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Spreading the
Message of Islam in Anglo-Australia
Developing a
positive image for Islam in Australia
"There is a dearth of
well-educated and culturally aware individuals who can present Islam in a
positive light amongst Anglo-Australians. Many Muslims confuse their home
cultures with Islam, for often the two have been viewed as identical for
hundreds of years... One of our major problems is that ethnic groups prefer to
bring religious leaders, imams, from their country of origin... They must be
aware of cultural issues and not try to impose their own cultures alongside
Islam. Such attempts only drive people away from Islam."
Bilal Cleland
The main task confronting the
Muslim community in Australia is that of passing the message of Islam, as God
commands in the Quran, so that it is understood for what it actually teaches,
not what our enemies say it teaches. We have to attempt to show people that
Islam is a civilising force, that it is a way of life which offers the world a
system of justice with mercy. At present we seem incapable of getting beyond
responding to attacks after they have done their damage. We need a much more
proactive stance than we take at present. There are practically no resources
devoted to dawah [invitation to Islam] in Australia at present. What work is
going on is frequently culturally inappropriate and does as much damage as good.
In fact there is some evidence that when we are under sustained media attack,
there is greater interest in Islam and a larger number of conversions to Islam
than when we are going along quietly and the usual groups are doing their dawah.
Countering
propaganda
Reaction to charges which fit into someone else’s agenda is not a
productive way of spreading knowledge of Islam. However that is what we are
largely restricted to at the present time. It is only when some foul slander is
laid at our door that our spokespeople get the opportunity to counter what has
been said. The Gillespie Affair, the Gulf War, the Shoukan Case, the anglo-feminist
campaign on female genital mutilation, which was blamed on Islam, have all
allowed Muslims to have some voice. The tradition of democratic debate in
Australia is deeply embedded in the culture and while we certainly do not get
equal voice to our slanderers, we get a toe in the door.
Much more attention needs to be
given by Islamic organisations to this aspect of dawah in this country. We do
not have any media monitoring facilities as a Muslim community and volunteerism
is not well established in the societies from which the majority of our Muslim
adults come. Although reaction to media slander is not the answer to the need
for dawah, it cannot be neglected. There is a real danger that many Muslims will
become totally convinced that there is a media crusade against Islam in
Australia and just separate themselves from the mainstream society. Such a
ghettoisation would do untold damage to our effort to let all people hear the
message of Islam.
Developing an
Islamic voice
The Australian Muslim News, now an intermittent English language
publication, was originally designed to appeal to well educated young Muslims
and to be a window onto Islam for interested non-Muslim observers. It is the
responsibility of the National Organisation of Muslims, the Australian
Federation of Islamic Councils and the chief editor is president of that
organisation.
There was an Arabic language
Islamic AM radio station on air in Sydney, which is home to the majority of the
Muslim population. It has been the subject of intense intra-Muslim community
fighting and its future is uncertain. In Melbourne 90.7FM is running a part-week
program of mainly Arabic Islamic radio and the future here is also uncertain,
dependent upon government acceptance of its submission for a permanent voice.
Community television has also
arrived in Melbourne and there are Turkish and Arab programs but no Islamic
program as yet. There is an Islamic program on community TV in Sydney and the
Islamic College in Western Australia also has a community TV program in Perth.
Almost every different ethnic
group in the Muslim community has a first language radio program, but these are
incomprehensible to the mass of the Australian people and a growing number of
the young people in those ethnic communities. They can be useful in dawah with a
section of the older existing Muslim population, and that is sorely needed, but
they are not enough.
We have not yet been able to use
the internet to establish a regularly updated current issues page like Islam
Online or Iviews like the American Muslims. We do not even have a regular weekly
electronic newsletter like the Canadian Islamic Congress Friday Bulletin.
Distinguishing
between the behaviour of individual Muslims and normative Islam
A large proportion of the Australian Muslim population, some two thirds
according to census data, was born overseas. The vast majority come from the
Arab countries, notably Lebanon, and from Turkey. They were brought here to
serve the labour needs of Australian industry and although they are encouraged
to take out citizenship, they are subjected to discrimination in workplaces and
in training programs, which are more and more becoming gateways to secure jobs
in the future. A lot of time of active Muslims is taken up fighting these social
justice issues for our own community which is facing many severe social
problems.
Although most of our people are
law abiding and generally quiet, there are occasional cases of bad behaviour
which bring bad publicity on all of us. It is important that we combat the
tendency for the media to present individual aberrations as issues of Islam. We
are not alone in this, for many ethnic communities have the same problem and we
can make common cause with them. We have always to be careful to make sure that
non-Muslims are aware that when aberrations occur, they are not to be blamed on
Islam but on individual or social factors. We should not let criminals hide
behind Islam in dealing with Australian institutions or the legal system.
Developing the
consciousness and cultural sensitivity of committed Islamic workers
There is a dearth of well-educated and culturally aware individuals who can
present Islam in a positive light amongst Anglo-Australians. Many Muslims
confuse their home cultures with Islam, for often the two have been viewed as
identical for hundreds of years. As we have seen from the great disparity
between the cultural patterns of Australia and those of the Muslim majority
countries on almost very major factor, such inability to distinguish traditional
values from Islamic values can create a disastrous situation. There is a lack of
awareness amongst most Muslims that quite different cultural patterns, patterns
which have evolved over many centuries, can influence one’s view of the
world and of reality. The friendliness of Anglo-Australians on a first meeting
dismays some Muslim immigrants, as does their attitude to social status,
directness of expression and concern with time.
Some dawah groups have a formula
for carrying out their work which does not differ from one continent to the
other. There is no sense of cultural pattern. They confuse the fact that Islam
is meant for all people for the rest of time with the actual pattern of dawah
activity. They seem to believe that the formula, like Islam itself, has been set
for all people for all time. This sort of mindless activity harms our reputation
amongst thinking people.
One of our major problems is that
ethnic groups prefer to bring religious leaders, imams, from their country of
origin. These people are usually unable to communicate in English, so they
cannot even get through to the young people in their own ethnic communities
where the first language has not been well preserved. The Australian education
system is not able to maintain community languages adequately and weekend ethnic
schools are often taught by untrained teachers who use methods drawn from their
own experience which are quite alien to youngsters brought up through Australian
schools.
We are without any means of
training religious leaders locally so we remain dependent upon imported imams.
This creates a gulf between the born Muslim population and the second generation
Muslims as well as new Muslims, who feel shut out from many Islamic activities
and from Islamic education carried out in languages other than English. There is
no adequate teaching of Arabic to new Muslims and there is a dropping off of
numbers amongst them as they feel ignored.
The International Islamic
University in Malaysia and similar educational organisations could help us deal
with this problem in the future by establishing training courses for dawah
workers and imams in partnership with local Australian Islamic organisations.
They must be aware of cultural issues and not try to impose their own cultures
alongside Islam. Such attempts only drive people away from Islam.
Building
friendships amongst Australian community leaders
In order to win respect from non-Muslims, the Muslim leadership must demonstrate
that it is a "doing" leadership. Muslims have a reputation for being
passive and reactive rather than proactive. Few Muslims or Islamic organisations
are active in State Ethnic Community Councils. Muslims are rarely seen in human
rights groups, environmentalist groups or interfaith groups. The recent
"illegal immigrant" refugee release into the community has not been
met with an adequate Muslim community response. Christian welfare agencies are
looking after many of these needy and traumatised Muslims.
We must take our part in broad
community activities as advocates for justice, for human rights, against racism
and against oppression. We must also play our role in meeting the welfare needs
of our community members. Perhaps this lack of involvement is because so many
Muslims come from countries where they have suffered oppression and where
dissidence and community activism can be threatening to health and liberty, but
that excuse is fast losing credibility. A new younger generation of
Australian-raised Muslims is already on the scene but they lack guidance and
direction as to how they may best serve the ummah. Again lack of effective
Islamic leadership at the mosque level is to blame.
Organisations like the World
Conference on Religion and Peace, which links together all religious groups in
the Australian community, the National Council of Churches, the Uniting Church,
the Australian Human Rights Foundation, the Australian Council of Trade Unions,
the Human Rights Commission and the Federal Ethnic Communities Council of
Australia have all played a role in coming to the aid of the Muslim community
when it has been under attack. Muslims have not repaid that support by becoming
active in those organisations and taking a full role in supporting them in their
struggle for social justice.
Some work is being done in this
direction, but it is not seen as central to our role as Muslims. Ethnic specific
issues and problems of migration take up by far the greatest effort. In
international affairs we are almost totally absorbed in Muslim majority country
issues.
Promoting
normative Islam - Quran and Sunah - at every opportunity
The best way to defeat lies is with the truth. That is why it is incumbent on
every Muslim who can communicate adequately in English to make sure that what he
or she says about Islam is just that. As Jamal Badawi reminded us at the July
1995 Symposium on Human Rights in Islam, our primary sources are the Quran and
the Sunnah. We should not give the opinions of jurists, unless there is
unanimity, as the teachings of Islam. It is the Quran itself to which we must
refer, or to hadith.
It is not easy to pass the message
of Islam. Often when you tell people what the Quran states, they will not
believe it. When Muslim behaviour denies what is taught in the Quran or Sunnah,
we are put in the position of having to explain that the people do not
necessarily follow their religion. Of course that is exactly the position of
Christians with the Gospel and Jews with the Torah. It does not impress
non-Muslims at all.
Some Islamic groups argue that we
must make the ummah truly Muslim before we can approach non-Muslims. If that had
been the case historically, we would probably not have spread beyond the Hijaz.
There have always been poor Muslims amongst us. We have all been weak at some
time or another. We cannot all be perfect before we give others the chance to
hear the message. Islam does not belong to "born" Muslims. That sort
of exclusive thinking is a step along the road to introducing racism into the
Muslim community.
It is only when we have large
numbers of culturally aware Muslims that we will be able to pass the message
with wisdom and beautiful preaching in the best possible manner. At present I
sometimes thank God that many Muslims cannot speak English because what comes
out of their mouths may have had relevance in another time in another place, but
in the Australian context it takes on a whole new meaning.
The above article was originally Part
2 of a lecture presented by Bilal Cleland on the 3rd of March, 2001 at the
Elizabeth Jolley Lecture Theatre, Curtin University, in Perth. Organised by the
Federation of Australian Muslim Students and Youth (FAMSY), Western Australia
and CMSA (Curtin University MSA).
References
* Doi. Abdur Rahman I. Non-Muslims
Under Shariah
* Bin Haji Othman. Haji Faisal.
Woman, Islam and Nation Building, Berita Publishing. Kuala Lumpur. 1993
* Hall, E.T. The Silent Language.
New York. Doubleday. 1973
* Hosfstede, G. Culture’s
Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values. Beverley Hills,
California. Sage Publications. 1984.
* Lustig, M.W. and Koester, J.
Intercultural Competence. Interpersonal Communication Across Cultures. Harper
Collins College Publishers. New York. USA. 1993
* Maududi, S. Abul, The Meaning of
the Quran. Islamic Publications Ltd., Lahore 1981
* Pedersen, Paul. A Handbook for
Developing Multicultural Awareness. American Association for Counseling and
Development. Virginia USA. 1988
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