Australian Muslims: Double standards and unclear stance

As a Roman Catholic I have to state a couple of beliefs that I hold dear. First, regardless of your faith, if you truely believe then you are saved; this applies to Christians, Muslims, Buddists, Hindus, every faith on earth. Second, People of all faiths come here to Australia because it is the place they want to be, they should not come here to change what we are or who we are; adapt and survive. Australians are very tolerant people up to a point, go beyond that point and the tolerance is gone.

I don't think the sister is slandering all the elders in the community, however old or young no one should publicly go about bringing another good muslim to their fall. I do feel that the tone of this article is directed to all people who feel that they have the right to personally attack someone. So let us all relax and try and make the issues brought up in this article extinct.
Next time we see a young person trying to do good lets encourage them and if they do make a mistake (as after all they are human) lets try and go about fixing it the Islamic way, which doesn't involved public humiliation.
Great article!

This article is spot on.

GOD! AGAIN WITH THIS ELDERLY SLAMMING THE YOUNG PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY DONT WANT TO FOLLOW THE WAY THEY FOLLOW. WAKE UP AND SMELL THE DIFFERENCE AND ACCEPT THAT IT IS BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!

"In The Name Of God The Most Merciful, Most Compassionate" - muslimvillage.com should be aware that God does not translate Allah and the God that Christians know is a three-in-one God with Jesus and this is what the Christians think when they see "In The Name Of God The Most Merciful, Most Compassionate" in a muslim article or in a false translation of Quran and Muslims should use Allah for Allah and stop fooling around with the Quran, the Most Powerful Scripture on the Planet.
Allahuakbarr!

Hypocrisy abounds!

cont..
has resulted in a 'community' who never really interact with each other except when standing side by side for the Eid prayer, and almost never interact with the wider Australian community except for work or shopping.
We need to nurture in ourselves and our children a love of the land in which Allah has placed us and a love of its people who He created just as He created us. We need to nurture sincere concern for the wellbeing and benefit of not only ourselves and our families, and not even only for the Australian Muslim community but for the people of the nation at large. If we cannot get involved in the concerns of our own country where we live and and are provided for in, how can we expect to find solutions to problems we see overseas. Allah has placed us here and we have a responsibility to this land we are in, and things work by sequence and in steps.
I believe the first step is becoming more a part of the wonderful country in which Allah has placed us.

I feel like the only good that can come of speaking about problems is if we speak about solutions to those problems, and try to discern why those problems exist.

The vast majority of the Australian Muslim community consists of people whose history in Australia began with a parent, granparent or great grandparent migrating here in search of a better life. I feel like the result of that has been that the majority of people raising Muslim children in this country have been very much consumed with working hard to achieve that dream of a better life, and that working hard has meant that they live in an isolated bubble, caught up with wordly affairs, and not much involvement with the wider Australian community, and understanding their place within it, and contributing to it in beneficial ways.
cont...

I don't wholly agree with the article, but some really important points have been drawn out.

- Being a community doesn't mean we cannot criticise. Particuarly those who make wild claims that are absolutley divergent to the community's beleifs.

- You are absolutley correct in saying that this criticism goes way too far (at times) and it should never reach that place. Backbiting and slander are always haram.

- This however, does not mean that we cannot speak about what the person has said. No it's the complete opposite, we should in fact speak out loud against those from our own community who make inappropriate comments to the public. This is not a case against private nassiha, but what I don't understand is why people get all up in arms when responses to comments are made publicly. If the comments of the individual were made publicly, then they need to be addressed and spoken out against publicly. And we are not talking about matters where difference of opinion exists, we are talking about foundational; core beliefs that all Muslims share. These beliefs are the definition of Muslims, to not share those beliefs is something epically serious!

- They are our brothers and sisters and we love them with all our hearts, but the same way your blood brother stuffs up, and you pull him in line (sometimes really firmly), we do the same with our Muslim siblings. That does not mean we suddenly hate them.

- And for the people that run around saying "kufr, kufr, kufr", then that is also unacceptable and must also be addressed.

- We are a community, and the community needs to be able to call out things for what they are. To insuinate otherwise is to make the community weak, and it is also a slap in the face of the community.

Whilst I read above that the "old country" ways must dwindle as they do not work here be careful about seeking another alien manifestation for Australia that is leadership. Australians for the most part don't like being led anywhere. My family has been here since 1921 and left a country where the "leadership" had managed to wash our national aspirations down the drain for 300 years. We didn't come here to seek a new set of national aspirations but to get away from a set that didn't include us. Australia exists as a multicultural country because we have been able to achieve it due to a lack a leadership that brings forth one strict interpretation of Australia. This is not a bad thing. My clan in Scotland never had a chief as we never needed one and never wanted one ..... and for that matter we were all chiefs. Islam has such a wide range of expression that it is likely impossible to create a leader to act as a spokesperson and this problem is exacerbated by the fact that we are living in Australia that has shunned the idea of a single charismatic leader. Looking for heroes in Australia to act in such charismatic roles is a hard search individuals seek them in sport, music, medicine, social reform etc ..... but we lack that one unifier that binds us together as a nation. We have not had the people such as Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Muhammad and the tribes of others who have singularly inspired us to be better. Likewise the art of public oratory within politics has ended with Bob Hawke being the last regular practitioner. Having said this I remind myself of Kevin Rudd's moving speech to apologise to the Aboriginal people. Where are the inspirer's that galvanise Australia into a national effort? Missing? Absent? Or just never needed! Islam needs greater voice but it wont come from that one leader that will turn the minds and hearts of people in this country around. Don't waste your time. The Islamic community needs to start thinking Australian to resolve the issues of suspicion and acceptance it craves.

While my comment may have some relevance it wasn't written in response to this article. That will be coming shortly as a fuller opinion piece insha'Allah.

The community is quite important however much more important is the religion of God. Lets get our priorities right and focus abit more on Allah rather than the actual community shall we?

When people stand up and call for something which is clearly forbidden in the religion, and goes beyond that by stating that the Shariah is somehow incorrect on certain stances, then this is violating and perverting Islam and the One who created us.

For anyone who has any understanding in Islam, making claims that the Shariah is wrong in certain areas is clearly Kufr. If you think its offensive or inapproriate to call it Kufr then please consult any righteous Scholar and allow them to explain to you what it is..

And if you think the ones who are calling it Kufr lack Adab, then what do you have to say about the ones who are uttering the blasphemies? Or what do you have to say about the ones who are silencing us from speaking the truth of the matter??

Copied from another opinion page from "Ghaith" · 1 day ago is highly relevant here as this may in response to that article:

The real problem is the intellectual arrogance of a small group of our younger generation. With all due respect, someone in their mid-20s who has spent all their time in academia is not equipped to make social commentary. To do so while espousing views which are clearly against the fundamental principles of the religion you claim to be a part of is simply ludicrous. To then try and take the moral high ground on your right to speak your mind on the basis that you do not speak for anyone else is simply evidence of my first sentence.

This is religion we are talking about. If you genuinely believe in The Divine then learn what the core teachings of your religion are before claiming that you are just voicing a personal opinion. On the day of judgement your personal opinion won't be worth diddly squat.

I agree with Ziyad. In any case you will never be totally rid of the 'elders'. One day you too will be an 'elder'.
There is a meeting point that will take some wisdom and striving to reach.
The prophet [saw] respected and honoured his uncle - Abu Talib and he never became Muslim. We can learn so much from the Sirah if we take the time to study it.

While i think some vital points are raised, i think that you seem to have double standards yourself.

The community is desperately in need of the energy, zeal and passion of youth along with the wisdom, experience and insight of our elders. The two go hand in hand.

A community lead solely by the elders (without the contribution of the youth) means nothing will ever get done. A community lead solely by youth will lead to poor, unguided comments and initiatives that miss the mark.

assalamu alaykum,

Very well put, I agree with your sentiment completely. It's something I have noticed and been ashamed of as a muslim but insha-allah I have faith that we may move from this. There needs to be some introspection within the islamic community, nationally and abroad. If we cannot live in harmony with our own muslim brothers and sisters, then how can we expect to live peacefully with the world at large?

I hope the irony isn't lost on you...the irony that is this scathing critique of the Muslim community...

assalamu alaykom,

Perhaps this illness in the community has something to do with the fact that Australian Muslims have not payed significant attention to the Aboriginal struggle for justice? To take part in the privileges of being Australian citizens, yet ignore addressing the injustices (a people invaded and displaced, and the wealth of the land exploited, similarly to Palestine) that are the foundation of those privileges, is criminal.

If one is unjust to oneself (i.e. in righteous conduct and following Islam) one cannot expect to be truly just to one's family, or community (whether Muslim community or national community). And this works the other way round, those who are unjust to others will be unjust to themselves and their own.

Muslims are supposed to be the vanguards of justice. The path to unity in the Muslim community, I believe, starts with the unity and organisation of Muslims to advocate and work for justice for the Aborigines, the poor, justice for themselves (defence from racial and religious dsicrimination), and justice for all Muslims and oppressed peoples around the world.

Through this righteous struggle you will find unity, and a community identity founded upon righteousness and the pursuit of justice.

What could be better?

I hate to say it Nasser but I agree the sooner my generation and older from the old country dwindle in the background (with all due respect) inshalla we will deal with real issues with muslims in this land, because the old country ways do not work here, they only succeed in dividing us, mixed with cultural irrelavancy and you get discord, nationalism, culturalism and very little to nothing that benefits the ummah that is for sure!

Ar-Rum 30:32 [or] among those who have broken the unity of their faith and have become sects, each group delighting in but what they themselves hold [by way of tenets].

The problem not only lies in general society through our mosques and establisments but in our so called 'Islamic' schools.... our future generation!!! 'Islamic' on the most part.... they are not! school for muslim kids and bums on seats.... is exactly what they are!!! what are we doing for the future generations?? to busy living for this dunya I'm afraid.

But we should give credit where credit is due at least we have an establishment of sorts that represent Islam.

Now we need a firm leader!

Jazakarallah Khayran for the article you made many valid points.

Jazkum Allahu khairan, a real problem that begs for a solution. Inshallah during the coming years we may see the old generation dwindling and the young generation assuming proper responsibility.