Issue 114 by AMUST

MUSLIM

AUSTRALASIAN

Multimedia News & Views

ISSN: 1039-2300

Print Post No. PP 255003/01403

Print edition published Monthly on first Friday with Website updates

Why Boycott Israel

BOOMERANG PAGE 5

App Against Extremism AUSTRALIA PAGE 9

TIME

AMUST Issue # 114

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Phone: (02) 8006 2063 Email: info@amust.com.au

May 2015; Rajab 1436

Kashmir Flood Report

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ANZAC Commemorating War & Peace

UMMAH PAGE 15

EDUCATION PAGES 18, 19

News .................................1 - 2 • USYD Investigation • Unique Quranic Course Boomerang ..................... 3 - 5 • Editorial: Two Sides of the Coin • Treatment of Refugees & Aborigines Community ..................... 6 - 8 • Toowoomba Mosque Arson Attack • SAMAA Celebrates Jashne Buzurg

Awqaf experts gather at Sydney Law School Zia Ahmad The three day Asia Pacific Awkaf Congress was held in April at the University of Sydney with a large contingent of delegates coming from all over the world as well from various parts of Australia. The Congress included a two day Awqaf Development Symposium 2015 from 15 to 16 April at The University

of Sydney Law School and a Community Day at the Lebanese Muslim Association Hall and Lakemba Mosque on Friday 17 April. The event was organized by Awkaf Australia and sponsored by a number of overseas Awqaf bodies as well as local organisations and institutions. With the Congress theme “ Awqaf (Islamic Endowments): Modernised and Modernising”, the speakers and presenters at the Congress included representatives from Awqaf bodies from Middle East and Asia Pacific as well as academics, health professionals, Is-

lamic finance experts and Islamic scholars, both from Australia as well as overseas. The Congress guest of honour was the newly elected member of the NSW Paliament, Jihad Dib, the first Muslim MP, representing the state seat of Lakemba. In his opening address Mr Dib recounted his humble beginnings and the challenges he faced during his term as the principle of Punchbowl High School that he effectively transformed into a model school with increasing number of students enrolling into University courses. Continued on page 2

Australia ......................... 9 - 10 • Tax Reform White Paper Lifestyle ...................... 11 - 13 • Muslim Exchange Program • Modest Street Fashion Ummah ........................ 14 - 16 • Cyclone Relief in Vanuatu • Reclaim Australia Rallies Education ..................... 17 - 19 • Attributes of Allah - Part 9 Travel .................................. 20 • #SarahGoesToIndia - Part 2 Social .................................. 21 • Woman Defends Muslim Couple Business ..................... 22 - 23 • Review: Sony Xperia Z3 Compact

Jihad Dib at the Awqaf Congress

Working for Peace: Aman Palestine Roadshow Nur Farah Binti Latef Aman Palestine Roadshow, Australia New Zealand 2015 commenced with the inaugural event held in Sydney on Saturday 25 April at the University of NSW with the theme “Ummah in my heart”. First established in 2004 in Malaysia, Aman Palestine, meaning Peace in Palestine is an initiative to create the awareness of the plight of Palestinian people and care for Palestinian families by raising funds and its appropriate distribution to those who deserve help. This year the roadshow is being organized in eight cities in the region, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide, Wellington, Dunedin and Auckland. The Sydney event consists of two parts:

exhibition, fundraising, sales, speeches and discussion held on Saturday 25 April. The second part, a charity run followed by a barbecue will be held on Sat 2 May at the Centennial Park. Three speakers of Palestinian origins spoke at the event including Dr Walid Hashem, academic from Ballarat University, Mr Talat Oazaz from UNSW and Mr Imad Alkilani from the University of Sydney giving their unique narratives on the issue of Palestine followed by a panel discussion. Dr Walid Hashem talked on why the Palestinian issue is a concern for the whole of the Muslim Ummah, highlighted the hardships being faced by the Palestinian people and how the members of the Ummah could provide help individually and collectively. Arif Jamil, Head of the NSW chapter commented “I hope this is not the first and last time that we could collaborate together

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Speaker’s panel at Aman Palestine Roadshow in Sydney on 25 April. Dispose of this paper thoughtfully - PLEASE RECYCLE

AMUST

NEWS

NEWS 1-2

BOOMERANG 3-5

COMMUNITY 6-8

Awqaf experts gathering in Sydney Continued from page 1 Dr Hisham Dafterdar, Chairman of Awkaf Australia, during his welcome address called for the establishment of new sustainable Waqfs adopting professional management based on best practice of corporate governance and quality assurance. Associate Professor Salim Farrar said that Sydney Law School was happy to co-host the Symposium that will address the economic development, poverty alleviation and marginalization of Muslim communities around the world. However he warned that while establishing Waqf institutions specially in Muslim minority countries, lawyers would have to play a key role to ensure that the structures complied with laws of the land. Khalid Sukkarieh, Secretary General, Awkaf Australia has been the master mind behind the elaborate programming and logistical arrangement of this comprehensive high powered congress that brought so many experts in the field from diverse background together. The organizing committee also included Ansari Zainul Abidin, Mala Saraswati, Latife Dogan and Photography by Saeedeh Khodadadi. There case presentations included two successful institutions running on Waqf principles. Devina Levy, a fundraising expert described how Cambridge Muslim College, UK is running on Waqf to endow in perpetuity its teaching of Islamic sciences in the modern world. The second case study was presented by Dr Wasif Shahzad, COO of the highly successful Indus Hospital in Pakistan that is organized on Waqf principles. This is the only tertiary care Pakistani hospital that provides comprehensive free healthcare service with

LIFESTYLE 11 - 13

Palestine campus advocates still face investigation Hussain Abu-Zayyad

Dr Hisham Dafterdar

A/Prof Salim Farrar

high clinical standards in an impressive, state of the art health centre complex. Peter Gould, an Australian Designer, creative entrepreneur and digital artist spoke on the importance of branding for modern marketing purposes for Muslim organisations, instititions and products. Other local speakers included A/Prof Mohamad Abdalla from Griffith University, who spoke on “The need of Awqaf for the effective implementation of a strategic vision for Australian Muslims; Dr Hadi Zulfiqar from University of Newcastle and Dr Rashid Raashed Islamic Financial Services (IIFSA) speaking on the topic of “Islamic Banking and Awqaf in Australia: A way forward. Academic and Awqaf experts from overseas included Mazlan Hussain, A/Prof Adi

Setia, UTM, Dr Mohd Nahar Arshad, IIU all from Malaysia; Prof Yasin Mohammed Ghadi, Dr Mohammad Talafheh, Dr Abdullah Rababah all from UAE and Dr Abdelkader Chachi, Dr Khalid Hadoub from Saudi Arabia. Representatives from Awqaf ministries and boards from Kuwait, UAE, Maldives, Indonesia, New Zealand, South Africa, Germany and USA also attended the symposium enlightening the participants with their respective experiences and insights. The congress was sponsored by Awqaf Minor Affairs Foundation (Dubai), Muslim Aid Australia, Islamic Council of NSW, Lebanese Muslim Association, Religion for Peace (Australia), NSW Muslim Guild, Basmala.

Unique study course on Quran (AMUA) AMUST Media

Dr Wasif Shahzad, Indus Hospital

AUSTRALIA 9 - 10

Ms Devina Levy, Cambridge, UK

A unique course is being conducted at Darulislam, Bonnyrigg in order to study the divine book al-Quran procured divinely as Mushaf, as a compiled scripture and the other according to Uswah-oriented sequence of the same Mushaf revealed in piece-meal for twenty three years to the last Prophet Muhammad (s) The course was well-planned in 2014 and was conducted very punctually and enthusiastically for 40 Saturdays from April to December 2014, with breaks during holidays and other important events. The course is conducted by Dr Qazi Ashfaq Ahmad under the auspices of Australian Mushaf Uswah Academy (AMUA). The course in 2015 will be conducted in accordance with the time table given below and will consist of two periods each of 55 minutes with a break of 10 minutes in between starting 8am.

Term 1 starts

Associate Professor Jake Lynch has been cleared of accusations of anti-Semitism, following a protest at the University of Sydney last month. However, Lynch continues to face misconduct proceedings that could see his employment at the University terminated. It is alleged that Lynch, Director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, breached the University’s code of conduct during the March 11 protest in which students disrupted a lecture by Richard Kemp, a wellknown defender of Israel’s human rights record in Gaza. Five student protesters have also been targeted for alleged misconduct, including Fahad Ali, President of Students for Justice in Palestine. Ali, a Palestinian, last week told New Matilda that he did not believe the University’s response was appropriate. “I think on the whole these are minor allegations and usually these would not hold any serious weight. But I think in the course of this investigation they have been blown up and they will be dealt with as serious, even though they are not,” he said. The University has also come under fire from the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, which has criticised attempts to curb protest rights with a code of conduct that NSWCCL President Stephen Blanks has described as “terribly vague”. While the final outcome of the investigation remains to be seen, public disapproval of the University’s handling of this matter has grown. An open letter calling on the University to drop all charges has attracted over 1,600 signatories, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu, world renowned academic Noam Chomsky, and Sydney Peace Prize recipient Julian Burnside. Ali told AMUST that although the investigation was daunting, it had a silver lining. “Laughably, the conservative media circus has strengthened the position of Palestine advocates on campus by drawing attention to the injustices being committed by Israel on a regular basis.”

Enquiries: Email: quranuswah@gmail.com Ph:9823 8208 Given below are the confirmed dates for Terms 1 & 2 in 2015.

25 April to 30 May (6 discourses) 6 June is the mid term break

Term 1 (cont)

13 June to 4 July (4 discourses) 11 July to 1 August is the break between Term 1 and Term 2.

Term 2 starts Term 2 (cont)

Australasian Muslim Times

www.amust.com.au

8 August to 12 September (6 classes) Mid Term Break 19, 26 Sept, and 3 Oct is a break (3 weeks). 10 October to 31 October (4 classes) May 2015

UMMAH 14 - 16

EDUCATION 17 - 19

TRAVEL 20

SOCIAL 21

BUSINESS 22 - 23

Protest over treatment of Refugees and Aborigines Lydia Shelly On 19 April 2015, over 2000 Sydneysiders protested over Australia’s treatment of refugees and demanded the closure of Manus Island and Naru. The issues of the forced closures of Aboriginal communities and Islamophobia were also issues addressed by the protest. The event drew wide support from the entire community, including Labor for Refugees, several Christian church groups, trade unions, the Australian Greens, Amnesty International and the Islamophobia Register Australia. This comes at a time where the United Nations Children’s Fund has heavily criticized Australia and accused Australia of violating the rights of children due to be sent back from Naru to Cambodia. A few weeks prior to the protest the Moss Review was released which documented the sexual assault and abuse inside Naru detention centre. The speakers included Graeme McGregor, the refugee campaign co-ordinator at Amnesty International Australia, who told the crowd that 989 men were detained on Manus Island, and 718 people on Nauru, including 103 children. Ged Kearney, president of the Council of Trade Unions spoke at length of the damaging rhetoric used to frame the “debate” regarding refugees. “Just think about those three small words – stop the boats – never before can I think of three small words that have left such a permanent and dreadful scar on our national psyche”. Kyol Blakeney, a young Aboriginal activist and President of Sydney Uni SRC, delivered an inspiring speech about the forced closure of Aboriginal communities and the hypocrisy of Australia’s treatment of Refugees. As a spokesperson for the Islamophobia Register Australia, I was humbled to stand in front of 2000 Australians who are critical of Abbott’s Government and the response to Islamophobia. Part of my speech is as follows: “What we are talking about today is really the common core of humanity. All humanity shares a hunger for peace, security, fellowship and justice. But in 2015 we are facing the moral bankruptcy of a country. 2015 must be the year we decide as a people, where we want our country to go. In 2015, we must decide as a people the values that are truly reflective of the Australian spirit. In the last few days we have seen a Muslim family verbally abused on public transport in front of their children. We have also seen the burning down of a mosque in Toowoomba. We have a rising amount of hate in this country, which is being whipped up by members of our own parliament. It has been whipped up and it is having real life consequences not only on our social cohesion but also on Australian Muslim women. In 2015 it is distressing that we are in a country where women do not feel safe to leave their homes. In 2015 we have Australian Muslim women who do not feel safe enough to partake in all that Australia has to offer. We have women making the choice to withdraw from social situations as they are fearful as to what will happen to them or their children when they are alone in public. We have children who have witnessed their mothers scarves being ripped off, pushed to the ground, hot coffee thrown in their coffee. We have seen numerous cases of Islamophobia. It is completely distressing to see the politicization of refugees in this country, but also that of Australian Muslim women. No one benefits when prejudice, vilification, discrimination towards any group are encouraged and the flames of bigotry are encouraged to distract from unsustainable and

May 2015

unpopular policies and leadership. What this country needs is not division it is unity. Not humiliation, but compassion. Not violence, but peace. Not injustice, but justice. There will be people and events that will seek to divide this country. We cannot fall into ear and mistrust. We must forge alliances with each other and solidify our bonds to each other. This is required if we are to bring about real change. If we do not stand united, then we are vulnerable. You can imagine how deeply wounding it was to have the leader of our country televise his frustration that “he often heard western leaders call Islam a religion of peace and that he wished Muslim leaders meant it when they said it”. As female Muslim advocates, when we denounce terrorism, violence and campaign for tolerance, inclusion and engagement, when we expose racism, sexism and Islamophobia in order to challenge stakeholders, to insist on transparency and accountability, it comes at a very high personal cost. This is the first time I have really spoken in detail about the cost of trying to be an advocate for social justice when you’re a Muslim Woman. We pay our pound of flesh in death threats, online abuse, offensive pornography sent to our work addresses, the smear campaigns, the destruction of our property, the time away from our families, missing tucking our children into bed, the fights with our partners who see how tired we are, how thin we are stretched - but who know that we cannot stop in our advocacy. Because we know the consequences if we stop being the “change makers”. We know the role women play in combating hate and racism, in addressing extremism, in promoting political participation, inclusion and engagement. We know that women are the cornerstones and pillars of our communities. We are the mothers, the daughters, the sisters, the aunties, the grandmothers. We are women in our own right. So yes, for the record Mr Prime Minister: We do mean it when we say it. And we say it knowing that it has real life consequences. We say it without the flags behind us, without the com cars, without the security, without the salary, without the advisors. We say it because we are committed to social cohesion, to civic values and to Australia’s short and long-term interests. Australian Muslim women have, and continue to contribute to Australia’s prosperity; we are not a new addition to the multicultural fabric of our country. However, the existence of Muslim women in this country has become heavily politicised. What we choose to wear became a national topic for debate and derision. We recently had the deeply ignorant racists organize a reclaim Australia rally. I’m not quite sure what they are reclaiming from, but there was silence on both sides of the political divide. For Shame! The problems we are facing now are human created and can be resolved by further understanding of each other and taking individual responsibility. Each person here today can be the bridge. We cannot afford fellow Australians and minorities to be vilified. Doing so will mean that the stain of intolerance will continue to pollute the soul of our country. If you stand against refugees in detentionas an Australian Muslim woman I stand with you”. If you stand against the sexual exploitation of children in detentionas an Australian Muslim woman I stand with you. If you stand against the forced closures of Aboriginal communities- as an Australian Muslim woman I stand with you. If you stand and sincerely want in your heart, the humanity to be restored to this county – as an Australian Muslim woman I stand with you. Lydia Shelley is a Sydney based lawyer and community advocate.

BOOMERANG

MUSLIM

AUSTRALASIAN

Multimedia News & Views

Issue # 114

AMUST

TIME

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AMUST

Friday 1 May 2015;

11 Rajab 1436

Two sides of the same coin: Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia Rabbi Gutnick, senior rabbi at the Yes, you can market your religion, your Kashrut Authority of Australia and New philosophy or your views, but you can Zealand has come out strongly in sup- not impose it on others without their conport of the religious rights of Australian sent. In Islamic terminology, this is called Muslims. He has stated that the anti-ha- daawah or inviting others to Islam. Conlal campaign was an attack on Australi- verting others to Islam is fundamentally ans’ religious rights. alien to Islam. This comes in the wake of IslamoIslam has recognised this freephobic rallies by Reclaim Australia dom of choice and Muslims have in various cities last month and the largely practiced this in their EDITORIAL history. The reality, that there on-going campaign by anti-haAssalamu lal groups championed by some will always be those who will shock jocks. There is evidence to refuse to follow Islam or beAlaikum suggest that such campaigns are come Muslims and their choice Greetings creating an atmosphere of fear needs to be respected and they of Peace and hate with increase on Islamowill be protected to freely pracphobic attacks and vilification. The tice their own religion. silence of politicians on this issue is This is the reason that large comdeafening. munities living under Muslim rule have Both Jews and Muslims in Australia form survived and thrived for the last 14 cenminority communities with a number of turies, be they Christian, Jewish, Hindus issues of common interest. Their right to or Buddhists. There have been no mass practice their religion by sticking with their massacres on the grounds of religious difreligious dietary laws pertaining to kosher ferences in Muslim lands. and halal is one of them. Anti-Semitism is basically a European So is their right to be protected against phenomenon that finally culminated in the religious and racist prejudices as minori- holocaust. Muslims are not and should not ties living in Australia in particular and the be anti-Semitic. Western world in general. Surely with the advent of Zionism, the There is a perception in the general popu- occupation of Palestine, the clash of polation, Muslims and Jews included that Jews litical interests of Israel and that of Paland Muslims can not get along together. estinians, Muslims and Jewish supporters Both Judaism and Islam have a number of Israel have a clash of interest and they of similarities in their teachings and prac- would compete to safeguard these intertice. Both Jews and Muslim largely stick ests in their own spheres of influence. to their religious practices. Surely there are However both Jews and Muslims have some fundamental differences in their doc- to be careful while safeguarding their intrines, but these do not prohibit them to live terests they do not cross the line, playing together in harmony. in the hands of Islamophobes and anOne of the main principle of tolerance in ti-Semites. Islam is the Quranic declaration that “There Both Jews and Muslims need to fight the is no compulsion in religion”. It’s a human forces of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism right, and a God-given right of choice, to together because both these traits are the chose one’s religion or have no religion. No products of prejudice, hatred and injustice. one can force a religion on any one.

The Eagle Dr Muhammad Iqbal (1877 - 1938) I have turned my back on that world. Where sustenance is called grain and water. I like the solitude of the wildernessI was always a hermit by natureNo spring breeze, no rose‑plucker, no nightingale, And no illness of the songs of love! One must avoid the garden‑dwellers Their charms are too seductive! It is the desert wind that gives effect To the stroke of the brave youth in combat. It is not that I am hungry for pigeon and dove-

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Renunciation is the mark of an eagle’s lifeTo swoop, to withdraw, and to swoop again Is but a pretext to keep up blood heat. This cast, this west is the pheasants’ world, Mine is the boundlessness of the blue sky! I am the monk of the kingdom of birds, For the eagle is not given to making nests.

Reference: Iqbal, Muhammad. Bāl-I Jibrīl. Lāhore: Mubārak ʻAlī. Print. (Courtesy Ummah Legends)

Australasian Muslim Times

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BOOMERANG 3-5

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Letters to the editor AMUST

AMUST needs community sup- What about non-Muslim Terror- looks at the uncomfortably close links between the NSW Liberal right and European port ism? I wanted to write to you earlier in order to extend my thanks and appreciation for restarting AMUST, after a long pause. We Muslims were in dire need for our own voice in Australian media landscape. I have been living in Australia for the last 45 years, and have noticed that the problems and difficulties that Muslims face here donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get any attention, let alone are properly dealt with. I remember when AMUST was first published many years ago, it gave an opportunity for Muslims to express themselves, that they could not do through the mainstream media. This way the concerned authorities in Australia started giving attention to their grievances. Gradually the newspapers like Sydney Morning Herald started publishing letters to the editor by Muslims. Muslims always complain about the unsympathetic attitude of the mainstream media, but they do not act to do something about it. Many religious and ethnic communities have their own newspapers supported by their communities. Now luckily AMUST with its dedicated and highly skilled team is filling this gap for the Muslim Community. The community needs to support such a great initiative. I strongly appeal to the members of the Muslim community to support AMUST, by becoming its subscribers, distributing it and providing advertisements to make it a strong Muslim voice in the Australian media landscape. Mateen Abbas Ex Editor Ghalib Urdu Magazine Sydney

We hear much about â&#x20AC;&#x153;Islamicâ&#x20AC;? terrorism of late, with huge articles covering police raids on 18 and 19 year olds, to the extent that â&#x20AC;&#x153;Reclaim Australiaâ&#x20AC;? demonstrators had no qualms about equating Islam and terrorism. Some of the media, particularly the Murdoch empire, despite Saudi prince Talal being one of News Corps major shareholders, really let fly. Andrew Bolt is a valued member of that empire. There is great quiet over non-Muslim terrorism, indeed many people are clearly unaware that it exists. The worst terrorism in this country had in fact, a very right wing Christian base. Justice Hopeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 1978 report on ASIO, released in 2008 under the thirty year rule is worth reading. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hopeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inquiry was partly prompted by ASIOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s relationship with the Croatian fascist group, the Ustasha. In the late sixties and early seventies, the Ustasha conducted the most serious terrorist campaign in Australian history, with bombings in Sydney in 1967, 1969 and 1972, Canberra in 1969, Melbourne in 1970 and 1972. Ustasha activities were discussed openly in the Croatian press but ASIO, while monitoring even the most mild-mannered activists of the Left, took no action whatsoever against these fully-fledged terrorists.â&#x20AC;? (Crikey May 28, 2008) What is astonishing is that as late as last year the Prime Minister of this country was represented at an Ustasha linked celebration of April 10. Independent Australia asked on 23 April 2014: â&#x20AC;&#x153; Why did Liberal MP Craig Kelly give a speech at a function celebrating the creation of a Croatian fascist state on behalf of PM Tony Abbott? Dr Binoy Kampmark

neo-Nazi extremists. The occasion was a speech given by Craig Kelly MHR, a representative of Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Being in Japan, Abbott had delegated the task of congratulating members of the Australian Croatian community in Sydney on Croatian independence attained in 10 April. This was more than a bit awkward, given that April 10 was the date of the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) after the Kingdom of Yugoslavia ceased to exist under Axis rule in 1941. If ever you wanted to back some unsavoury company, you couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do much better than officials and sympathisers of the NDH. It has led to an international incident, with Croatia summoning the Australian ambassador yesterday for an explanation. â&#x20AC;&#x153;(independentaustralia.net) It is hard to believe the PM was unaware of the significance of April 10. Has he heard of Jasenovac? Bilal Cleland Melbourne

Road safety concern in Penshurst

Through this letter, I would like to draw the attention of the concerned persons in the Hurstville Council on a matter of road safety. At the intersection of the Forest Road and George St., there is a Poll Depo, a childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s park and a Mosque, but there is no much needed a traffic island or traffic light. I have seen many people getting hit by the speeding cars on this intersection Despite the dangerous situation people take risk in crossing from here. There are no safe pedestrian crossing in this area. A traffic island would be very beneficial to the people going to the station, Poll Depot, Park and the large number of people attending the Friday prayers at the Mosque around mid day. Abu Aziz Sydney, NSW

HAVE YOUR SAY Ď˛Î&#x2018;ÎŽĎ&#x2039; ËŻÎ?ÎŽĎ&#x2014; Î?ĎŽĎ Ď&#x201E;ĎŁ Î&#x17D;Ď¨Î&#x2DC;ÎłÎ?ÎÎŠ Ď˛Ď&#x201C; Î&#x201D;Ď&#x203A;ÎÎ&#x17D;Î¸Ď¤Ď Ď&#x; Ď˛Î&#x2018;ÎŽĎ&#x2039; ËŻÎ?ÎŽĎ&#x2014; ĎŚĎ&#x2039; Î&#x161;Î¤Î&#x2019;Ď&#x;Î&#x17D;Î&#x2018; ĎĄĎŽĎ&#x2DC;Ď§ ĎŚÎ¤Ď§ ËŹÎ&#x201C;ËŻÎ?ÎŽĎ&#x2DC;Ď&#x;Î? Ď˛Ď&#x201C; ĎŠÎ&#x17D;Î&#x2019;Î&#x2DC;Ď§ĎťÎ? ĎĄÎ?ÎŞÎ¨Î&#x2DC;ÎłÎ? Î&#x201D;Ď´Ď&#x201D;Ď´Ď&#x203A; ĎŚĎ&#x2039; Î&#x161;Î¤Î&#x2019;Ď&#x;Î&#x17D;Î&#x2018; ĎĄĎŽĎ&#x2DC;Î&#x2014; Î&#x201D;ÎłÎ?ÎÎŠ Ď˛Ď&#x201C; Î&#x201D;Ď&#x203A;ÎÎ&#x17D;Î¸Ď¤Ď&#x;Î? Ď˛Ď&#x201C; Î?Ď?ÎŽÎ&#x2014; Î&#x2013;Ď¨Ď&#x203A; Î?ÎŤÎ&#x2021; Î&#x17D;Ď¨Î&#x2018; Ď?Î&#x17D;ÎźÎ&#x2014;ĎťÎ? Ď°Î&#x;ÎŽĎł ( $ 30) Î&#x201D;Ď´Ď&#x201E;Ď?Î&#x2014; Ď&#x17E;Ď&#x2DC;Ď¨Ď&#x;Î? .Ď&#x161;Î&#x2DC;Ď&#x2014;Ď Ď°Ď Ď&#x2039; ĎąÎŞĎ&#x2DC;Ď¨Ď&#x;Î? ÎŠÎ?ÎŞÎ´Ď&#x;Î? Ď°Ď&#x2DC;Ď Î&#x2DC;Î&#x2014; Ď&#x2018;ĎŽÎł ËŽĎ˛Ď&#x; Î&#x201D;Î&#x2019;Î´Ď¨Ď&#x;Î&#x17D;Î&#x2018; Ď&#x161;Ď&#x;ÎŤ Ď˛Ď&#x201C; Î?ÎŤÎ&#x17D;ĎŁ

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LIFESTYLE 11 - 13

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Managing Editor: Zia Ahmad Graphic Designer: Rubinah Ahmad Chief Adviser: Dr Qazi Ashfaq Ahmad Journalist: Mobinah Ahmad Columnist: Dr Abul Jalaluddin (Finance) Columnist: Bilal Cleland (Victoria) Columnist: Manarul Islam (ACT) Columnist: Lydia Shelly (Sydney) Columnist: Anne Fairbairn (Sydney) Promotion: Dr Wali Bokhari Web Developer: Shadow Approved Multimedia: iMoby Productions Printers: Spotpress Pty Ltd Distributers: Wrapaway Transport Pty Ltd Distributers: Abul Fateh Siddiqui, Shujaat Siddiqui, Usaid Khalil, Aamir Ahmad, Ibrahim Khalil, Usman Siddiqui, Zahid Alam

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May 2015

UMMAH 14 - 16

EDUCATION 17 - 19

TRAVEL 20

SOCIAL 21

BOOMERANG

BUSINESS 22 - 23

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Benjamin of Tudela: A Medieval Jew and the Muslim World Bilal Cleland

Not much is known of the individual who wrote “The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela” about his travels in the Christian and Muslim worlds between 1169 and 1171. He apparently came from the town of Tudela, in Navarre, northern Spain. He wrote in formal Hebrew and used many Arabic terms, a language which was probably his mother tongue. His work indicates that he was an inheritor of the culture of Muslim Spain and he grew up and was educated in the world of Arabic science and culture and the world of Jewish culture. His book has been published as part of the Gutenberg Project and can be found at: http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/mhl/ mhl20.htm. His description of Baghdad, then the centre of Islam in the Middle East and beyond, indicates the nature of the Jewish-Muslim relationship at the time. “There the great king, Al Abbasi the Caliph (Hafiz) holds his court, and he is kind unto Israel, and many belonging to the people of Israel are his attendants; he knows all languages, and is well versed in the law of Israel. He reads and writes the holy language (Hebrew). He will not partake of anything unless he has earned it by the work of

his own hands. …He is truthful and trusty, speaking peace to all men.” He comments on the living conditions of Jews under his rule: “In Bagdad there are about 40,000 Jews, and they dwell in security, prosperity and honour under the great Caliph, and amongst them are great sages, the heads of Academies engaged in the study of the law. In this city there are ten Academies. At the head of the great Academy is the chief rabbi R. Samuel, the son of Eli.” The Jewish community enjoyed its own religious law under its own scholars. “These are the ten Batlanim (full time scholars of Talmud), and they do not engage in any other work than communal administration; and all the days of the week they judge the Jews their countrymen, except on the second day of the week, when they all appear before the chief rabbi Samuel, the head of the Yeshiba Gaon (Jacob), who in conjunction with the other Batlanim, judges all those that appear before him. And at the head of them all is Daniel the son of Hisdai, who is styled “Our Lord the Head of the Captivity of all Israel.” He possesses a book of pedigrees going back as far as David, King of Israel. The Jews call him “Our Lord, Head of the Captivity,” and the Mohammedans call him “Saidna ben Daoud,” and he has been invested with authority over all the congregations of Israel at the hands of the Emir al Muminin, the Lord of Islam.” The Exilarch, the Head of the Captivity, was responsible for the administration of

the taxation of all Jewish communities in the empire. He also enjoyed financial independence: “He owns hospices, gardens and plantations in Babylon, and much land inherited from his fathers, and no one can take his possessions from him by force. He has a fixed weekly revenue arising from the hospices of the Jews, the markets and the merchants, apart from that which is brought to him from far-off lands.”

This history is a denial of the contemporary lie that Islam has a history of intolerance and religious persecution. Indeed the existence of the Babylonian Talmud is itself witness to the relationships which existed. The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela: Travels in the Middle Ages. NightinGale Resources. NY 2010

Why boycotting Israel isn’t anti-Semitic Fahad Ali

A panel of three Jewish speakers spoke to a full capacity audience at a University of Sydney forum entitled “Why Boycotting Israel Isn’t Anti-Semitic” on Tuesday 14 April 2015. Cathy Peters, a radio documentary producer, and academics Peter Slezak and Alana Lentin all spoken in defence of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to place economic and cultural pressure on Israel to comply with international law. Dr Slezak, an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of New South Wales, described how he has been labelled a “self-hating Jew” by some elements of the Jewish community for his support for Palestine. Zionism, he argued, has no connection to Judaism, and while the latter is often called on in support of the former, there is nothing essential about Jewish identity or religion that justifies Israel’s settler-colonial project. Dr Slezak raised an important point: contemporary anti-Semitism is often portrayed as emanating from the Muslim community. Nonetheless, while Muslims can commit anti-Semitism acts, the main perpetrators of anti-Jewish prejudice have been European. Political accusations of anti-Semitism that are used to disparaged Palestine solidarity activists, he argues, delegitimise the struggle against very real anti-Semitism that continues to threaten the Jewish community. These points were followed by incisive analysis by Associate Professor Lentin of

May 2015

the University of Western Sydney. Lentin focused on the concept of “philo-Semitic anti-Semitism”, or anti-Semitism that is concealed in seemingly pro-Jewish rhetoric. The idea that all Jews should return to Israel, as promoted by Christian Zionism, contains an implicit assumption that Jews are foreign, alien, and cannot be accepted in a diasporic space, such as here in Australia. She followed a simple formula: any statement that begins “all people of group X should...” is essentially racist. For example, she argued, the statements “all asylum seekers should wait their turn in refugee camps” or “all Indigenous Australians should live in towns and not in remote communities” have inherently racist undertones. The idea that all Jews should love and support Israel is just as problematic. Dr Lentin also noted that the Palestinian struggle does not stand in isolation: the same colonialist logic applied by Zionists to the Palestinian people has also been used by our own government to oppress Indigenous Australians. Oppression is interlinked, and we must be able to see the links between our government’s treatment of asylum seekers and its position on Palestine, and Lentin had some very powerful words to offer on this matter: “As a Jew I don’t want to be the most loved, the best victim. I want to stand with those who are suffering today and fight.” The final speaker, Ms Peters, gave an impassioned defence of the Palestinian people, describing Israel’s crimes in the occupied territories, the laws that discriminate against Arab citizens of Israel, and the ethnic cleansing of occupied East Jerusalem. Peters, a former Greens councillor who was involved in a Marrickville Council vote in 2010 to endorse the BDS movement, de-

From left: Cathy Peters, Alana Lentin, Peter Slezak, and the forum chair Sylvia Hale scribed the hypocrisy of the media in slandering the Council, when local councils regularly make ethically informed decisions about their external engagements and purchasing policy. Peters drew attention to the fact that BDS did not target Jews or Jewish businesses, but companies that were complicit in human rights abuses, which in many cases are not Israeli, but foreign-owned multinationals. The forum was organised by Sydney Staff for BDS (SS4BDS), a group of Sydney University staff that is campaigning for the University to cut its ties with Israeli institutions that support the occupation. “Sydney University isn’t a neutral bystander when it comes to Israel-Palestine,” said Dr Nick Riemer, a member of SS4BDS. “We’ve got active links with Israeli universities that enable war crimes and rights violations against Palestinians. The international legitimation we bring them helps Israel

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sustain the occupation.” Dr Riemer said that the forum was important because anti-Semitism is a “go-to allegation against BDS and its supporters.” “The current witch hunt against Jake Lynch and students for their support for Palestine shows what a hostile environment Sydney University is risking becoming, not just for supporters of Palestine, but antiracist activists in general,” he explained. The success of the forum, which was standing-room only, was a “sign of the real interest and importance this issue is beginning to take on campus.” You can find ‘Sydney Staff for BDS’ on Facebook and visit sydneystaff4bds.org for more info. Fahad Ali is the President of Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Sydney.

Australasian Muslim Times

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NEWS 1-2

BOOMERANG 3-5

COMMUNITY 6-8

AUSTRALIA 9 - 10

LIFESTYLE 11 - 13

Second arson attack on Toowoomba Mosque Professor Shahjahan Khan After the first arson attack on the Garden City Mosque on 24 January 2015, the second attempt to burn the Mosque was made on Friday 17 April 2015. The fire burned Imam’s office to the ground and the neighbouring room burning the partitioning structure and entered to the main prayer area. Everything in the front part of the Mosque including copies of the Qur’an, books, bookcases, sound system, mic and speakers air-condition machines, etc burned to the ground. The women prayer area at the rear end of the building was also damaged due to flame, heat and smoke. The damage was extensive and left a mark of how the attacker intended to cause maximum damage to the Mosque. If the neighbours did not call the emergency number the whole building would have turned into ashes and the house in the neighbourhood could have been burned as well. We decided to perform Friday Jumma prayers in the Newington Park, West from the Mosque. The Mayor of Toowoomba Re-

gional Council was kind enough to allow us to use the park. Worshippers were asked to come with prayer mats and make ablution at home. USQ Senior DVC, Prof Janet Verbyla was to first one to express her sympathy followed by the Vice Chancellor, Prof Jan Thomas. During the day we received around 400 emails, mostly from non-Muslims expressing their dismay to the attack on the Mosque and disassociating the rest of the community from the attacker. Minister of Multicultural Affairs Queensland, Hon Shannon Fentiman MP was the first government official to phone just before 7am expressing her support for the Muslims community and offer of help in the difficult time. Later, I received a phone call from the office of the Police Minister, Hon Jo-Ann Miller who made a trip to Toowoomba to stand by the community and ensure that the criminal must be brought to justice. I met her at the Neil St Police Station along with a number of key members of the investigating team at 1:30pm, just after the Jumma prayers. The Open Day of the Mosque and Second Toowoomba International Food Festival was scheduled on Sunday at the Mosque premises. We decided to go ahead with the event as lots of preparation for the event was

Speakers on the Open Day and Food Festival on Sunday, 19 April at the USQ Recreation Centre.

Fire damage investigation at the Toowoomba Mosque. completed or underway by then. The Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) offered the Newington Park for the event. University of Southern Queensland (USQ) offered Clive Bergoufer Recreation Centre as an alternative venue. Given the accessible facilities and unpredictable wet weather condition, we accepted the offer of the USQ. Within very short time we had the rearrange everything from the Mosque premises to USQ. With the generous support of USQ staff and dedication and hard work of the volunteers everything went well, and we had a very successful Open Day and Food Festival on Sunday, 19 April 2015 as per plan. In the formal speech session of the Open Day of the Mosque and Food Festival all invited speakers reaffirm their support for unity and stood by the members of the Muslim community and their Mosque. The speakers included • Mr Derby McCarthy, Indigenous elder of Toowoomba

• Cr Paul Antonio, Mayor, Toowoomba Regional Council • Prof Jan Thomas, Vice Chancellor, University of Southern Queensland • Mr Jim Madden MP, representing Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk • Dr John McVeigh MP, State Member of Toowoomba South • Mr Wayne Briscoe, Executive Director of Multicultural Affairs Queensland • Bishop Robert McGuckin, Catholic Church, Toowoomba • Bishop Cameron Vinables, Anglican Church, Toowoomba • Venerable Wu Ping, Pure Land Learning College • A/Professor Mohammad Abdalla, Griffith University • Mr Ismail Cajee, President of Islamic Council of Queensland • Acting Superintendent Ben Marcus, Queensland Police • Professor Shahjahan Khan, President of Islamic Society of Toowoomba

Working for Peace: Aman IFAM holds its annual youth camp Palestine Roadshow Continued from page 1

with the local Muslim society especially Palestinian people as we all know that Palestine is an Ummah issues. Everyone should take this opportunity to participate and help out our brothers and sisters at the other side of the world to ensure this holy land of Muslims will be set free from those who occupy it, InshaAllah”. The Chairman of Aman Palestine Australia said ““Alhamdulillah, the Aman Palestine Roadshow 2015 for Sydney and Brisbane chapters went well. We are looking forward for a positive response from the next chapter that will be happening in Hobart, Melbourne and Adelaide this 9th and 10th May 2015. May Allah ease everything inshaAllah. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who had participated and contributed. May Allah bless the efforts and

time that they spent for this event to raise the awareness of issues about our ummah. InshaAllah, we as Muslims no matter from which country or status will always support our brothers and sisters out there, not only Palestinians, in every possible way that we can.” The Aman Palestine Australia Roadshow (APAR) 2015 jointly organized by Aman Palestine Australia and ISMA Australia, supported by Education Malaysia Australia as well as The Islamic Society of NSW (ISOC). The Sydney roadshow is also a collaboration with a number of clubs and societies namely the Kelab UMNO New South Wales (KUANSW), Persatuan Pelajar-Pelajar Muda Sydney (PPMS), ifitness Australia (an initiative of ISMA Australia), Malaysian Postgraduate Students’ Association (MYPSA), Malaysian Hall Residents Club (MHRC) and Dapur Cinone Sydney.

Speakers with the audience at Aman Palestine Roadshow in Sydney.

Australasian Muslim Times

Javed Khair Islamic Forum for Australian Muslims IFAM organized a two days Youth Camp 2015 (boys) from Saturday 25 to Sunday 26 April at Scout Camp, Mount Kiera Wollongong. A selected group of youth from senior high school as well as universities attended the camp from different parts of the Sydney.  The focus of the youth camp was to build teamwork, enhance communication skills and develop leadership and organisation skills among the participants. Along with learning basics of Islam and its practical aspects including debates, qiraat and group discussions, there were other extracurricular activities including Tug of war, cricket, soccer, bone fire.    A variety of different traditional foods were served and a BBQ on the second day

of the camp was held.  The camp concluded with planning and setting targets for the next one year for all attendees. Javed Khair is the Assistant Secretary General of IFAM.

IFAM youth group discussion at the camp.

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May 2015

UMMAH 14 - 16

EDUCATION 17 - 19

TRAVEL 20

SOCIAL 21

COMMUNITY

BUSINESS 22 - 23

AMUST

SAMAA celebrates Jashne Buzurg AMUST Media The South Asian Muslim Association of Australia (SAMAA) celebrated its annual event of Jashne Buzurg (Elder’s Festival) at Bowman Hall, Blacktown, Sydney on Sunday 12 April 2015. Well over 300 people including several dignitaries, health experts, representative from aged care agencies and providers, community leaders and a large number of SAMAA elders, volunteers and community members packed the hall and enjoyed the day with enthusiasm and joy. The longest serving parliamentarian Hon Philip Ruddock attended the event along with Hon John Robertson, former NSW labor leader, the Parliamentary Secretary Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells as a representative of Hon Scott Morrison, The Minister for Social Services and Hon.

Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells.

Mehreen Faruqi, the first South Asian Muslim MLC in NSW parliament. Other guests included Mr Robert Oxford, CEO Hardi Aged care and Mr Talal Yassine, CEO Crescent Wealth. Mr Ruddock applauded Australian multicultural character which has allowed communities from so many faiths, races, colours and cultures to live together happily. He paid tribute to SAMAA for providing services to the community elders. Ms Concetta Fierravanti-Wells spoke about various aged care programmes relating to Culturally and Linguistically Diversified (CALD) communities and assured support to SAMAA from the Minister’s office. She emphasized the need for Aged Care facilities tuned specifically with linguistic and cultural backgrounds of the elderly and narrated the story of her father of Italian background who could not speak in English in his old age and could converse only in Italian. Mr Zahid Jamil, representing SAMAA, spoke of various SAMAA programmes and sought support from the audience in fund raising at the event. A number of items were auctioned, thanks the skills of Mr Hussin Goss at the event to raise funds for the SAMAA. The event featured a short play ‘Ammi Tum Kahan Ho’ which brought tears to many eyes and received tremendous applause from the audience. It depicted the challenges, families face in caring for their elders and how charitable bodies such as SAMAA become helpful in providing relief to elders and their families. The script of the play was written by famous Sydney based Pakistani journalist, poet and writer Mr Ashsraf Shad and was produced and directed by veteran director Mrs Saba Zaidi Abdi. The cast included the famous Hindi poet

Play artists from left: Saba Zaidi Abdi, Aparna Vats, Nisar Sirguroh, Rekha Rajvanshi, Farjad Mahmood and Ashraf Shad. Rekha Rajvanshi, the radio artist Aparna Vats, Nisar Sirguroh and Farjad Mahmood. A souvenir was launched by two senior members of the community Dr Qazi Ashfaq Ahmad and Mr Qutubuddin Siddiqui, to celebrate SAMAA’s seven years journey and achievements. The audience enjoyed the South Asian cuisine and songs by The event also provided elders an opportunity to meet their contemporaries and other community members. SAMAA volunteers were ever present in big number to cater for everyone’s needs. SAMAA has been serving the elders of South Asian Muslim community for past seven years. SAMAA’s Services include developing innovative& effective Service Modules, in order to facilitate the provision of Culturally specific needs of South Asian Seniors. To assist this Mission, SAMAA has many dedicated Volunteers who provide yeoman services such as Transport of Seniors to Doctors, Mosques, Grocery shopping, So-

cial events etc. These Volunteers also assist in Home Cleaning, Home Cooking, Delivery of Home-cooked Meals etc. SAMAA also arranges regular Picnics/Social Entertainments for the Seniors. SAMAA has been actively negotiating with various service providers and has signed MoUs with them in fulfilling the C.A.L.D.(Culturally and Linguistically Diversified) requirements of South Asian Muslims. SAMAA is keen to engage in Respite Care programmes and is seeking grants to offer this service. In long run SAMAA aims to build its own aged care facilities. The attendees were generous in their donations to support SAMAA’s programmes. The South Asian Muslim Association of Australia is listed as a public benevolent institution and donations to SAMAA are Tax Deductible. The SAMAA event and its Souvenir were sponsored by a number of community organisations, businesses and professionals.

Further education is key to empowering the women of Afghanistan Andrew Wilcox Afghanistan is all too often the scene of tragedy, but one incident recently touched the country like no other. It involved the lynching of a young woman, just 27 years old, by a savage mob in the streets of Kabul. The name of the woman was Farkhunda. What happened to Farkhunda was an act of particular savagery, with her murderers going to extraordinary lengths to vent their anger. Beaten, pulled off a roof when she tried to escape, pelted with wooden planks and run over with a car, her dead body was then burnt. Police reportedly just stood by and did not intervene. One cannot imagine the terror that young woman faced over the several hours of the ordeal. News and images of the event quickly spread via social media and shocked the world. After some confusion, the lead up to the incident was eventually revealed. Farkhunda, a scholar of Islamic Studies, had taken exception to the selling of tawiz by a mullah at Kabul’s Shah-Do Shamshira mosque and, lashing out in defense, he falsely accused her publicly of burning pages of the Qu’ran. It was enough to unleash a horrible string of events. Although an obvious tragedy, Farkhunda’s death does seem to have caused an awakening in Afghanistan. This is a country that is no stranger to violence against women, but this incident has been seen as the last straw. Not long after the world saw news images of women defiantly taking control of Farkhunda’s body on the banks of the Kabul

May 2015

River to take her to burial. This was a pronounced break with tradition that relegates such a task to men only. As the next few days and weeks unfolded Afghanistan seemed to be in a state of shock, trying to come to terms with the brutality of it all, but amongst all this the women had become strangely empowered. As someone that has been focused on the vulnerable of Afghanistan for nearly 20 years, Mahboba Rawi, founder of the Australian organisation Mahboba’s Promise, was struck by this unexpected resolve. “The day of the incident I spent all night with activists and women’s leaders in Afghanistan,” recounts Mahboba. “They were ready to take a stand and there is a big opportunity there for women over there to push back.” It is often stated that one of the most powerful ways to empower women is through education. By being educated women are able take on roles that establish them as respected members within the fabric of community. In this field Mahboba’s Promise has had some remarkable successes. Their Abdara Girls’ School in Panjshir Valley is a case in point. When it opened in 2001 in an area that was totally unfamiliar with the concept of educating girls there was even some local resistance. Now however, attitudes have changed so much that it is embraced by all. The challenge now however, as recognised by Mahboba, is how to sustain that development path for girls beyond high school so that it entrenches their role in the community to which they belong. “Producing girls with a high school education is a huge step forward, but in reality their options from there are still limited. We now need to talk about further education,”

Mahboba Rawi, surrounded by Afghan girls. Mahboba points out. The obvious work choices for women in a country like Afghanistan, and the jobs they can do to help them becoming self-sufficient and valuable to the community, are those such as midwifery, nursing and teaching. In 2014 around 20 girls from Abdara were trained in hygiene, maternity care, disease control and first aid. Now they are fully functioning community nurses in a district where, just by being able to conduct the simple task of measuring blood pressure, they command a huge respect in the community! Mahboba’s Promise completed another similar project in Badakhshan Province in December 2014..

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It is from this renewed respect for the role of women in the community that will bring about true change for women in Afghanistan, according to Mahboba Rawi. Recently her organisation set up an appeal that will support young women through further education courses. Find out how you can help support a young woman through further education by contacting the office of Mahboba’s Promise on 02 9887 1665 or office@mahbobaspromise.org. Andrew Wilcox is the Marketing, Communications & Fundraising Manager, Mahbobas Promise Inc

Australasian Muslim Times

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COMMUNITY

NEWS 1-2

Events Calendar Islamicate: “Are Muslim women silenced? Do we have enough sisters as community leaders?”

So what WILL it be? Let’s talk inheritance over tea Sunday 3 May, 2015 09:00 AM - 01:00 PM 764 Forest Road, Peakhurst, NSW

Saturday 2 May, 2015 06:00 PM - 09:30 PM Bankstown Library & Knowledge Centre Bankstown, NSW www.facebook.com/ events/1591707681116006/

www.facebook.com/ events/947875125247245/

Wills & Inheritance Workshop Sisters only / Limited seats / Morning tea provided. Presented by Sr Ramia Sultan, (Bachelor of Laws UTS, Master of Islamic Studies CSU) Cost: $50 (all proceeds go to FAMSY youth program initiatives) For registrations and payment enquiries, contact or Sr Hanan 0418 450 265, or Sr Amasy 0413 298 267, email to nswevents@famsy.org.au

Regular event Chair: Dr Yassir Morsi - Islamicate Director, Researcher, University of South Australia Online registrations essential This a FREE community event designed for the community. Donations are encouraged to cover event costs.

‘Jannah is at your mother’s feet’ Fundraiser Saturday 2 May, 2015 06:00 PM - 09:00 PM Level 2, 219 Parramatta Rd, Auburn, NSW

ACT: De-stressing the boiling point or ‘managing personal stress’

AUSTRALIA 9 - 10

LIFESTYLE 11 - 13

Zia Ahmad The Islamic Practice and Daawah Circle, IPDC is organizing a day long course 9 am to 6 pm on “Prophetic Leadership” to be conducted by Sheikh Yahya Ibrahim on Sat 9 May 2015 at the Bryan Brown Theatre, Bankstown. Using the role model of the Prophet Mohammad (s), the participants will learn the true measure of leadership, types of people a leader attracts, connecting with people and building momentum for the good of the society around. Considering every participant to be a potential leader, the course will inculcate the spirit of leadership inspired from the following Hadith reported by Abdullah bin Umar where the Prophet (s) was reported to have said: “All of you are shepherds and each of you is responsible for his flock. An imam is a shepherd and he is responsible for those in his care. A man is a shepherd in respect of

www.aussieforum.org Email: info@aussieforum.org Elliott Dunn, ABC 666 Radio, is Master of Ceremonies Speakers: Professor John Powers, ANU / Mary Pekin, CEO, Relationships Australia, ACT and Region / Dr John Martin, Clinical psychologist RSVP by COB 4 May to info@ aussieforum.org Any queries do contact: Mohammed Ali on 0434 604 208 or Helen Wilson on 0409 621 949 There will be a nominal charge of $10 per person.

COMMUNITY 6-8

Day long course on Prophetic Leadership

Wednesday 6 May, 2015 06:00 PM - 09:00 PM Taj Agra Indian Restaurant , 35 Woolley St, Dickson, ACT

www.jannah.eventbrite.com Cost: $55 per person or $500 for a booked table of 10 people Bookings: www.jannah.eventbrite.com “First my mother … Forever my friend” The orphans of Takhar, Afghanistan take pleasure in inviting you and your mother to our annual ladies dinner, ‘Jannah is at your mother’s feet’ fundraising event. All proceeds go towards supporting the orphans of Mahboba’s Promise Takhar Education Centre Fill your heart with love and commemorate all mother’s. Tantalising Afghan food ‘Bazaar’ Mother and Daughter trivia games Give-aways, prizes and laughter all round!

BOOMERANG 3-5

Sheikh Yahya Ibrahim

his family and is responsible for those in his care. The woman is a shepherd in respect of her husband’s house and is responsible for what is in her care. The servant is a shepherd in respect of his master’s property and is responsible for what is in his care. All of you are shepherds and each of you is responsible for his flock.” Sheikh Yahya Ibrahim is Canadian by birth & education, Egyptian through a rich ancestry, Turkish via the blessing of marriage and Australian by Choice of residence and migration. He lives in Perth with his wife Songul and three children, Shireen, Omar and Adam. Sheikh Yahya teaches Islamic Ethics & Theology, internationally, with al-Kauthar Institute. He is the recipient of the “Individual Excellence in Community Service Award.” by the West Australian State Government . The organisers have reported that 50% of the tickets have already been sold for this popular course. You can buy yours online from: www.ticketebo.com.au/ipdc/propheticleadership.html

Tears of the Prophet Wednesday 10 May, 2015 05:00 PM - 10:00 PM The Grand Ballroom Renaissance, Lidcombe, NSW

Southern Lebanon Photo exhibition By Tom Toby Saturday 2 May, 2015 07:30 PM - 09:30 PM Xtract Coffee, 40 Walz Street, Rockdale, NSW www.facebook.com/ events/961288820572553/

http://allthingsislam.com “Emotional moments in the life of our prophet” is a journey of happiness, tears and hope through the seerah of our impeccable Prophet (SA). We will endeavour - through stories and recitations – to discover the Prophet (SA), the human, our brother. We will revisit the emotional moments in which Prophet (SA) is found to weep and smile. We will ultimately depart this touching event with a reinvigorated love for the Prophet (SA), and learn key lessons for dealing with facets of emotions, difficulties and stress.

A series of photographic images immaculately captured and presented by renowned Lebanese Australian photographer Tom Toby. An exhibition in celebration of the visual majesty, nestled in the heartland of resistance that is Southern Lebanon. Join us for traditional Lebanese tea, coffee, appetisers and canapés as we appreciate the majesty.

Other events in May A to Z Racism / Birthing Kit Assembly Kit / Chris Bowen @ Crescent Institute Sydney | What Labor Would Do Differently / Multicultural Healthy Ageing Lifestyle & Wellbeing Expo / Exploring the Mental Health of Australian Muslims Symposium

View online or add your own at www.amust.com.au/calendar

Australasian Muslim Times

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May 2015

UMMAH 14 - 16

EDUCATION 17 - 19

TRAVEL 20

SOCIAL 21

AUSTRALIA

BUSINESS 22 - 23

Tax reform white paper to meet future challenges FINANCE Dr Abul Jalaluddin Why Tax Reform? Australians currently enjoy one of the highest living standards in the world, emanating from nearly a quarter of a century of uninterrupted economic growth. The challenge for Australia to maintain and improve this level of living standard is to enhance economic growth through boosting productivity and workforce participation in the country. Tax reform is an important step to spur growth, create jobs and prosperity for all Australians. Australian tax system faces acute challenges from a changing world of our times. The key changes include the rise of the digital economy, highly mobile investment along with profit shifting opportunities and greater labour mobility. These developments substantially weaken the ability to raise revenue for Australia from the traditional tax bases and reduce total tax collections through dampening economic growth. Mining sector is no longer driving national income growth to the same extent as it did in the last few decades. This is primarily due to slower growth in trading nations particularly in China, severely falling commodity prices and resulting lower terms of trade. The sluggishness in mining industry has resulted in slow downstream investments, lesser job creation and lower purchasing power for Australian households. Tax re-

form offers a huge opportunity to improve investment and productivity for benefit of all Australians. In Australia, Federal Government, State/ Territory governments and Councils have taxing authority by means of their control of various tax bases. In 2013-14, Federal government collected around 81% of taxes mainly from income taxes levied on individual and corporations as well as GST; State/ Territory governments around 15% largely from payroll and stamp duties and Councils around 3% as rates. These taxes should be imposed and collected without unnecessary cost to the economy as a whole. Taxation of savings has significant variations in Australia. Australians save in various assets and modes such as family homes, superannuation, investment properties, bank accounts & debt instruments, shares, private companies and trusts. Taxation of incomes from these forms of savings varies significantly. Rents from investment properties, dividends from shares and interest from deposit accounts are subject to tax at full marginal tax rates. Capital gains from rental properties and shares are subject to 50% discount for individuals but capital gains from family homes are fully exempt from tax. Superannuation has a flat rate of tax (15%) on contributions and earnings irrespective of the marginal tax rates of the respective employees. Savings in private companies are taxed at 30% and trusts could have various rates depending on discretionary distribution of trust incomes. Coverage of Tax Reform Tax White paper proposes to examine a

wide range of issues of the Australian taxation and superannuation systems including taxes in relation to individuals, savings, small businesses, not-for-profit sector, GST, state taxes (payroll; stamp duties on conveyances, insurance and motor vehicles; land taxes; gambling taxes; mining royalties as well as council rates), fuel taxes, alcohol taxes, tobacco taxes, luxury car taxes, agricultural levies, tariffs, financial transaction taxes, corrective taxes and user charges. Expected Outcomes from Tax Reform Australian tax system is already highly sophisticated but it could be made simpler, fairer and lower in terms of tax rates. This reform may reduce compliance costs for taxpayers, improve revenue collection

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through better managing various tax bases, minimise distortion in commercial decision making, reduce tax administration costs and enhance confidence in the fairness of the taxation and superannuation systems. Tax White paper was released by the Federal Treasury on 30 March 2015 for a conversation with all Australians and submissions could be made by 1 June 2015. The government will consider the submissions and issue a Green paper by mid to late 2015. A plan for how to improve Australian taxation system will be released by next election which must be held on or before 14 January 2017, probably late 2016. See www.bettertax.gov.au for details.

Curtin team host launch to showcase app to combat violent extremist propaganda Bayley Howe Curtin University students hosted an event Monday 20 April 2015 at Curtin University where they showcased their proposed submission for the P2P: Challenging Extremism competition. Guests included U.S Consulate General Cynthia Griffin, Muslim Community Leader Salman Packer, Shadow Minister for Corrective Services Paul Papalia and Associate Professor Anne Aly. 52JUMAA is a world-first initiative to guide young people towards a positive view of themselves and their place in the community. The app is designed to engage tech-savvy young Muslims in the “searching” phase of their identity development, empowering users to develop positive world-views, actively fostering individual and community resilience to myths of violent extremism. After the free download, users create a profile, selecting their own goals for personal and spiritual growth. 52 JUMAA presents them with weekly, multi-level challenges

Students trying the app.

May 2015

on Friday, the day of prayers. Users are sent a daily affirmation and can connect with each other through the app to share challenges, compete for points and support one another in their personal development. The app has its own social media function, with links to social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Spearheaded by international counter-terrorism expert Associate Professor Anne Aly, the group is representing Australia in a firstof-its-kind global competition, supported by the U.S. Department of State. “Countering violent extremism is not about tit-for-tat, it’s about engaging the target audience in various ways that are equally attractive and offer viable alternative narratives,” said Dr Aly. “This initiative will work as it engages young people in the solutions and innovations toward combating global violent extremism, “said Dr Aly. According to Ahmad Ali, an 18-year-old student on the team, 52JUMAA can help guide young, vulnerable Muslims towards a more positive view of themselves and their place in the community. “Nowadays everything is so immediate and we don’t know if kids are getting the right knowledge but 52 JUMAA runs over a year so at the end of their journey we hope users feel more empowered.” said Mr Ali. The challenge sees 23 universities from the US, Canada, the Middle East, North Africa and Europe compete to create a product, initiative or idea to challenge violent extremism. The submission was due on the 27 April.

From left: Abdi Shire, U.S Consulate General Cynthia Griffin, Associate Professor Anne Aly, Ahmed Ali, Ruby Avis and Andreas Hufschmidt. If the team is ranked first of the 10 international universities, they will be flown to Washington DC to present the initiative to the U.S. Department of State, where White House officials are planning to attend. For more information on the application please go to the link below for a preview of how the app will run. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF79VoijBXI Bayley Howe is the media liaison for the project. Originally from UK, She is studying at Curtin University, Perth for a Double Degree in Journalism and Public Relations.

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The app, 52JUMAA

Australasian Muslim Times

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AUSTRALIA

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COMMUNITY 6-8

AUSTRALIA 9 - 10

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Soccer, Surf and Sailing - making peace with sport Philip Feinstein They say that wars should be fought on the football field where, other than pride, no-one really gets hurt. There is a lot of merit in that idea, as has been proven over and over. Even during the 1st and 2nd World Wars, both the Allies and Germans were reported to have put down their arms for a game of soccer. This theory is now being practised again... In early 2013 a Muslim/Jewish team of Aussie Rules footballers calling themselves MULU, participated in the Melbourne Mul-

Hector Martinez, former Argentinian football super-star, believes that soccer enhances peace.

ticultural Unity Cup. Being an interfaith group, there were games played by both men and women. The success of this event was overwhelming with more in the pipeline. Another big Jewish/Muslim soccer event was held earlier this year in Jerusalem. The amalgamation of teams from the Arab neighbourhood of Beit Safafa and Jewish neighbourhood of Katamon joined forces to play the round ball. This was mainly a children’s event that attracted over 100 kids aged under 12 years. Under the banner of “Kicking out Racism and Violence”, this hugely successful event culminated in Jewish and Arab kids getting to know each other. The New Israel Fund (NIF) partnered Hapoel Katamon soccer team in formulating this historic occasion. Former player and now manager of Hapoel Katamon, Shai Aharon, spoke of his team’s formula for success: “Mutual respect, mutual values and community togetherness. The idea is that Arab children and Jewish children can get to know each other and realise that they can live together. It’s as simple as that” he said. More information on this historic event by Elhanan Miller can be found on www.timesofisrael.com/in-jerusalemkids-get-a-kick-out-of-coexistence. Meanwhile in Sydney Hector Martinez, former Argentinean football super-star, created the Bondi Football Academy which has been running since 1989. His academy has produced many Australian internationals including Tim Cahill and Massimo Luongo. “We concentrate on youngsters and welcome kids from all different backgrounds, Muslim, Catholic and Jewish. Soccer is a

Metine Ülker and David Siegel - looking for peace through Sport. wonderful way to bring about a peaceful environment and what better place than on the football pitch” he said. Craig Foster has high praise for the philosophy of the academy, while David Hill, former soccer head in Australia, talks of how the kids become memorised by the approach. More information from www.bondifootball.com While football is a wonderful way for Jewish and Muslim kids to get together, there is another formula brewing: Sailing. Local residents David Siegel, a Jew from Iowa, and Metine Ülker, a Muslim from Turkey, have teamed up to form an enterprise called “A Couple of People”. Their goal is to replicate their friendship by bringing together young Jews and Muslims living in Australia to meet with each other and share experienc-

es in a comfortable environment like sailing and surfing. David said: “The organisation is not about taking sides or lobbying - it is just about old fashion connections and understanding. The program is designed to take action and allow each person to bring their own stories that will lead to a better understanding and hopefully lifelong friendships.” And what better place than on our lovely Sydney harbour. Details from www.acoupleofpeople. org Philip Feinstein is a Sydney based writer, musician and activist working for MUSIC FOR REFUGEES www.musicforrefugees.org

Lao New Year Festival 2015 Chanthanith Chittasy

On Sunday 12th April, 2015, thousands participated at the Lao New Year Festival at the Bonnyrigg Town Centre Park close to the Lao temple. Attending the festival were representatives of federal, state and local government. As well as the President of the Buddhist Council of NSW Mr Brian White. There were representatives from various interfaith organisations, the Vietnamese community, and representative from the Eid Community Ms Mobinah Ahmad and many more. The Mayor of Fairfield City Council Mr

Frank Carbone announced that the Fairfield City Council had been in partnership with the Lao Buddhist Society for many years and this is the seventh year celebrating at the park. It had approved a grant to support the Festival, as a notable multicultural and community event for the Fairfield area. Mr Nick Lalich MP for Cabramatta was the pioneer of this event. As a multicultural event, this event has expanded and he remembered the tiny Bodhi tree when it was first planted and threw some coins in there for luck. It is the central focus of the Bonnyrigg Town Centre Park. This park welcome all Australians regardless of their beliefs-religious or non-religious and background. They are all welcome here know as the World at One Place. He supported this festival through the years for it helps to preserve the Lao culture and tradition and this

Colour and songs at the Lao New Year festival.

Australasian Muslim Times

festival flourish and benefit all those who take part in its continuing development. This festival is one way to acknowledge the Lao-Australian people for their achievements and contribution to the Australian society. It was a day when all those present gathered and gave a grand applaud to two doctors. Dr Tim Soutphoummasane who is the Race Discrimination Commissioner and Dr Jeremy Souksamlane Hockey who has just finished his dental surgery degree. They were honored by everyone for their outstanding achievements. This is quite a new year’s gifts for the Lao community. The President of the Lao Buddhist Society of NSW Inc. Mr Bounlap Saenphoumy said that this festival and its success is because of all the people who volunteered to give their time and energy for the three day festival. They all gave from their hearts and

Lao Temple in Bonnyrigg this is what makes this festival extra special. Chanthanith Chittasy is the public officer of the Lao Buddhist Society of NSW.

Frank Carbone (left) and Nick Lalich (centre) with organisers and guests.

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May 2015

UMMAH 14 - 16

EDUCATION 17 - 19

TRAVEL 20

SOCIAL 21

LIFESTYLE

BUSINESS 22 - 23

AMUST

The complexities of Muslim Marriage Bureau gender interactions Zeynab Gamieldien Recently, I happened to be in the same vicinity as a couple of Muslim guys. We’d just left the same event, but I was now on my own with some time to kill. After a short and somewhat stop-start conversation, the guys promptly walked off in the opposite direction without so much of a backward glance or a parting salams. For some reason, I found myself reflecting on this incident more than I probably should have. I’d initially found their behaviour discourteous and unnecessarily awkward, but I was also annoyed at myself for not knowing precisely how to interpret it all. Maybe I’d just expected too much. Maybe I was being a bit of a weirdo to have even made conversation in the first place. Maybe I’d just been around too many non-Muslims, old people and hipsters lately. Modernity is a game of unintended consequences. My interest has always been in the place where politics and religion meet the personal, that grey fuzzy mess where no one is quite sure how things should work anymore. How people interpret edicts such as ‘keep it to what’s necessary’ will depend very much on factors such as their religious leanings, their family and community expectations, their cultural sensibilities and their innate personal habits and character traits. Let’s examine some of these issues in more detail: Boundary-building As mentioned above, there are any number of variables when it comes to setting boundaries. Certain environments have their own pre-established boundaries, such as classes with physical partitions down the middle, but in other places the boundaries are not quite as defined. For example, at some Muslim events men sit on one side and women on the other, but the space outside and around the refreshments section is unsegregated. Some MSA members are friendlier than others with the opposite sex, but MSA events are often heavily segregated. Someone who you see at an Islamic class may ignore you completely, but then if you see them in a different context will be super-friendly. I find the minutiae of Muslim gender boundaries fascinating. It’s definitely not ‘necessary’ to like people’s posts on Facebook, but a lot of people do. It’s not really ‘necessary’ to add people of the opposite sex, but a lot of people do. In some circles it’d be completely normal for a Muslim guy to offer a girl a lift home, while in others

it’d be seen as odd or even offensive. Some friend’s husbands are fine with having a chat, while others will run for the door if you enter their house. If you stay in one, maybe two, social or community spheres, you tend to know and observe the rules of those spheres. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with observing the conventions of the environment you’re in or even modifying your behaviour to respect its confines, but switching in and out of modes of being can lead to interesting and unexpected consequences, which brings me to my next observation. Switching in and out Part of the complexities of gender relations is a type of dissonance, a little two-step, between the spheres constructed by Muslims and those constructed by non-Muslims. Immediately after my little encounter with those Muslim guys, I went into a (women’s) clothing shop to kill some time. The male sales assistant approached me and started a brief but friendly conversation, asking how my day had been and what I’d been up to. The exchange barely lasted two minutes, but I couldn’t help but unflatteringly compare the behaviour of the Muslim guys with this one. Of course, this is hardly a fair comparison to make. The sales assistant probably just wanted me to buy that shirt I’d been eyeing, but more importantly, the sales assistant wasn’t Muslim. The bizarre condition of the 21st century Western Muslim is that we’re often far more certain the conventions of how to behave around non-Muslims of the opposite sex than we are around those of our own faith. We’re more relaxed, less guarded and watchful. I’m not saying these are good things, but we’ve all either done it or seen it in action. (I’ve heard many complaints about Muslim guys being a lot less ‘cool’ than their non-Muslim counterparts, so take that as you will.) What goes on behind the screens I find a type of behavioural convention particularly common in the uni crowd: awkward in person, chatty behind computer screens. Some people won’t even say salams in person, but they’re happy to comment on your Facebook status or send you a private message. I find this somewhat irritating, but I do understand that for many people, online spaces seem safer, more ‘natural’. The problem is that online interactions can be misleading. People may talk to you on Facebook chat for hours on end without wanting to pursue a serious relationship. People may seem really cool and funny based on their social media persona, but in person may have all the personality of a wet firecracker. You might think someone is interested because they interact with you extensively online, but they could also be

Seeker & Sought For doing the same with several other people of the opposite sex. It’s so easy to say things behind a screen that you’d never say in person, which is problematic for any number of reasons. Overthinking overload The complexities and blurry grey lines of Muslim gender interactions leads to a type of second-guessing, a paranoia about being misinterpreted or judged. If I say salams first, will he think I’m being too forward? If I send her a message about something, does she think I’m interested? Was that joke I just said inappropriate or kinda hilarious? Am I really just being friendly or do I want something more here? Of course, some kind of internal auditing system is desirable, probably even necessary. But it can be exhausting to constantly take yourself to account, to constantly read subtext beneath subtext beneath subtext. This is compounded by the fact that you’re never quite sure who’s single and who’s not. If you know someone isn’t single or isn’t looking, you’re bound to interpret their friendliness in a different light. There is so much unspoken that it’s no wonder the spoken space can become so fraught with difficulty, awkwardness and unease. Some people I’ve spoken to about this issue find it easy to navigate between different social circles, to maintain a consistent demeanour and manner of engagement. Others give the matter little to no thought whatsoever and just say and act however they’re feeling in that particular moment. Sometimes I think people should just plainly state their boundaries (i.e. no, I will not meet up for coffee with you because I don’t do that sort of thing, or yes, we can talk about Game of Thrones without it leading to a proposal), but then again, maybe half of the fun lies in the unknown, in the guessing games and the carving out of parameters. Or maybe not. Zeynab is an Australian lawyer, social inquirer, traveller and chronic human observer. She created Love Haqtually as a space for Muslims (and anyone interested) to discuss relationships, love, the weirdness of being a Muslim in the 21st century.

An initiative by the Islamic Foundation for Education and Welfare (IFEW)

Seekers M20154: Male, 42. Pakistani Australian, Accountant I come from a respectable family, I have been brought up with traditional Pakistani culture and I am a Sunni. My interests are watching movies, listening to music, watching various sports, meeting friends on occasions and attending Islamic seminars. I am looking for a Sunni Muslim Pakistani woman aged between 27-33 who is educated and comes from a respectable family background. M20153: Male, 32, Sri Lankan Australian, Engineer. I’m an engineer and revert to Islam (I’ve done a lot of research to come to this point). This is my second year as a practicing Muslim. I have high emaan. My hobbies are fitness, reading, learning Arabic, engineering, modern history, cafés and restaurants, innovation. I’m looking for a devout practicing Muslim (Sunni) sister from any cultural background. Ideally a sister with very high emaan. M20152: Male, 33, Indian Australian, Financial Analyst. I’m a revert to Islam, and I work as a financial analyst in a multi-national IT company seeking an educated Muslim woman from a cultured family. M20151: Male, 34, Sri Lankan, Self-Employed. I have been living in Sydney for the past three years. I’ve been brought with traditional Islamic culture and am seeking to find a life partner in a halal way. I pray five times a day and read Quran every day. I am a very religious person, and I am looking to marry a religious Muslim woman.

Placing a notice If you would like to place a notice, fill out the matrimonial form at: www.amust.com.au/marriage-bureau All notices will be allocated a unique number and relevant personal information kept on file. Such information will remain confidential and will not appear on the notice. All notices must be sent through the form

Responding to a notice If you would like to respond to a notice, email seeker@amust.com.au with the notice number, your name and response and it will be emailed to them along with your email address. Share the celebration of your engagement, wedding or anniversary with the rest of the community! Email us at seeker@amust.com.au

May 2015

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Australasian Muslim Times

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Muslim Exchange Program AMUST

Rowan Gould The Australia-Indonesia Muslim Exchange Program (MEP) is now entering its 13th year. The program aims to build bridges between Muslim communities in these two neighbouring countries and to break down stereotypes about life as a Muslim in each country. March saw the arrival to Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra of 5 Indonesian Muslim leaders from major Islamic organisations including Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)and Muhammadiyah. Both are mainstream Muslim organisations with over 60 million followers between them. The five Indonesian delegates included Hindun Anisah, a lawyer, NU activitst and the leader of an Islamic boarding school (pesantren) in Central Java; Ahmad Saifullah, alumni coordinator at Darussalam Gontor, one of Indonesia’s largest pesantren networks; Yanuardi Syukur, a prolific writer and head of the Islamic writers’ group Forum Lingkar Pena in North Maluku; Lenni Lestari, a lecturer in Qur’anic studies and tafsir at Langsa, Aceh Province; and Siti Rohmanatin Fitriani, a member of Muhammadiyah and a trainer in the Department of Social Services in Jayapura, Papua, a re-

mote region where Muslims are a minority. The delegation visited Muslim and non-Muslim schools, including the Australian International Academy, Balcombe Grammar School, and Al-Zahra College, and met with major Islamic organisations including the Islamic Council of Victoria and the Lebanese Muslim Association. Delegates met with Australians from many different faith communities and walks of life. A second group of five Indonesian Muslim leaders will arrive in Australia in May, and a counterpart delegation of five Australian Muslim leaders will travel to Indonesia at the same time, with participants from Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin. The Australian delegation includes Mobinah Ahmad, a multimedia journalist at the Australasian Muslim Times; Tasneem Chopra, a cross-cultural consultant, curator and activist; Sarah Chaabo, a board member of Mission of Hope; Sahema Saberi, a youth worker in the Afghan community; and Kyawnaing Yusuf, a young imam and khatib from Darwin. The MEP is an initiative of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, through the Australia-Indonesia Institute, an independent body dedicated to improving people-to-people relations between Australia and Indonesia.

Indonesian exchange group at arts gallery.

Indonesian exchange group at Bondi Beach.

Indonesian exchange group at sports ground in Sydney.

For those women with a different experience of motherhood & mothering Eugenia Flynn For my sisters and I it is our 6th Mother’s Day without our dear mother. Mother’s Day used to make me really angry – I begrudged those who were still able to celebrate with their mums – but right now, all it does is make me really teary. I really feel like Mother’s Day is held up in society as a day of celebrating mums as the ultimate in womanhood and femininity. But for so many it can be a source of tension, those who don’t have mothers, only dads or no parents at all. Those whose mums

have passed on like me. Those who are separated from their mothers or their children like those in jail or detention, or separated by roads, seas, conflicts and borders. Those who are adoptees and may have a different sense of what a mother is. And especially those women who aren’t able to experience motherhood and would really like to. We really should be celebrating all kinds of versions of motherhood and also what it means for the child to have a mother, whatever that looks like for them whether it is typical or not. For me right now Mother’s Day is all about my friends and family who want to be mothers, but are for whatever reason unable. Today, you have all my love <3 Originally posted on Eugenia Flynn’s blog ‘Black Thoughts Live Here‘ in May 2013

Australasian Muslim Times

Black Thoughts Live Here is the website of Eugenia Flynn who writes from her view point as an Aboriginal, Chinese, Muslim woman living on Kulin Country in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

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BUSINESS 22 - 23

The nature of trust & being guarded MOBYDAYZE Mobinah Ahmad

I was at a party where I only knew the host, and while she was busy doing her party duties such as making sure there was enough food, I realised I had to talk to someone I didn’t know. I dislike small talk as it doesn’t give you an idea of who someone is, just their occupation and cultural background. So I turned to the person next to me, Alex, and I initiated a discussion on the concept of trust and being guarded. It did not take long to realise that we had polar views on the matter. You see, Alex was one of those people who believe in trusting everyone, being open to the world, and the rest of that hippie mantra. I was not like that. I said that trusting people in this society meant emotional suicide, you leave yourself open to have thoughts and feelings that are close to you prematurely judged, or worse, used-for-throwbackevil intent (using something you’ve confided against you later). Alex said “When people see that you trust them, they would take that sincerely”. And that’s when I realised that perhaps our personal experiences were so starkly different. In my experience with others, once a friendship dies, one or even both of the exfriends would spit out vile personal secrets about each other.

It got to the point where I’d have to say – Don’t tell me this. This is awful. There’s a difference in using a story of a (ex)friend’s experience to explain how you feel/think, and then just plain backbiting. People, generally, are interchangeable. I think we all know this, but no one ever wants to admit it because its terribly depressing. Your friends are interchangeable – they’ll come and go in your life. It doesn’t matter who the people are, you’ll be happy/sad as people come and go. Aside from family, and someone you marry (in most circumstances), your relationship with everyone else holds no kind of commitment. Now Alex believes that we should be open with our feelings and trust everyone, regardless how close we are with them, and just hope for the best that they don’t use it against us - which I thought was unbelievably foolish. If you’re going to open up to someone, they need to make you feel secure, loved, like they care and are really sincere. Most people don’t go to that much effort. Having said that though, being a guarded person, it means that you internalize all your feelings and it can affect your mental state. There is something liberating about that kind of thinking. Making people jump through hoops to achieve your trust is exhausting. But at the risk of feeling betrayed, is it really worth it? Send your comments to info@amust.com.au Subject: Mobydayze

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Modest Street Fashion Photography by Benny Baharuddin

Jonathan, 27, Neuro Scientist Jacket & Boots: From Korea on an online store Scarf: Hermes Style description: Unusual

May 2015

The Modest Street Fashion series will capture the diversity of expression and style. This series explores Sydney’s emerging modest fashion market.

Kartika, 19, Student Jacket & pants: Vintage, from the market Shoes: Gorman Style description: Conservative

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Mahmoud, Very old man, Mathematics teacher Shoes and Pants: Target Shirt: fashion store my kids tell me to buy from Style: anything, comfortable, colours & anything on sale I buy.

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Muslim Aid Australia responds to the Vanuatu Cyclone Disaster AMUST

AMUST Media Tens of thousands of people were left at risk after the island nation of Vanuatu was battered by a monster cyclone which tore through the South Pacific island nation, flattening buildings and killing at least sixteen people. Over 260,000 were reported as being in the disaster zone when the category 5 cyclone hit on 13 March 2015 Cyclone Pam was reported as being the

worst disaster to strike the nation with approximately half the population of Vanuatu affected (170,000) and at least 82,000 of these are children. Due to the severe destruction and the urgent need for support, an emergency response team lead by Project Managers, Saeed Khan and Taupheeq Omar was sent by Muslim Aid Australia (MAA) to deliver immediate and essential relief to the victims. The MAA response team first travelled to Port Villa to conduct a needs assessment and develop a list of beneficiaries and their loca-

Muhammad Mustafa, Imam and teacher of Tanaa Island mosque (pictured behind) in Ilew Village, Vanuatu.

tions. Once the list was developed the team sourced food from a local supplier and began the immediate delivery to families in 10 different villages in Port Villa. Each family received 25Kgs of rice, 24 cans of Tuna, 24 packets of breakfast crackers and 20 packets of Noodles to last for 1 month. After the distribution was completed in Port Villa, the MAA response team sent essential food supplies to Tanna Island, which was regarded as the worst affected island in Vanuatu. Due to the difficulty of reaching Tanna Island, aid was very slow to reach the people.

Muslim Aid Australia was one of the first NGOs to reach those areas. According to Project Manager, Saeed Khan, “Essentially we are committed to providing support for the families affected for the next 3-4 months until their crops can grow back and they can sustain themselves.” Muslim Aid Australia is currently developing long-term projects to help rebuild homes and schools. If you would like to help continue the relief efforts, please donate at www.muslimaid.org.au or call the office on 1800 100 786.

Muslim Aid Australia aid efforts: Saeed Khan (right) with supplies.

Islamic Relief Australia in Indonesia – Water, wells and mushrooms in Lombok IRAUS Team, Queensland A team from Islamic Relief Australia (IRAUS) visited areas in Lombok from 4-7 April 2015 where Islamic Relief Indonesia is working with local communities, utilising funds generously donated by Australians to support poor and marginalised communities. Visiting eight remote villages on the island of Lombok in the Province of West Nusa Tenggara, one of the poorest provinces

IRAUS QLD’s Susan Al-maani examines the growing mushrooms

in Indonesia, the team realised how difficult life is without a supply of fresh, clean water. Due to drought and the lowering of the water table, even deep wells have dried up thus making it harder for the communities to access clean water. Islamic Relief (IR) has drilled deep bore wells to access potable water and, with contributions from donors, installed pumps and water tanks providing water for drinking, cooking, bathing, and washing. An innovative system allows any waste water to irrigate vegetable gardens and plots of medicinal plants. To help improve the lives of poor women, widows, orphans and especially women who are their family breadwinners, IR introduced a Mushroom Cultivation Project. The Project provides training, marketing skills and infrastructure to cultivate mushrooms thus generating income to sustain their families. Some harvested mushrooms are sold to hotels. To give added value, IR is teaching the women how to make curries, chips and puddings with the mushrooms, thus helping them increase and diversify their incomes. The IRAUS team also had the opportunity to meet one of the thousands of orphans being sponsored by IR who is being supported by an Australian donor. With this sponsorship, the girl who was born without her left hand, is now able to attend primary school and is among the top students in her class. The Team also visited the Disaster Risk Reduction and Preparation Secretariat located in a Hindu Temple, an IR initiative using local committees based in places of worship

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to prevent and prepare for natural disasters such as cyclones and other disasters common to the region. Working alongside local government disaster management agencies, they are equipped with the skills to prepare themselves for the disasters and they learn how to reduce the impact of these disasters, The team from Australia was led by Nora Amath, Secretary of the Board of Trustees, Susan Almaani IRAUS’s Queensland representative, Fadlullah Wilmot, Head of Institutional Relations and Funding, Souha Alameddine and two of the top fundraiser

volunteers, Tarek Taleb and Sarah Jubran who raised the funds for this project. Want to make a positive contribution to the world? Visit Islamic Relief’s website, www.islamic-relief.com.au, to donate now.

IR team members at one of the Mushroom Cultivation Project sites

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May 2015

UMMAH 14 - 16

EDUCATION 17 - 19

TRAVEL 20

SOCIAL 21

UMMAH

BUSINESS 22 - 23

AMUST

Report Release: Kashmir Floods 2014 Abu Anees A well researched report titled Occupational Hazard: The Jammu & Kashmir Floods of September 2014 was released at a media conference on Monday 20 April 2015 from Lalchowk, Srinagar by the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society. The 182 page report with photos, tables, graphics and quotations is divided into 5 chapters together with hundreds of academic style references and has been put together by researchers Mir Fatimah Kanth and Shrimoyee Nandini Ghosh, a human rights lawyer. It is freely available in pdf form at http://www.jkccs.net. The report was released on the 11th martyrdom anniversary of the Kashmiri human rights activist Aasia Jeelani. It comes in the wake of ongoing public protests in Kashmir and house arrest of Masarat Alam Bhat, 44, Chairman, Jammu Kashmir Muslim League and Syed Ali Shah Geelani, 86, Chairman, All Parties Hurriyat Conference. ‘There have been many reports documenting the visible human rights violations and abuses by the state in Jammu and Kashmir. But this report explores the impacts of militarization, which are usually invisible, and are the least explored and studied,’ stated Advocate Parvez Imroz, a human rights lawyer and President of Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society. Mir Fatimah Kanth, the co-researcher of the report said: ‘This report is vital because it shows how the disaster vulnerability of ordinary Kashmiris is impacted by the political and historical context. It maps our relationship to Kashmir’s rivers and lands and how we as a society cannot afford to ignore the human rights implications of these supposed environmental concerns.’ Shrimoyee Nandini Ghosh, a human rights lawyer, and the second co-researcher of the report stated: ‘Militarisation affects every aspect of life, livelihood and calamities in Jammu and Kashmir. Yet, in demanding accountability and answers for state failures, the militarized governance and occupation of Jammu and Kashmir is rendered invisible. Through specific examples, case studies, news reports and testimonies, the report highlights the structural rather than the symptomatic causes of the floods of September 2014.’ The Jammu and Kashmir floods of September 2014, occurred in the most densely militarized occupied territory in the world, located in one of its most ecologically fragile— the Western Himalayan region—called the ‘third pole’ for its enormous glacial reserves of fresh water. This report seeks to contextualize the floods of 2014, against the history of India’s illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir, and the Indian state’s military, governance and media strategies in asserting political sovereignty over the region. Public finances, civic infrastructure, environmental and development policy, control over natural re#

Media Conference for release of the report at Srinagar, Kashmir.

Front page of the report sources, and disaster management systems in Jammu and Kashmir, are determined by Indian ‘national security’ priorities of controlling territory at any cost, in ways that are deeply inimical to the region’s ecological, political and economic needs, interests and sovereignty. Warfare, armed conflict and prolonged occupations are widely considered among the most environmentally destructive activities known to humankind. Yet, the militarization of Jammu and Kashmir civic infrastructure, water bodies, lands, forests, higher ground karewas and meadows which have an enormous bearing on urban planning of its cities, and the flood and disaster vulnerability of its people has gone unnoticed by analysts. This report thus raises questions about accountability and culpability for the devastating flooding of Kashmir, from an ecological, civil and political rights perspective. It documents and celebrates the resilience and resistance of the Kashmiri people, which was particularly visible through community, based flood relief and rescue efforts, in the wake of widespread administrative failure, and delayed and discriminatory rescues. Chapter 1, The Flooding of Kashmir A Brief History provides an over all historical and geographical background to the Jhelum river system, and floods and flood management works in the Kashmir valley. It delineates the progress of the September 2014 floods in Kashmir accompanied by an analysis of official warnings and gauge readings.

Chapter 2, Landscapes of Occupation It describes the features and consequences of the militarised warfare ecology of Jammu and Kashmir, where the landscape is littered with permanent military installations, and militarised development infrastructure is seen as a crucial aspect of political and territorial control. This chapter provides a classification of the extent and kinds of land under military occupation, and an account of the effects of militarised land occupation, tourism projects and development infrastructure during the recent floods. Through illustrative case studies from rural Pulwama, and an urban Srinagar neighbourhood, the chapter provides insights into the nature of devastation suffered in the floods of 2014, especially by highly militarised and vulnerable communities, and throws light on micro- ecologies and local land use patterns and their effect on the inundation. Chapter 3, Chronicle of a Flood Foretold Militarised Governance and the Floods, documents the legal, and regulatory frameworks, plans and institutions of disaster risk reduction, flood control and water resources conservation and management, land use and infrastructure building in Indian Administered Jammuand Kashmir. These agencies and regulations have an official role to play in development, disaster preparedness and prevention, but failed abysmally in their responsibilities. The Chapter attempts to unravel the structural causes for the Jammu and Kashmir state government’s endemic negligence, and apparent apathy. It argues that these governance structures exist within the political economy, and militarised strategies of an occupying power that influence and inform their organisation, purpose and day-to-day functioning in Kashmir.

Media Scan Ainullah

Chapter 4, Flooded Lives Evaluating the Impact of the Kashmir Floods, describes the effect of the September Floods, on the lives, public infrastructure and economy of the Kashmir valley, The initial section presents the overall impact in various regions and sectors of socio-economic life of the valley, supplemented by field work based case studies and photographs. Thereafter the chapter focuses more closely on the public health sector, and medical facilities in Srinagar and neighbouring Budgam. Through four analytical and descriptive case studies of differently located hospitals, it offers an insight into how doctors, patients and medical staff survived the flooding. Chapter 5, Rescue Relief and Resistance It describes events and responses in the aftermath of the floods. The dominant Indian media and official narrative in relation to the Kashmir floods has been that of local administrative failure and the heroic humanitarianism of the Indian defence forces. This Chapter aims to retrieve critiques of and resistance to militarised rescue and aid, and document local histories of community volunteerism, courage, generosity and solidarity, before they get further subsumed. Itfirst describes the state of widespread administrative failure, and thereafter focuses on community rescue and evacuation efforts. In this context it analyses the militarised priorities, and the often discriminatory and selective role played by Indian paramilitary, military forces. It describes a variety of localized relief efforts, including community kitchens, and relief camps, undertaken by civil society groups, neighbourhood committees and religious bodies. It also analyses the role played by the non resident Kashmiri diaspora, and state blockades of non state relief and humanitarian aid. It studies the role of the media, including television, print and social media in three different spheres the local, the Indian and the International. The Conclusion summarises the important substantive findings and inferences from the report, and proposes an agenda for future inquiry, research and action.

Imams Online: Reclaiming the digital Space AMUST Media Leading Imams from the UK, Europe and US gathered on 27 March 2015 in London at a summit to announce the launch of a digital magazine to support a wider drive by Muslims everywhere to reclaim the digital space from those who wish to tarnish the image of their faith. Shaukat Warraich, Chief Editor of Imamsonline.com, an organisation providing a voice for Islamic religious leaders, and host of the Imams Online Digital Summit, said: “The magazine ‘Haqiqah’ which translates as ‘The Reality’ is aimed at young people and will counter the extremist narrative used by groups such as ISIS.”

May 2015

The digital magazine, developed with contribution from Imams and scholars will deliver a clear and positive message for readers with information that they can share easily across their social media network. Highlights of the magazine include a section providing ‘correct’ context to specific verses of the Quran, regularly twisted in extremist material. Qari Asim, Senior Editor of Imams Online and contributor to the magazine added: “We are reclaiming the online space, but we need absolutely everyone to get involved in this effort. So this is a call to log on, get informed, and share the magazine with all your friends and family online.” The summit was honoured by the attendance of various highly respected Imams in-

cluding, Sheikh Abdallah Bin Bayyah, President of the Forum for Promoting Peace, and Hamza Yusuf, leading US Imam and co-founder of California based Zaytuna College. Imams Online is an online resource which offers advice and education about the Islamic faith. Bringing together more than 700 Imams and Mosques from across the UK, Imams Online has become the first port of call for anyone wishing to find out more about the religion. Since the launch of the magazine just over a month ago it has been viewed over 250,000 times. Haqiqah can be downloaded here: http://imamsonline.com/blog/haqiqahwhat-is-the-truth-behind-isis/

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UMMAH

NEWS 1-2

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COMMUNITY 6-8

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Were the Reclaim Australia Rallies evidence of nostalgia for the Middle Ages? Bilal Cleland As the Abbott government tries to overcome its declining popularity, it has placed increased emphasis upon military adventures and national security issues. This has apparently worked quite well in the eastern states and within the ranks of the Liberal senators and MPs. The Reclaim Australia rallies of 4 April, addressed by such luminaries as Pauline Hanson and Danny Nalliah and attended by people with swastika tattoos, were a direct result of this attempt to increase hysteria. Halal food has been made a major issue by the anti-Muslim bigots and we even have one Tasmanian senator, Jacqui Lambie, proclaiming a party to oppose “shari” law. The bigotry started with demonization of asylum seekers and claimed to be only concerned with combatting “extremism” amongst Muslims, but is now focusing on Islam as such. Hence the opposition to the non-existent “shariah law,” halal certification and “Islamization” which no-one else has noticed. Nothing about tax avoidance by multinational corporations! We are hearing more each day about rising Islamophobia in Europe and in the USA. Not mentioned, but noticeable, is that much of this is occurring in countries which either gave rise to Nazism or collaborated with it like Austria, the Netherlands and France. To the credit of Germany, Chancellor Merkel has strongly denounced Pegida, [Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West] the anti-Muslim organization in Europe. In contrast to this principled stand, we have noticed the deafening silence of the Abbott government and the muted response of the ALP Leader, Shorten, to the Reclaim rallies in Australia. Demonisation of a community can be a foreword to attempted destruction In Germany in the recent past there has been a lot of publicity about the murder of 8 Turks by a secretive neo-Nazi group with apparent links to German Intelligence. An intelligence operative with right-wing views was even present at one murder. This adds to the sad history of recent European Islamophobic murders in Norway and of course the Serbian murder of 200,000 Bosniaks in the 1990s. Not long ago three Muslim students in the USA were killed in a hate crime outside their apartment. Perhaps we should not be too surprised at such hatred and bigotry, as religious tolerance is but a relatively recent feature of western thinking.. It may not yet be part of the deep culture and under the stress of economic decline, we may witness a return to the culture’s pagan Roman roots. The Rev. Dr Susan Ritchie in her paper ‘The Pasha of Buda and the Edict of Torda’, traces the roots of religious tolerance in Eu-

rope to the Kingdom of Transylvania, ruled by John Sigismund, the only Unitarian king in modern history. The 1568 Edict of Torda was, according to Ritchie, ‘the first European policy of expansive religious toleration’. Europe at that time was a religiously and scientifically backward place where unorthodox ideas could get one burnt alive for heresy. Protestant rebels against the Roman pope were regularly exterminated by Catholic governments and thinkers with radical ideas were usually killed by Protestant governments. Why was Transylvania different? The role of Islamic ideas in the evolution of our modern culture has been neglected and even deliberately hidden by nationalist and bigoted writers. In contrast to this, Professor Ritchie argues that there is “a direct relationship between Ottoman rule and culture, Islamic theological commitments and the development of the Unitarian articulation of religious tolerance.” The Edict of Torda, as the first step towards religious tolerance in Europe, is rooted in the example of the Ottomans in Hungary. The Catholic Hapsburg Monarchy targeted Hungary for annexation in 1540 but the claims of the then baby, John Sigismund, to part of his lands, was supported by the Ottomans. They asserted control over Hungary but Transylvania was ruled independently by John Sigismund, under Ottoman protection from Hapsburg annexation. Ritchie points out that the Ottoman lands were open to different religions and that non-orthodox Christians and Jews found a haven from persecution under Muslim rule. Salo Baron, the leading Jewish historian of the 20th century, describes the learned Jewish community of the Ottoman Empire in the 1500s as enjoying one of Judaism’s Golden Ages. Unitarians, hunted down in all of Europe, were free to study and preach in Ottoman lands. Christians living in Ottoman lands were not necessarily as tolerant as their Muslim compatriots. On August 24 1548, a Hungarian Protestant pastor, Imre Szigeti, was accused of heresy by the Catholic authorities in the Hungarian town of Tolna. They demanded of the Pasha of Buda that he be either exiled or killed for his heresy. An Edict of Toleration The Pasha reacted by issuing an Edict of Toleration in 1548, declaring that “preachers of the faith invented by Luther should be allowed to preach the Gospel everywhere to everybody…freely and without fear..” The Edict of Torda of 1568 similarly asserted the freedom of the individual conscience “because faith is a gift of God, it springs from listening, which listening forwards to the word of God.” The court preacher of King John Sigismund, Ference David, had studied in Wit-

Buda and Pest 1617 tenberg as had Imre Szigeti, the cause of the 1548 Edict. In the year of the edict, both Imre Szigeti and David were serving in Lutheran churches in Hungary and David was elected superintendent of Magyar Lutheran churches in 1557, so he must have been well aware of the edict under which he operated. The Edict of the Pasha of Buda may not only have influenced the Edict of Torda. Professor Ritchie points to the likelihood that the English philosopher John Locke, whose 1689 “A Letter Concerning Toleration,” which had a great impact upon religious thinking in Britain, was directly influenced by the Edict of Torda and Unitarian thinking of the period. His library contained many works from this school of thought and he held discussions with Transylvanian and other Unitarians. England was at the same time, under the influence of the “Protestant Mahometans” whose ideas guided the revolutionary changes occurring in that country. It would seem that the very notion of religious toleration in England, and eventually all of Protestant Europe, was rooted in the Unitarian Edict of Torda, which itself was based on Islamic religious inclusion, as exemplified by the 1548 Edict. Toleration did not immediately spread across the country, as the English Test and Corporation Acts were not repealed until 1828, requiring

non-Anglican Protestants to take Anglican communion annually if they wanted to hold public office. Roman Catholics were excluded from public office until the Catholic Relief Act of 1829. The drift back towards the attitudes of the years before religious toleration was accepted can be sensed from the hysterical campaign of the bigots and the ultra-right against “halal certification”, the introduction of “shariah law” and “Islamization.” Certainly in the VCAT court case on vilification in Victoria, the legal team for Catch the Fire, the organization of Danny Nalliah who was main speaker at the Reclaim rally in Melbourne, argued that Islam should not be legal in Australia. “Islam was an illegal religion because the Koran preached violence against Christians and Jews, a Christian group told a judge yesterday.” [20 February 2004 The Age] As Muslims, our emphasis upon the human rights explicitly established in Islam, will become even more important as respect for these rights declines in our country. Those who claim to speak for Islam and who denounce freedom of religion, and preach intolerance, demonstrate that they out of touch with the Message and are of another way.

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The 99 Divine attributes of Allah Part 9 - Attributes 45-48 of Allah BEYOND THE BOX Dr Q Ashfaq Ahmad This issue continues the series exclusive to AMUST on the 99 divine attributes of Allah. Read previous parts at www.goo.gl/L1wvP2

45. Al-Wās’I - The Bountiful “O you who have believed, spend from the good things which you have earned and from that which We have produced for you from the earth. And do not aim toward the defective therefrom, spending [from that] while you would not take it [yourself] except with closed eyes. And know that Allah self-sufficient and Praiseworthy1. Satan threatens you with poverty and orders you to fahsha (foul deeds), while Allah promises you forgiveness from Himself and Bounty. And Allah is the Bountiful (45) and All-Knowing. He grants Hikmah (Wisdom and knowledge)2 to whom he pleases. And whoever is granted wisdom has indeed been granted abundant wealth. Yet, none bears this in mind except those endowed with understanding. (Al Baqarah, 2:267-269) 1. Obviously, the One, Who is Himself attributed with topmost virtues (epithets), does not like the persons having bad deeds. Allah, Himself, is munificent and has been bestowing every moment the benevolence and bounties upon all his creatures; then how possible is it to have affections with niggardly, narrow-minded and vile-natured persons. 2. Here, Hikmah connotes the correct discernment and proper faculty of apprehension. Here, Allah points out the fact that the person having the virtue of Hikmah would never follow the way directed by the devil. Rather he/she will accept the path elucidated by Allah. The followers of the devil persuade with their very clear and seemingly wise strategy of keeping one’s wealth carefully and miserly for the hoarding of wealth and money. But those who have been bestowed the enlightened insight from Allah consider the pursuit of wealth to be a very foolish act. For them the wise and right behaviour is to spend openheartedly for charity and for goodness after the fulfilment of all his/ her moderate needs. Those who hoard may be more prosperous and rich in this worldly life but for them is not the full and complete life. It is only a small part of ones’ full life. Surely a person who, for the sake of a very prosperous transient life, does wrong and receives the just punishment in the next, permanent life, is the foolish one. The person who makes arrangements for the welfare of the next life as well as well is this one is the wisest one with the correct knowledge. 46. Al-Hakeem (The All Wise) “The revelation of His Book (the Quran) is from Allah, the Almighty, the All-Wise (46). “Indeed, We have sent down the Book to you, [O Muhammad], with the Truth1. So perform ‘Ibadah2 of Allah (alone), by following ‘Diyn’3 evidently4 for the sake of Allah” (Al-Zumar, 39:1, 2) 1. This chapter starts with the introductory information and directives: this revelation is not the words of Muhammad (s) as propounded by the nonbelievers. Rather, it is the message of Allah that has been revealed to Muhammad (s) through his special archangel. The listeners have been admonished by Allah through the two realities to get them to feel the importance

May 2015

of this message without considering it an ordinary saying. Firstly, Allah is the One Who is Almighty, very Powerful. He is so overwhelming that no power can abolish and stop His determination and implementation of His decisions . Secondly, He is the All-Wise. Whatever directives are given in this book, all are based on the fullfledged wisdom and reality which can only be turned away and disobeyed by foolish and arrogant persons. All is reality and nothing within it contains any amalgamation of untruth or falsehood. 2. This is the most important directive of Allah for the fulfilment of the most essential truth devised by Allah (SWT) for each and every living creature including the human beings. It has depicted the main objective of the invitation to Islam (full submission to Allah). It contains two important points. Firstly it is the requisition for ‘Ibadah (servitude of Allah) and secondly, it is such the requirements that should be performed exclusively for Allah. The root word of ‘Ibadah is ‘Abd’. This word is used for the words slave and captive in Arabic. In this connotation two concepts emerge. First is this devotion or worship as mentioned in the renowned Arabic dictionary ‘Lisanul-Arab’: ‘Abdullah, Alta’abbud, Al-tanassuk. Second is the humble submission and devoted obedience as mentioned in the ‘Lisanul-Arab’ as Al-Ibadah and Al-Ta’atah. Hence by the virtue of the above authoritative comments, this word ‘Ibadah does not only mean devotion and worship; rather it includes also the fully devoted obedience of His imperative and orders. 3. The word ‘Diyn’ is applied for different connotations in Arabic language: a. The overcoming, proprietory and authoritative possession and control for the execution of one’s self-decided orders. eg. In Lisanul-Arab, ‘Qahhara annasa ‘al-atta’ate’ (He forced the people to obey his commands). b. Obedience, subjugation and slavery: ‘Lisanul-Arab’ (Ad-Deen, atta’ata). c. The rules and regulations for the humans to follow in daily living. ‘Lisanul-Arab’, Ad-Diyn (principle Way of Life). Keeping in mind all the above three connotations, Ad-Diyn depicts the adoption of the attitude and way of living according to the full obedience and subjugation of someone more superior to follow. 4. Here, the word ‘evidently’ points out that there is no one else entitled to be followed and obeyed as a partner at any level with Allah (SWT). 47. Al-Wadud (The Most Loving) “And O my people, let not my shiqaq (your difference and opposition with me) cause you to be struck by that similar to what struck the people of Noah or the people of Hud or the people of Salih. And the people of Lot are not far off from you. “And seek forgiveness of your Rabb and then repent to Him. Indeed, my Rabb is Merciful and Most Loving. (47)” (Hud, 11:89,90) 1. This difference or opposition was because of your separation, enmity and anger due to your disbelief in the Oneness of Allah (monotheism) and your worship of idols and your depravity of the people (in their things) and your giving of short measure and worship to the people. 2. The event of the Lut people is still afresh and adjacen to your territory Madyan This event of sodomy and homosexuality, the heinous of the people occurred just before six or seven centuries before the Madyan people. Moreover the territory of Prophet

Shuaib was quite adjacent to that of the Lut people. 3. Be mindful! Allah is not hard-hearted and merciless. He has no enmity with His creatures that He may start giving punishment to them for mistakes and become pleased by torturing them. No, when anyone crosses the limit of their sins and spreads chaos and tribulations, then He punishes them. He is so benevolent that no matter what follies they have committed, when they repent and turn back to Him, He will forgive them and would not punish. Allah showers His utmost love upon them. This issue has been elucidated by the Prophet Muhammad (s) by two very appropriate examples. One parable he narrated: “Consider the esteemed camel, laden with his food and provisions, which has become gone astray in a barren and desolate land and the owner who has long struggled to find it till he is in utter desperation. Then the owner accepts this fate with certainty and hopelessly stretches himself under a tree. After a momentary nap he suddenly opens his eyes and finds his camel with all his belonging standing before him. Then just imagine what a great rejoicing he feels. Then be sure that Allah feels rejoiced when He sees His rebellious creature repent and turn back to Him. The second example depicts the situation more forcefully. The second rightly guided khalifa Omar bin Al-khattab narrated: “once some war prisoners were paraded before the Prophet (p) after being arrested. There was a woman also among the captives who found that her baby was left behind. This woman was so intensely engrossed with her motherhood that she derailed and became so mad that when she found any baby near her, she snatched it and clung her to her nipples enabling the baby to suck the milk. The Prophet, observing this pathetic scene asked us: ‘Can you expect that this woman will throw her own baby in an enflamed fire by her own hand’. We replied, ‘Never ever!’

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Leaving the throwing aside, seeing the baby falling in such a fire, she would try her best to save the baby at her utmost. The Prophet replied, Allaho arhama bi’ibadehi min hazihi be waladehi’ (the mercy of Allah is extremely more abundant than what has for her baby).” 48. Al-Majeed - The Glorious “Qaf. By the Glorious (48) Qur’an...” “Nay they wonder that there has come to them a warner (Muhammad) from among themselves. So the disbelievers say, ‘This is an amazing thing’. “When we have died and have become dust, [will we return to life]? That is a distant return.”2 “We know what the earth diminishes of them, and with Us is a retaining record. “Nay, but denied the truth (the Quran) when it has come to them, so they are in a confused state.” (Qaf, 50:1-5) 1. The word Majeed is used with two connotations in Arabic. Firstly, the being of high status, graceful one and highly reputable and secondly, generous and a giver. The Qur’an has used this word in both the senses. a. The Qur’an is of high status as no other manifest can be compared equal to it. b. The Quran is generous in the sense that it gives to humans much more than that person desires. More bounties are provided both in this world and the hereafter. 2. This is their second confusion. The first one was that a human has been sent as a prophet and never they were informed that after the death of humans, they shall be made alive again and then all of them shall be gathered to be presented in the court of Allah. Continued in AMUST issue #115 June

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EDUCATION

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AUSTRALIA 9 - 10

LIFESTYLE 11 - 13

ANZAC Sprit: A personal narrative Fadlullah Wilmot As a young air force cadet in the 1950s I stood at the war memorial in Burnie Tasmania with rifle reversed mourning the Australians who died in conflicts overseas. I still mourn those killed in wars every ANZAC Day. At the war memorial, I wondered about the parents and brothers and sisters of those names on the memorial. I knew about Simpson and his horse and the stories of mateship and courage, but I was not aware of that the First World War had, in fact, deeply divided Australia and that the deaths at Gallipoli had galvanised a huge democratic rejection of conscription in which women played a leading role. It seems that the events at Gallipoli – in spite of the even greater loss of life on the western front -- is the event that Australia looks to for its national moment. It says something that Simpson and his donkey has come to be seen as the embodiment of the ANZAC spirit of selflessness, larrikinism, determination, mateship, humanism, courage, and improvisation. Interestingly he camped with the 21st Kohat Indian Mountain Artillery Battery and given the nickname Simpson “Bahadur” - the “bravest of the brave”. For almost 24 days Simpson operated through the impossible conditions and was credited with saving the lives of almost 300 wounded soldiers. At some point there was discussion of making ANZAC Day a day to strive for peace but it was rejected. Armistice Day in the US became Veterans Day and a justification for the military machine. Should

Vida Goldstein, an unsung hero of Oz.

ANZAC Day be dominated by politicians and their speeches or would it be better to use it to reflect on the pain of men, women and children who have suffered as a result of wars and conflicts? Is it right for the dead of the battlefields of Gallipoli to be used by politicians to justify more military expenditure and more wars especially in areas where it is not in Australia’s national interests? There was no compelling national interest for Australia to intervene in Vietnam, in Afghanistan or Iraq other than going along with America’s war machine which is also not acting in the best national interests of America. The landing on Gallipoli was an invasion of foreign soil like the British invasion of Aboriginal land in 1788, says John Lack of the University of Melbourne. “And we should put the two coves together -- Sydney Cove and Anzac Cove -- because both invasions were just as bad as each other and cost a lot of lives.’’ Where is the memorial to all the indigenous people killed in the colonisation of Australia? Perhaps in the run-up to the 125th anniversary we should start to ask: Should Australians put the 1915 Gallipoli landing at the heart of the Australian story? Many politicians like Billy Hughes, Bob Hawke, Kim Beazley, John Howard, Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott have although Paul Keating did not. This badly-managed imperial adventure resulted France and Britain dividing up the Middle East into new colonies over which they installed puppet rulers after signing oil deals. The carving up of the Ottoman Empire’s Middle Eastern provinces is the main source of the instability in that region to this very day. Sadly Australia, Britain and the US are making the same mistakes that were made 100 years ago. But are not Australia’s achievements more substantial than courage and mateship on the shores of Gallipoli? It might be more important for us on ANZAC Day to remember that our democratic freedoms -- freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of speech— were won in battles fought on home soil by courageous women and men who sacrificed much, but are still accorded little recognition. In the first decade of Federation, Australia established parliamentary democracy to serve a federation forged without the war and death that marked na-

tionhood elsewhere. Australia established women’s’ suffrage; legislated working conditions and minimum wages; built flourishing cities; developed a rapidly growing economy, and legislated a social security safety net. But there were discriminatory laws also like the white Australia policy and the mistreatment of the aborigines and the discrimination against the Afghans and the Chinese who had opened up Australia. The freedoms and achievements of Australia are for ever under threat and need to be defended as they are under attach and have been weakened by the neo-conservative agenda, the security state and the Murdoch press. On ANZAC Day let us also remember those who went to prison for opposing the war and the veterans who returned and spoke out against war. Women were a powerful force. For example on August 11, 1914, veteran political campaigner Vida Goldstein as she had done 20 years earlier

Simpson and his horse.

in mobilising forces around the issue of female suffrage, rallied her own army of foot soldiers with fighting words. “The time has come for women to show that they, as givers of life, refuse to give their sons as material for slaughter.” She suffered imprisonment for her efforts. The courageous premier of Queensland T J Ryan, spoke out against military censorship imposed by Billy Hughes on the issue of conscription. I would like to close with the words on the City of Canning war memorial. For those of us spared the terrors of war, to be worthy of our dead, is to remember them. It is to remember that they died, the men and women of this community, in their thousands, in faraway lands, interred in the ground upon which they perished. It is to remember those who loved them; their fathers and mothers, wives, children and friends. It is to remember that the pain in the hearts of those who loved them, who lived after them, never healed; the promise of their lives together, unfulfilled. It is to remember that many who returned were also harmed, so that they and their families continued to suffer. When we wish for peace it is to remember that the lasting meaning of their suffering – their warning to those who follow – remains unheeded so long as there is war. For while their service has ended – their battlefields covered over with meadow, field and forest, jungle and desert sand – let us make of their absence a powerful presence. May we forever hold them in our minds, and the loved ones they left behind. Fadlullah Wilmot is the Brisbane based Institutional Relations and Funding Manager with Islamic Relief Australia.

Anti conscription poster during World War I.

Australasian Muslim Times

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ANZAC: Lest We Forget

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A personal glimpse back through the mists of time during the Centenary of Gallipoli Anne Fairbairn AM PhD (Hon) EVACUATION OF GALLIPOLI Not only muffled is our tread - To cheat the foe. We fear to rouse our honoured dead - To hear us go. Sleep well, old mates, the keenest smart, Which more than failure wounds the heart, Is thus to leave you, thus to part. - Comrades, farewell. A.J Guppy. Com, I4th battalion A.I.F 1887-1917 While outwardly supportive of our troops role in World War I, former Australian Premier of New South Wales, Prime Minister of Australia and then first High Commissioner to London (for two terms) during World War I, Sir George Houston Reid, my grandfather, held private reservations about the ANZAC deployment to the Dardanelles in 1915. He received a letter at the time from his friend, the First Sea Lord in the British War Cabinet, Lord ‘Jackie’ Fisher, who resigned from his position in disgust at the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill’s (as Fisher saw it) misguided push for the ill-fated Dardanelles campaign. Reid had travelled to Egypt in early 1915 where he inspected the Australian troops and was hugely impressed with their standard of training before they embarked for the Dardanelles. However my father, Clive Reid, George Reid’s younger son, who was attending Westminster School in London at the time, told me that his father, George Reid, was extremely concerned about the concept of the Dardanelles because he believed it was a misguided attempt to fight the Germans through the back door and was not sufficiently thought through. Part of the basis of Reid and Fisher’s friendship was Reid’s agreement with Fisher that the war could have been shortened considerably if Fisher’s plan - to invade German soil from the Baltic and thus divide the enemy forces - had been put into action instead of the Dardanelles venture. It is possibly not historically recorded but my father always said that his father had many worries about this and he certainly discussed his

Keith and Colin Munro, the author’s great-uncles, killed in World War I.

concerns confidentially with close friends including Lord Fisher. Fisher wrote to Reid when the tragedy of the Dardanelles was unfolding with mounting Australian casualties - I found this letter in my parents’ attic in their Sydney home when my mother died in I987 and I had it verified by the present Lord Fisher; it is now in the National Library in Canberra. Fisher stated in his letter: ‘The inexcusable criminal disaster of the Dardanelles and no punishment for the butcher politicians - Yours till hell freezes.’ (signed) Jackie Fisher. Fisher also wrote at the end of this letter ‘Please burn and destroy’. One would only write this kind of confidential letter to a close friend. George Reid, as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, would have been acutely aware of the growing number of casualties among the Australian forces on the peninsular. According to my father, his older brother, Douglas, always maintained that their father soon became convinced that the whole purpose of the Dardanelles venture - (after the failure of the Allied Navies made the capture of Constantinople appear impossible) - was to reduce and therefore weaken the Turkish army on the peninsula, so that an Allied victory in the Middle East would perhaps be made possible in order that the Anglo-Persian oil pipeline would be protected and also giving access to further oil, which was considered to be potentially available in the region. A victory would also prevent the Germans from having access to this oil. Ironically, since Fisher, as First Lord of the Admiralty had changed the British Fleet from coal to oil several years before the war, was appalled by the continuing Dardanelles venture. Yet it seems clear that the top echelons of the British Government were very well aware of further oil reserves in the Middle East. There was also the urgent need to maintain control over Egypt and the Suez Canal so as to be able to maintain very lucrative trading with India and the Far The author, Anne Fairbairn, inset her grandfather, Reid. East.

May 2015

The Turks were eventually defeated by Allied forces in the Middle East and in the view of many, the Arabs, who had been promised the freedom from Ottoman domination, felt betrayed because the area was divided up and controlled by the British and French to serve their own interests. Several of my forbears and my friend’s forebears served in the Light Horse regiments in the Middle East during World War I. These soldiers believed they were fighting for the freedom of the Arabs, so what transpired deeply concerned and puzzled them. In I9I5, the Australian government had been promised by the British, that it would be involved ‘most fully’ in discussions of any peace treaty. But when the time came to discuss the points contained in the treaty of Versailles, the Australians were not even informed, so that pledge was broken. However the Australian Prime Minister, W.M. Hughes, soon made his irritation very clear, so finally there was Australian representation. Many Arabs have confirmed to me during my many visits to universities in the area during recent years, that they indeed believed they were betrayed by the Treaty of Versailles, after which the French and British divided up their lands in order to control the whole area. Arab forces had fought alongside the Allied forces against the Turks, on the understanding that they would gain their freedom from Ottoman oppression, but they found they were not free. As T. E. Lawrence said the Churchill’s secretary in I92I, ‘All questions of pledges and promises … are set aside.’ The official history of the Dardanelles venture was recorded in detail by Australian historian, Charles E.W. Bean, who was permitted to be present at the landing at ANZAC Cove and during the ongoing battles, by the robust intervention of Reid (as Australia’s High Commissioner to the U.K.) with the British authorities. Bean was to stay on the peninsula for the whole of the campaign He was the only correspondent to witness it from beginning to end, and having, as he was aware, a perfect vantage point for recording the Australians in action. Day after day, night after night, he set down in his diaries what he was seeing and hearing and what men said when he asked them about their experiences. Like everybody else on both sides he got little sleep during the first week of the struggle. Bean with uncharacteristic vehemence rejects a common British view that Australian troops had ‘advanced in a ill-disciplined rush far beyond the positions they should have occupied’ (page 602 in Bean’s official history of the war). ‘The Australian soldier,’ Bean declares ‘has scattered to the winds once and for all, the notion, often reiterated, that and Australian force would be ineffective through lack of discipline.’ Indeed Bean insists that Australians displayed a remarkable kind of self-discipline, which obliged every man to pay no heed at all to shell fire ‘even so much as by turning a head or by lowering the pannikin from which he was drinking.’ The landing dissolved all doubts about the relations between the Australian men and their officers since the appointed leaders revealed ‘character and competence.’ Bean resolved from the start to offer as a memorial to the soldiers a full and accurate account of what they had done, conceiving it to be his duty, as he puts it in the preface, ‘to record the plain and absolute truth so far as it was within his limited power to compass it.’ The modesty was genuine; but he knew that he was uniquely well placed to do the job, having observed the men of the AIF at close hand for four years. The odds must have been long against

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his surviving it all to become their historian. Bean was struck in the leg by a stray Turkish bullet, while following the column of Brigadier General Monash’s 4th Infantry Brigade at the start of the Battle of Sari Bair. Despite the wound, he refused to be evacuated from the peninsula. He left Gallipoli for good on the night of 17 December, two nights before the final evacuation. He would return in 1919 with the Australian Historic Mission. As an Australian journalist, war correspondent and historian who is renowned as the editor of the I2-volume Official History of Australia in the War of I9I4-I9I8. Bean wrote Volumes I to VI himself, which dealt with the Australian Imperial Forces at Gallipoli, the Middle Eat, France and Belgium. Bean was instrumental in the establishment of the Australian War Memorial, and of the creation and popularization of the ANZAC legend. My father, a barrister, joined the Australian army in World War II. Bean told my father, some years later, that he was hugely appreciative of the immense efforts made by George Reid to persuade the British authorities to permit him to be present during the Dardanelles campaign. He also said that eventually the Australian forces would be also fully recognized - not just for their role at the Dardanelles, but also for their heroic efforts in Northern France. which is now certainly deeply appreciated by the people of Villers-Bretonneu. After the war my father said he often discussed with Bean the concept of the Sydney to Canberra ‘Remembrance Driveway,’ which my father helped create because he felt so deeply about the losses sustained by Australia in both World Wars. Also his older brother, Douglas lost his two sons, Bruce and Ian Reid, in World War II. My mother’s two brothers, Colin and Keith Ross Munro, were killed in World War I. One result of Australia’s faithful and sacrificial effort to the cause of WW I was an enhanced international status. After the war, the question of Dominion independence arose. As Australia developed a diplomatic service, the government pressed for more autonomy from Britain in enacting laws. The Statute of Westminster 1931 (UK) was passed by the Imperial Parliament in the UK and established legislative equality between the self-governing Dominions of the British Empire. In effect it gave the Dominion parliaments equal status with the British Parliament, and established that the dominions were under the authority of the Crown as opposed to the government of Britain. Australia finally ratified this law in the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act of 1942. I am certain that my grandfather would have been extremely proud of the positive symbolism of Australian ‘mate-ship’ galvanized under horrendous circumstances during World War I, which has emerged as symbolic of our way of life. I never knew my grandfather - I was born many years after he died. He married my grandmother, Flora when he was fifty and she was twenty. I have done considerable research into his life and written about his and his wife’s contribution to Australia. Flora as one of the first women to receive the title of Dame; this was bestowed for her huge contribution caring for the wounded Australians in the U.K, where she was living during World War I as the wife of Reid - the High Commissioner. According to my father she always spoke of the strong spirit of ‘mate-ship’ which existed among all the man she helped. I believe the Turkish people should also be remembered on ANZAC DAY and honoured – since they also lost many men during the fighting.

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Insta-journey #SarahGoesToIndia Photography by Sarah Chaabo

Sarah, a seasoned traveller wanders over to India for the first time. She documents her journey, as she goes off the beaten track. She meets with locals, school children, crashes a wedding and has fallen in love with the histories of India. “When coming to India, the real joys beyond the forts and palaces are the people of India.” Follow her Instagram account @Sarah_and_the_City #SarahGoesToIndia. Part 2 of 2.

And then we crashed an Indian wedding. Tick bucket list We were welcomed in by the father of the groom who saw us peeking in the entrance, he said we were guests of India and therefore guests of his sons wedding and we were invited in, luckily before his son walked in with his new bride. We stayed for the procession and musical numbers. You guys, every day in India has topped the last, I’m overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of the people here, all this and I haven’t yet seen the Taj

As we were about to leave Phandarej, the principal arrived, walking in on his hands, our first Polio experience in India. We sat with him and with our tour guide translating he told us his symptoms went undetected and led to atrophy in his early adolescence. He’d studied and became a teacher then advanced to principal, he’s been at the school for 15years. I’m going to forget all the different forts and palaces I’ve been to and the names of the curries, but I’ll never forget this day.

Driving uphill to the amazing Amber Fort

This is the Tomb of Humayun the second Mughal Emperor of India. His widow built it for him in 1570, 14 years after he died (in opposite to the Taj that was built by a later emperor for his wife). The architect Mirak Mirza Ghiyath was from Persia as Humayun spent many years travelling through Persian and loved the distinct architecture of the region. I absolutely loved this building architecturally and aesthetically, but as a tomb I just hesitate when it comes to lavish displays for a Muslims death.

Bole Churiyan, Bole Kangna...

Hand on my heart the most beautiful building I have ever seen, after all my experiences in this country so far I didn’t think I’d be so excited over a monument in the end, but walking though the entrance doors I realised otherwise. I’m so happy but so incredibly sad too as it marks the culmination of an experience I didn’t want to end.

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Imprisoned in the fort by his Son, Shah Jahan would stare out at the taj from this balcony.

May 2015

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Weddings are supposedly a great place to meet people. You’re looking your best, you’re in a room full of new people and you have an easy opener for conversations. (How do you know the bride/ groom?) But if it’s men/women only, game over. Taken from Love Haqtually Facebook Page.

When everyone is so secretive about their relationship status, it can make for some really awkward situations. Taken from Love Haqtually Facebook Page.

omg you take your husband’s name after marriage? that’s so oppressive. so you’re like his property? he can do anything he wants with you? *whispers* is it a religion thing? you put your parents in senior homes? that’s so backwards and heartless. is it a cultural thing? you leave the house when you’re 18? do your parents not love you? why do they not like their children in the house? is it a cultural thing? why are all your white men serial killers? is it a cultural thing? are you guys naturally belligerent and have a thirst for innocent blood? omg you guys owned slaves? how did that even compute as being remotely ok? i heard you even enslaved your own is it a cultural thing? i heard you guys throw away food in restaurants instead of letting workers or the homeless have it. that’s so cruel and backwards. is it a cultural thing? so you get dressed and leave the house to find someone to have sex with? that’s so primitive. is that a cultural thing? so you have videos of women with men who perform violent sex acts on them and you get off to it? and it’s mainstream and considered normal? that’s so fricken weird and backwards. is it a cultural thing?

Woman defends Muslim couple after listening to racist rant on train A racist attack was filmed by the woman who defended the couple that were being accused on a train. Stacey Eden filmed herself standing up for a Muslim woman from a hateful tirade on a Sydney train. The story was reported around the world, hailing Eden as a hero. Controversy has come looking at whether Eden was right to film and upload the video, accused of having a white saviour complex. Many articles talked about the hero, yet the names of the couple were not mentioned at all, they were the footnote of the story. Would they really of wanted a awful situation of being abused, uploaded and spread all over the internet? Scan the QR Code or visit www.youtu.be/ nRAQv5jH2_k to see the video.

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tealightfultima: To the dozen anons who have asked about what’s under my hijab - since it obviously couldn’t be hair…it’s one of these: • snakes • 5lbs of candy • a bear • Tiny elves making cookies • a vortex where all my powers and life force are kept • a teleporter • nothing. I keep it covered because there’s literally a black hole on top of my head You forgot Voldemort. Also, I am hiding Voldemort under my hijab

May 2015

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Review: Diving into the new Xperia-nce AMUST

Afzal Ansar

A powerful, fast phone with a long battery life is essential for anyone who wishes to use their phone extensively – and nowadays, that’s especially hard to come by if you’re looking for a smaller device. That’s why I found the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, with its 4.6 inch screen, to be a perfect fit for me. With its quad-core processor and 2GB RAM, the Z3 Compact offers high responsiveness, even when running large applications. It can multi-task between over five apps at any time without having to restart when you switch back, which allows me to

easily pause a game to reply to a message, then return to the game without worrying about losing my spot. The screen brightness’s range lets me use the phone comfortably in complete darkness as well as in broad daylight, and the auto-adjust feature works well enough that I’ve never had to manually change the brightness. The high resolution (720 x 1280 pixel) complements the 20.7 MP camera well, allowing for a crystal-clear display, and photos that still look beautiful when viewed on a larger screen. The camera app also includes a wide range of features such as “4K Video” for high-resolution video, “Background defocus” for focusing on a certain object nearby, and “Sweep Panorama” for taking a beautiful photo of a wide landscape. On top of that, the phone is perfect for clear underwater photos, with its 1m water resistance. However, to be water resistant, the Z3 Compact sacrifices its ability to remove the battery and insert a new one – something I have found useful for other phones I’ve had in the past. Sony has compensated for this downside by giving the phone a battery which lasts up to 2 days with moderate use. If that’s not enough, you can enable STAMINA mode, which can extend the battery to 8 days of moderate use while still being fully functional. This guarantees a reliable battery which will last for years despite deterioration over time. While the Xperia Z3 Compact excels in many areas, the areas that it lacks in cannot be ignored. The phone’s in-built microphone distorts the sound sometimes, and has occasionally had issue picking up my voice if I speak too quietly, whereas other phones have had no issue with this. Another downside to the phone is the flashlight, which hardly illuminates your surroundings in the dark – so if you’re going out at night, make sure you bring a torch.

For the price that I bought the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact ($510), I’ve found that the phone is incredibly capable, and the upsides more than compensate for the few downsides. If you’re having trouble latching on to the new trend of huge phones, but you’d still like a powerful device, then the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact is the best you can get.

Sony Xperia Z3 Compact Design Display Performance Software Battery Life

Politics: a systems evaluation Raymond Butler We can arrive at “good” behaviour by intellect or emotion, that we can reason our way there or by compassionate senses be compelled to it, but politics removes both sensibilities from the equation. If you are a powerful leader and you want to do the right thing by people then you will have to convince people who can move society to move it. Preferably you would like them to move society in the direction you have calculated as the best direction but usually the cost of getting those who can move society to move it is that they see a return for their contribution. So this results in tweaking the direction we move to make it worth their while, that it is better to move in general than to not move at all, even if it is not the desired direction. Politics is the act of balancing appeasements, negotiating compromise between the best interests of the people and the selfish interests of the powerful (often there is a third consideration being popularism; the people know what they want but they do not necessarily know their own best interests). So the system is very much designed to deliberately fail. So given this information we can go back and see why Plato was against the Democratic empowerment (election) of Senators; that if their job depends on appeasing popu-

larism then society will move in a direction that is for majority preference but against majority best interests, as Mum would have us eat our veggies before allowing dessert so to speak. But Plato also highlighted how wealth is a great driving force but a terrible decider of where to drive towards, notably “Wealth is great as wind in the sails but should not be navigator of the ship” pointing out the conflict of interests that come with Aristocracy, Oligarchy, Plutocracy, Corporatocracy, whateverocracy, etc. Plato distinguished that the duty of the Senate was to do what is in the best interests of society/humanity regardless of politics; the last place politics should be is in government, that all leaders have a responsibility, leadership is not an opportunity but a profound privilege. The right to lead should

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entirely depend on not being corrupt, not on the employment of corruption to empower the right to lead; ergo “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely” if you cannot lead without corruption then you shouldn’t lead, if that is the Senate, Military or even economic leadership positions, in fact any leadership role of note. Democracy is not what we have made it, in essence Democracy is not popularism or majority rule, it is the opposite of this, that every citizen is individualised as a political unit, we have come to use it as equality of the power of a vote, but it is really about the right for each citizen to contribute to the development of valid solutions in the direction of society. Democracy works best confined to the Social Arena, just as Capitalism works best when confined to the Economic Arena, but

we have allowed both Democracy and Capitalism to spill over into the Government Arena, ultimately resulting in the politicisation of the Republic (or modern stylised versions of it). We could use Democracy to empower anti-corruption watchdog authorities over the Republic government process, but not to fill the government. However if watchdogs are elected and re-elected by their actions then people will be more inclined to elect watchdogs that enforce popularism, so there would have to be genuine measures in place to ensure this does not occur, that is the catch 22 of watching the watchers. But then the more “Watchers” there are the less chance of corruption, you just need one honest watcher. The ideal system would not have Senators perse, but appoint leading academics to a temporary Senatorial role per issue in order to build a valid direction with other leaders of fields that hold a stake in the outcome of that particular issue. The ideal would also include the general population having access to the discourse and the ability to contribute to it as per the Social expression of Democracy, but of course the formulation of options would have to stand up to peer reviewable scrutiny in order to eliminate the popularist and economic biases that will invariably arise. Raymond Butler is freelance writer on philosophy, political science, theology and psychology and shares his insight with ABC and SBS.

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AMUST Classifieds Charity Organisations

Human Appeal International Human Appeal International (HAI) works on a number of charitable causes, specialising in areas from Social and Educational Development to Health Care and Emergency Relief. Phone: 1300 760 155 Website: www.humanappeal.org.au Islamic Help Islamic Help was able to play a significant role in the delivery of aid and assistance after major crises like the Pacific Ocean Tsunami, the Bam Earthquake and the Pakistan Earthquake. Phone: +61 (0) 2 9750 0596 Website: www.islamichelp.org.au Islamic Relief Australia Islamic Relief Australia promotes sustainable economic and social development by working with local communities to eradicate poverty, illiteracy and disease. Phone: 1300 308 554 Website: www.islamic-relief.com.au Australians for Revive Kashmir We are a part of a global initiative, aimed at providing help and support to the people in Kashmir - to contribute towards rebuilding and rehabilitation. Phone: 0457 766 425 Website: www.kashmir.org.au

Education Australian Nasheed & Arts Academy Performing and Creative Arts for children & teenagers 3 - 16 years old. ANAA seeks to encourage, support and teach children the power of expression through arts. Phone: 0423 084 806 Website: www.nasheedarts.org.au/wp/ HikmahWay Institute HikmahWay offers Islamic educational courses to equip Muslims of today with the knowledge, understanding and wisdom to lead balanced, wholesome and beneficial lives. Website: www.hikmahway.com Islamic Foundation for Education & Welfare The Islamic Foundation for Education & Welfare (IFEW) was founded in 1987 and operates from Sydney, Australia. Its aims are to address current issues through education, information dissemination and welfare projects. Phone: (02) 9823 2063 Website: www.ifew.com

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ISRA Australia ISRA is a point of reference for Islamic education, resources and information services. ISRA conducts pioneering research on social and religious issues of relevance to the Australian society and international community. Phone: (02) 9649 9040 Website: www.isra.org.au Ummayn Quran Institute Abdulrahman and Asma at Ummayn specialise in helping you learn to read Quran with a balanced pace, rhythm and tune to make your reading more pleasing. Phone: 0402 501 883 Website: www.facebook.com/ummayn

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Hygienic Spray (for toilet) Shattaf Tahara Spray. Stainless steel hose. Including free installation with diverter/ connector. Long distance charges apply Phone: 0418 204 251 Email: sasdqi@gmail.com

Fujiyama Japanese cuisine 100% Halal Japanese made by chefs with 12 years experience in Japan. Contact our team today for catering enquiries big or small. Phone: 0490 402 164 Website: www.facebook.com/ FujiyamaJapaneseCuisine

Multicultural Eid Festival & Fair MEFF provides stallholders the opportunity to sell or promote to the Muslim community. Stall bookings open on Monday 20 May 2015 Phone: (02) 9823 2063 Website: www.meff.com.au

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Homebush Halal Meats A halal butcher in Ashfield, provides you with the best and freshest halal meats in the area. We stock lamb, beef, goat, poultry and game meat. Phone: (02) 9799 7049 Website: www.homebushhalalmeats.com.au

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iMoby Productions Photography / Filming. Female Photographer. Weddings and engagements, birthday parties, festivals, corporate events, filming and producing. Phone: 0432 608 350 Website: www.imobyproductions.com MCCA Commitment and service to Australian Muslims by offering quality financial solutions that are profitable, sustainable, convenient, and Shariah compliant. Phone: 1300 724 734 Website: www.mcca.com.au Morning Star Migration Services Do you need a visa to Live, Work or Holiday in Australia? We help you with your application for all types of visas. Phone: 0478 173 474 Website: www.morningstarmigration.com.au

SAMAA South Asian Muslim Association of Australia (SAMAA) is a non-profitable incorporated association which aims to provide care to the elderly of South Asian Muslim Community. Phone: (02) 9543 9769 Website: www.samaa.org.au Shadow Approved We provide strategic design services that enable our clients to increase sales, build brand awareness and increase customer reliability www.facebook.com/shadowapproved Website: www.shadowapproved.com UAK Design Design and construction. Architectural & structural plans, DA & CC Approval, Renovation & Extensions, Project Management, Duplex, Granny Flat. Phone: 0411 081 624 Email: info@uakdesign.com.au

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Great Wall Kitchen Great Wall Kitchen makes great Indian style Halal Chinese food. We are located at 154 Haldon Street, NSW. Phone: (02) 9759 9531 Website: www.facebook.com/gwkhalal Halal Square Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favourite online guide to restaurants and eateries offering halal food, halal groceries and restaurant reviews. Covering all major capital cities in Australia Website: www.halalsquare.com.au

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NRL Winners and Wannabes Table after Round 8 after Round 8 AMUST

Manarul Islam

After eight rounds of the NRL 2015 season, one thing is clear: expect a close competition with tight scores and upsets. With that in mind let’s have a look at the top 4 teams on the ladder at the moment and see whether they have what it takes to stay at the top at the end of the regular season. Already we have seen teams who started well now floundering and those who were seemingly out of the competition early now soaring high. Over the last weekend we saw the bottom of the table Sea Eagles topple the Melbourne Storm from first spot. Whilst the Storm have always been the team to beat, their ticker doesn’t seem to handle the close games and they will need to rediscover their ruthless energy to put teams away. A clash between one of the best attacking teams, the Roosters, and the Dragons, with the best defensive record so far, went down to the wire with only two points between the teams at the end. Whilst the Dragons came away with a win, the score did not reflect their dominance on the paddock and they will have to do more to convert opportunities and possession into points. Despite having 54% possession, 80% completion rate and about 150m extra metres run, the game finished with two tries a piece, the difference being a penalty goal. Whilst they are doing well with a six week winning streak they will need to pile on more points as the competition heats up and their position at equal first will be severely challenged.

The Cowboys are matching the Dragons in their surge having won the last 5 games after a woeful start to the season coming from the bottom of the heap to now be equal second. Despite their great attack record, their defence is abysmal and not in line with their position on the ladder. Without the strength of defence they can’t expect the brilliance of their captain and chief playmaker, Jonathan Thurston to last forever. The State of Origin and risk of injury make them particularly susceptible to a spiral all the way back down. Which leads us to the Broncos who seem to be the only team with any consistency and strength in attack and defence. Other than the hiding they received from Souths in Round 1, under the guidance of Wayne Bennett they have shown strength in defence as well as the ability to pile on points. A brief mention of Souths here. Whilst they are not in the top 4 at the moment, they are close enough. However after winning their first premiership in over 50 years it seems that some of the urgency has gone out of them. Their inability to hold the Raiders out last weekend shows a weakness that better teams will exploit even more. They still have a strong playing roster so will always be within striking distance but on current form they seem to be playing at less than their peak. Once the gear shifts they’ll be right up there.

Pos Team

So after Round 8, my top 4 prediction at the end of season is: Brisbane Broncos Melbourne Storm South Sydney Rabbitohs St George Illawarra Dragons.

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Played Won Lost

For

Against

+/-

Points

Broncos

170

138

Dragons

112

Storm

158

116

Cowboys

172

175

-3

Wests Tigers

175

149

Rabbitohs

168

162

Titans

178

177

Panthers

154

156

-2

Knights

138

149

-11

Raiders

155

168

-13

Bulldogs

156

175

-19

Roosters

166

129

Warriors

175

182

-7

Sharks

140

148

-8

Eels

165

199

-34

Sea Eagles

108

181

-73

www.amust.com.au

May 2015