genuinely Aussie Mossies who will be the first to be attacked and humiliated and marginalized. They feel hurt the most by infantile comments of ignorant Liberal backbenchers like Bronwyn Bishop and Sophie Whatsherface. If things get too bad, the “uncles” can always go back to Fiji or India or Sri Lanka or Lebanon. But the Aussie Mossies have nowhere else to go!

Of course, Uncle Osama is sitting in his cave, hoping these young Aussie Mossies will join his disgraced pseudo-jihad. He wants these Aussie Mossies to feel marginalized, to feel out of place like foreigners in their own country.

And Uncle Osama can always rely on his loyal friends on Mr Howard’s backbench (and even on the Treasurer and Education Minister) to make stupid comments aimed at marginalizing Muslims from the rest of the community. He can rely on NSW Liberal MLC’s and their staffers recruiting new members with a pathological hatred from Muslims and Jews.

When extremism hijacks the public discourse in Australia, the only beneficiary is Uncle Osama. He and his agents can whisper in the ears of some depressed lonely marginalized nominal Muslim. And before we know it, Sydney or Melbourne has its own 9/11 or 7/7. No amount of draconian “anti-terror” laws will be able to stop the process.

Marginalisation of Australian Muslims is a bigger threat to our society than terrorism or bird flu. Muslims are one of the oldest and well-established faith communities. They have been at the heart of Australian life for over 150 years. If you marginalize them today, tomorrow it will be Sikhs, then Hindus, then Buddhists. And eventually we will go full-circle, back to marginalizing and hating Jews.

Uncle Osama will then really be smiling. And perhaps so will the ghost of Uncle Adolf.

iyusuf@sydneylawyers.com.au

© Irfan Yusuf 2005

4 Years To The Day

On Sunday 11 September 2005, exactly 4 years following the horrific attacks on New York and Washington, the Affinity Intercultural Foundation organised a “Summit” to discuss terrorism, community harmony and other topics.

The Summit was billed as a chance for Muslims to express their views in front of the mainstream media. The program was aimed at providing a more representative selection of Muslim leaders to those represented at the Prime Minister’s Summit.

I could always report on the event in a nice fluffy way. After all, I acted for the Feza Foundation Limited and for Sule College for some 5 years. I have close friends from university who are heavily involved in the Foundation. But I would be doing the Foundation a disservice if I did not give an honest assessment.

Affinity Intercultural Foundation is the interfaith wing of a Turkey-based religious congregation (or “cemat”) linked to Turkish Islamic scholar Muhammad Fethullah Gulen. That cemat’s interests are represented in Australia by the Feza Foundation Limited, a company limited by guarantee and registered back in the mid-1990’s.

The Foundation runs two schools, including Sule College in Sydney. These schools claim to be non-denominational, though are modelled on other Islamic schools run under the auspices of the Gulen-led cemat.

The summit was unashamedly an Islamic event, one of the few times an organisation linked to the cemat as acknowledged their Muslim identity. It is not unusual to have representatives of the cemat approach me and hesitate in greeting with salams, especially in the presence of non-Muslims.

Amazingly, cemat members are less circumspect about being Turkish, especially in the presence of Turkish government and diplomatic officials or Turkish media.

Of course, not all persons in the cemat are like this. Many are open about their Muslim Australian identity, and wear their Islamist credentials openly. They speak with pride about their leader, regarded as one of the most sensible and moderate Islamic leaders in the Muslim world.

The Summit consisted of a range of speakers. These included the President of the Anti-Discrimination Board, Stefan Kerkesherian. Also speaking were an ALP and Green MP (though no Liberals or Democrats were given a chance to speak).

Apart from the Turkish consul-general and the imam of Auburn Gallipoli Mosque, all Turkish speakers were from the Gulen-led cemat. I myself requested that other prominent Turkish Muslim speakers be allowed to speak.

I suggested Mulayim Iskander (NSW Prison Chaplain) and Dr Abdur Rahman Asaroglu (Muslim Chaplain of UTS & Sydney University). I was advised by one organiser that these two speakers would not be invited to speak as their organisations never allowed Gulen-led cemat speakers to speak at their functions.

Instead of these two experienced chaplains, the podium was given to someone described as the Muslim chaplain of Macquarie University. As a former President of Macquarie University Muslim Students Association, a life member of the Macquarie University Union (known as "Students At Macquarie") and a regular attendee at the Friday prayer services there, I was surprised to hear for the first time that this fellow had been appointed chaplain. Indeed, I have hardly ever seen him on campus.

What made me extremely circumspect was that this fellow was described as a graduate of the Islamic University in Madeena in Saudi Arabia. This is the same institution from which Sheik Feiz Mohamad studied. But in the case of Mr Afroz Ali, no one has ever cited his qualifications, nor does he allow anyone to cite it.

When challenged to produce his qualifications, Mr Ali has always been reluctant to produce a copy of his degree from Madeena. Further, inquiries from the Madeena Islamic University have thus shown no one by his name has ever graduated from that university, though it is possible he may have used a different name.

I have asked Mr Ali on at least 3 occasions to advise me and show me his qualifications, both in private e-mail exchanges and in public debates online. Others have also made these requests. Thus far, he has been reluctant to show his qualifications.

It concerns me that Affinity Intercultural Foundation would allow to the podium someone whose claimed qualifications are yet to be proven, yet refuses the podium to accredited and qualified chaplains and scholars.

The highlight of the event was the speech of Osman Softic. Mr Softic is a graduate from the Faculty of Theology at the University of Sarajeva, and holds a Masters of International Relations from the University of NSW.

Mr Softic took the wind out of the sail of the hard-Left and the blind followers of Noam Chomsky by reminding the audience that the United States had saved Bosnia and Kosovo from near-oblivion. He also reminded them of the crimes of communism. His speech drew muted applause from many peace activists unprepared to recognise the evils of an ideology that have grown to love.

Mr Ali Roude read a speech that had been prepared for him. It was well-read. I am not sure who wrote it, but its content was clearly out of his league. I saw him after his lecture speaking with a journalist from the Sydney Morning Herald about Muslim community leadership and internal political issues.

To think he and his Nada sister castigate me for hanging dirty linen on the line.

At its peak, the hall was half-full. It seemed that, following a controversial appearance by organisers on a tabloid TV show, many chose to keep away from the event. It seems the organisers have a long way to go before being able to manage the media. As one senior member of the Foundation said to me: “These Affinity people are well-intentioned but naïve. They have a long way to go yet before they will make any real difference.”

Affinity should be congratulated for at least trying to host an event. But in the end, it was little more than a selection of speeches given by people whom Affinity wanted to impress or curry favour from. There was little chance for audience participation. Indeed, at one stage it seemed the speakers and their families outnumbered the real audience.

© Irfan Yusuf 2005

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

REFLECTION: Covering the hair, not the mind ...

On Monday night, Andrew Denton interviewed a genuinely Australian couple. He had a masters degree in economics, she a masters degree in education. He ran a small business. She was a teacher at a suburban Sydney school. They were your typical aspirational Aussie couple.

And who was wearing the pants from amongst them? Not unusually for 21st century Australia, it was the wife. Anyone sitting in the studio audience at Ultimo could see it. Having known the couple from university and watching them fall in love on campus, I already took it for granted. And Maha Shiyab did not disappoint me as she gently took over the show by describing the President of the United States of American as “just plain dumb”.

Then on Tuesday night, three of these power-women descended on Canberra. While the men pussy-footed around and satisfied themselves with motherhood statements, these mothers and wives and daughters stole the show in front of the PM and his ministers.

Iktimal Hage-Ali ruled the roost on the radio and TV waves. This 21 year old youth leader held her ground in the presence of the world media, telling reporters that Islam had no place for violence. She was “110,000 per cent” against violence. When asked about Usama bin Ladin, she said: "We … don't need to talk about a deranged person that is missing somewhere in the mountains … Don't want to think about him, don't want to talk about him.”

Azizah Abdelhalim was tough and took no nonsense from reporters or politicians. But as Anwar Ibrahim knows, all Azizah’s are like that. He feared telling a joke about his wife, the good Dr Wan Azizah, and not just out of fear she might put extra chilli in his beef rendang.

And what can I say about Queenslander Yasmin Khan? I've never met her, but I have two close friends from either side of the Tasman of that name.

The Kiwi version speaks little and thinks carefully before she says anything. She is highly intelligent, a research scientist who would do her late Muslim father proud. Her giggle is “unfikshus”. She has been blessed with external beauty, but her mind shines as its radiation emerges from her tall regal forehead. When she finds out I have written about her, I know she will scold me ever-so-gently.

The Aussie Yasmin just scolds me. And she scolds her young son. And her husband. And any other male who gets on her nerves. Her quiet husband Mohamed seems to have given up trying to wear the pants in that marriage. And when “Yazza” (as her Aussie Mossie mates call her) and her nurse-friend Layla get together, the blokes are always the target of the ferocious wit of these covered women cracking barbs like the two old men on the Muppet Show.

As anyone on the Aussie Muslim circuit knows, you never mess with a Yasmin!

On Tuesday night, I saw the same scene at the Channel 9 studies. Geoffrey Robertson QC, one of the world’s foremost international lawyers, was grilling the likes of Tony Abbott, Dr Mahathir and Kim Beazley.

I was on that panel. I could see Mr Abbott, an experienced and brilliant public speaker, a man who gave one of the best pre-selection speeches in Liberal Party history, shiver in his shoes when placed in the spot with tough questions from my very smooth and very learned friend.

Of course, Mr Robertson could not phase the women. And one woman stood out as the star of the show. Nada Roude was phenomenal. She struggled with the notion of her 24 year old daughter being labelled a terror suspect and a potential suicide bomber. Nada spoke firmly and resolutely, showing lots of other Aussie mums what should be done. Hopefully her words will not be edited too much by the Channel 9 Sunday crew.

The 1950’s and 60’s saw a mini-revolution in the Arab world. More and more Muslim women were liberating themselves from the strictures of of their culture and emerging from their homes into the modern world. It seemed the Muslim woman was finally being liberated.

A major symbol of thise revolution was seeing women appear in public with their heads uncovered. It seemed this piece of cloth (known as “hijab” in the Middle Wast, “chador” in Iran and “tadung” in Malaysia) was covering the hair and the mind.

The 1990’s saw something unusual. The daughters of these women decided they wanted to keep their minds open but cover their hair. Many of their western sisters could not understand this phenomenon. Why would you want to cover your hair? Who was forcing you?

The answer? In most cases, no one.

These covered feminists emerged as the new leaders of the Muslim world. They were tough, resilient and not afraid to boss us blokes around.

Aussie (and Kiwi) Muslim women, with or without anything on their heads, are not to be messed around with. They are tough, resolute, educated and ready to face the challenges life and other contingencies place before them. Don’t even try to patronise them.

Words © 2005 Irfan Yusuf

Learning & un-Learning To Hate Jews

Mr Howard has invited what he describes as moderate Islamic leaders to a summit on Tuesday 23 August 2005. Amongst the organisations attending is the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) who are being represented by their President, Dr Ameer Ali.

Dr Ali is an economist teaching at Murdoch University. He is a highly educated and well-spoken man with bright ideas and plenty of enthusiasm. He is perhaps new to the AFIC structure and is not aware of some of the matters you are about to read on.

Indeed, many of the things I am mentioning will be totally unknown to many people associated with AFIC. But anyone who has attended AFIC camps will confirm what I am saying.

In 1985, I attended my first Muslim youth camp, held at Harrietville, a small village in country Victoria. The camp was organised by AFIC, a body which is now asking the Australian government to legislate to give it exclusive powers to regulate and monitor Muslim religious affairs in Australia.

At the conclusion of the camp, all participants received a certificate and a set of books. These books were printed in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and were published by the International Islamic Federation of Student Organisations (IIFSO) and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY).

Among the books was on the Afghan Jihad. It had substantial quotations from Sheik Abdullah Azzam, a prominent Muslim religious scholar and spiritual leader of all Afghan mujahideen movements. Those were the roaring ‘80’s, a time when jihad was synonymous with fighting communism.

Another book was a small brown-coloured book. It was entitled “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion”. At the time I received my copy, I had no idea what the book was about. The book had no author and seemed a cheap pirated reprint. What I do recall was that the book had the official seal of AFIC on the inside cover. It was being distributed as prizes to camp participants, and I received a copy of the book as a result of winning the camp essay competition.

I never took much notice of the book until I attended my next AFIC camp in 1987. This camp was held at Jindabyne. I was again in the “advanced” group. Our teacher was an elderly Sydney imam. At the end of the camp he took our names and addresses and promised to send us some books.

Some 2 months after the camp, he sent me a book. It was a copy of the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. I telephoned the imam and asked him about the book.

“You must read this book. You must learn what the Jews are doing to Muslims and to the world. You are a young man and an educated man. You should learn to be careful about the Jews.”

I showed my mother the book. Without my knowing, she slipped into my room that evening and threw the book in the bin. I never saw the book again.

Some years later, I was organising a Muslim youth camp for the Islamic Youth Association of NSW. Our office was in Zetland, in the same complex as the AFIC headquarters. We wanted to borrow the AFIC photocopier so that we could photocopy the camp educational materials.

The AFIC CEO, Mr Amjad Mehboob, was happy for us to move the photocopier downstairs to our office. However, in return, we were to assist him in cleaning the store room adjacent to the mosque.

I remember entering the store room and assisting Mr Mehboob and others in lifting boxes and shelves and rugs. One box was sealed and had a sticker which said that it was a gift from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

I opened the box. Inside it were multiple copies of the same book with the same brown-covered English reprint of the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. I asked Mr Mehboob what I should do with the box.

“You might want to hand them out as prizes at your youth camp”.

I took a copy of the book to the camp organiser. He threw the book back at me and told me to destroy all copies.

Around 2 weeks later, I was in my university library and saw a book entitled “Index of anti-Semitic Propaganda”. It was a book containing titles and summaries of books which were regarded as spreading hatred toward Jews. The first book listed was the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.

My mother’s first friend in Australia was a Jewish lady named Anne. My parents had many Jewish friends and colleagues. Some of my closest friends at school were Jewish. Yet I was being taught at a youth camp organised by the peak body of Muslim Australians that an old anti-Semitic forgery from Russia was to be treated as a legitimate Muslim religious educational text.

At university, I was passionately pro-Palestinian. I had numerous Palestinian friends. The first novel I ever ordered from overseas was a copy of Sahar Khalifeh’s “Wild Thorns”. I bought the book from Abbeys Bookshop in York Street in the city, a few minutes walk from my school.

I always saw the Palestinian struggle as a national one, a battle against an essentially nationalistic and irreligious ideology called Zionism. The war was against extreme Zionism, not against Jews or Judaism. If anything, the struggle to liberate Jerusalem would have to involve Jews (and indeed Zionists) of goodwill.

Saladdin could never have defeated the crusaders and liberated Jerusalem without the advice and wise counsel of the famous Shaykh Musa bin Maymoun al-Qurtubi (Moses Maimonides).

I support the idea that Muslim youth need to be educated in proper, real Islam. But I am afraid of having Islamic education managed by an organisation which was involved in distributing an anti-Semitic text. I am aware that certain Imams have not been invited to sit with the PM. Amongst the crimes of these Imams is that they distribute anti-Semitic literature.

But the Protocols is just the beginning. Schools managed by AFIC have refused to sign an Islamic school manifesto committing signatory schools to Australian values and to opposition to all forms of terrorism. By implication, it seems AFIC schools are against Australian values and support terrorism. I am sure this implication is wrong, but it may be regarded as a legitimate interpretation.

So why did some people from AFIC distribute anti-Semitic literature to young people at Muslim camps? Was it unwittingly done given the lack of English language skills people had? Was it pure malice against Jewish people? I am not sure.

The books were not locally printed. Rather, they were printed in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The books were being distributed by pro-Saudi religious bodies in Australia, including by at least two organisations being represented in the meeting with the PM.

Many young Muslims would read this literature and develop hatred and resentment toward Jewish people. But when they moved into wider society and worked and studied and made friends with Jewish Australians, they realised such sentiments were absurd. However, a seed planted at an early age tends to leave some traces on the garden. And sadly, anti-Semitism has been one of the seeds planted in the minds or Muslim youth in Australia.

Today, AFIC don’t run Muslim camps. Groups such as the Australian Islamic Cultural Centre are no longer (as far as I am aware) active in the education of young Muslims (apart from running the odd school). Young Muslims are taking control of their own education.

The Melbourne Age recently reported on an initiative by Young Muslims of Australia (YMA) based in Melbourne. Women from YMA are running a program teaching Muslim girls and women to swim. Groups like YMA and FAMSY are offering relevant services and activities to young Muslim Australians. YMA and FAMSY people are slowly but surely taking over peak Muslim bodies such as the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV).

But groups like AFIC and others are resisting generational change. They are resisting the involvement of young people committed to their faith and their country. They are resisting women’s participation. Instead, they are locked in the old mindset of migrant settlement and welfare. And of unwittingly distributing books like the Protocols.

© Irfan Yusuf 2005

Aussie Pollies & Aussie Mossies

In recent times, there has been plenty of focus on a meeting between the Prime Minister John Howard and a small select group of allegedly “moderate” Muslim “leaders”.

The goal of this meeting, according to the PM, is to promote and encourage “moderate” leaders and to marginalise “radicals”. Mr Howard says he wants to "prevent impressionable younger people in particular from coming under the sway of extremism".

Kim Beazley, seeking to out-Howard Mr Howard, has suggested that Dr Nelson should also attend as Education Minister. Why? Because “Australian values” must be taught in all schools including Islamic schools.

We have not yet heard from the real opposition leader, whom we understand at this stage to be Senator Barnaby Joyce. Or is it Dr Evans? Who knows.

What we do know is that the politicians have basically sought to invite another bunch of politicians to talk politics. Mainstream Muslim Australians are once again being side-lined. The twin pillars of Muslim Australia – women and young Muslims born and raised in Australia – are being ignored.

I am in no way suggesting that no one amongst the lucky 15 or so people should not be part of the meeting. But let’s look at some of the people.

One participant is a man who for years ran a shadowy body called the “National Federation of Islamic Societies”. The chap is a Pakistani of Pathan origin who originally was aligned to Colonel Gaddafi and then switched sides to the Saudi royal family.

This fellow has for years been sponsoring young Muslims to study in some of the most extreme and radical religious institutions in the Muslim world, including the Islamic University of Madeenah.

Perhaps a good test of the moderate nature of this university can be seen in its Australian graduates. Three prominent names come to mind – Sheiks Omran, Feiz Mohamed and Abdus Salam Zoud. All these three individuals have close links to the gentleman in question.

Mr Howard regularly speaks with this gentleman and chooses to visit his school in Auburn. Mr Howard lends his support to a man at the heart of the process of radicalisation of Muslim youth. Mr Howard is supporting the training of more young Australian Muslims into the likes of Zoud, Omran and Feiz.

Further, this gentleman has been found by an Australian court to have been involved in an interesting use of funds meant to be used by Turkish Muslim groups for their activities.

Turks are one of the largest and most established Muslim ethnic groups in Australia. One of Australia’s most successful Muslim businessmen, John Ilhan, is of Turkish background. Yet the PM has not invited a single Turk. Nor are other established communities (Bosnians and Albanians) represented in the list.

Then there is Dr Ameer Ali from the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC). Dr Ali told Perth talkback radio that he wants the government to hand special legislative powers to his body so that they can police and regulate Muslim Australian activity. His CEO, my old Uncle Amjad Mehboob, has also suggested that the government should move to ensure that only AFIC be allowed to operate Muslim independent schools.

The majority of Muslim schools are run outside the AFIC structure. Most of these schools form an umbrella body known as the Council of Islamic Education in Australia. The CIEA schools have all signed a manifesto condemning terrorism and violence. AFIC schools refuse to sign the manifesto.

Could Mr Beazley please advise what kind of Australian values would lead schools part of a peak Muslim body to refuse to sign their name to a document condemning terrorism? Could Mr Howard please advise what is so moderate about the refusal of AFIC schools to sign the manifesto?

Then there is one chap who has been the chairman of one of three peak Islamic councils in NSW. This chap is the principal of an independent school, yet he does not even hold a higher school certificate. He has a history of employing family members to perform services for his body, using government funding to pay them.

This gentleman was responsible for the closing down of the oldest umbrella Muslim youth body, the Islamic Youth Association of NSW (IYA). Up until a few years ago, the IYA existed in all but name. This gentleman had appointed his younger brother as president of the IYA. Other members of his family were ruling the roost of the Muslim Womens’ Association and the Muslim Aged Society.

The same younger brother who presided over the IYA also won a tender to provide job services to unemployed youth in 1998. He was the subject of a Federal Police investigation, and was represented by a Melbourne law firm who to this day have not been paid for their services. The amounts owing exceed well over $10,000.

Members of this family may be tempted to sue the writer for defamation. Before doing so, they should consider paying the fees of at least 2 other Muslim solicitors who have substantial amounts outstanding for services rendered at a heavily reduced rate.

It is people like these that Mr Howard believes are the moderate voices of the Muslim community. It is people like these that Mr Howard wishes to promote. Who is advising Mr Howard? In what way can these people contribute to national security?

In Sydney, there are over 5 Muslim womens’ bodies. Mrs Halim, the former President of one such body, will be attending the meeting. But what about Sally Mousa, President of the Muslim Womens Association? What about other womens’ representatives?

Muslim women make up over 51% of the Muslim Australian community. Where are they being represented? Why aren’t they the majority of those attending?

Mr Howard talks about not wanting to encourage young people to head toward extremism. So where are the youth representatives? Or is it just AFIC’s youth adviser, Sheik Hilali, who will be attending together with a token person from the NSW Youth Advisory Council? Why is the entire event being dominated by middle-aged migrant men?

But then, is it really Mr Howard’s fault that many on the list are unrepresentative? After all, AFIC has overseen a national structure which has been completely disorganised and disoriented. AFIC has created fake state councils when existing ones fall out of its favour. AFIC has allowed itself to be dominated by middle-aged sub-continental men.

Muslim Australians need to make AFIC accountable. Ordinary Aussie Mossies must ensure AFIC becomes their voice. They must ensure that the sub-continental and other ethnic types be shipped out and be replaced with a genuine bunch consisting of women and people brought up in Australia.

In short, Muslim Aussies must ensure AFIC becomes truly Australian.

The author is a Sydney lawyer.

© Irfan Yusuf 2005