Muslim Australians - Religion Cultural Diversity Resource Manual

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Introduction In a simple and easily understandable way, this book presents key aspects of Islam and Muslim life and shows the variety of voices within Islam on a number of issues of concern to the average Australian. T his book was commissioned as part of a major project which looked into the role of religion in Australian society: ‘Religion, Cultural Diversity and Social Cohesion in Contemporary Australia’, a project that was funded by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. As part of this project, I was asked to write a brief introductory text that was primarily for high school students but at the same time could be used by the general reader with no prior knowledge of Islam. The book is thus an overview of the fundamental beliefs, practices and institutions of Islam. In addition, it contains some basic information about Muslims in Australia and how they interact with the wider Australian society. Relatively little has been written that sheds light on Islam and Muslims in Australia, including in the category of high school textbooks. In the current climate of anxiety about Islam in Australia, and as a result of the events of September 11, 2001, the Bali bombing in 2002 and the ‘war on terror’, it was felt that such a book was greatly needed. Muslim Australians are not very large in number. In fact they represent less than two percent of the Australian population. However, the recent media coverage of Islam and Muslim related issues has led to significant interest in Australia in knowing more about the religion and its adherents. In a simple and easily understandable way, this book presents key aspects of Islam and Muslim life and shows the variety of voices within Islam on a number of issues of concern to the average Australian. While the media representation of Islam and Muslims often tends to imply that Muslims are a homogenous group, this book shows their diversity. Readers of this book will find some similarity between topics covered in this book and another book I published earlier, Islam in Australia (Allen & Unwin, 2003). However, the audience envisaged for the present book is high school students. The two books therefore differ in detail, format, choice of topic and voice. Certain topics covered briefly in the present book can be found in some detail in Islam in Australia. I would like to thank Rachel Butson for her contribution in refining the original manuscript and identifying and providing me with some of the ‘stories’ in the book as well as for her research assistance. Similarly, I would like to thank Professor Des Cahill of RMIT University and Professor Gary Bouma of Monash University as well as Mr Hass Dellal of the Australian Multicultural Foundation, the three chief investigators of the project that commissioned this book, for their reading of the manuscript and their comments. I hope this book will be helpful in explaining something about the religion of a growing number of Australians and will contribute to a better understanding of Islam today. Abdullah Saeed 4 Muslim Australians:THEIR BELIEFS, PRACTICES AND INSTITUTIONS
Muslim Community in Australia A view from the 2001 Census. Muslims in Australian cities Which suburbs do Muslims live in? Sydney - Auburn (9,737 Muslims or 36% of the total population of Auburn) Melbourne - Meadow Heights (5,195 or 33% of the population) Canberra - Belconnen Town Centre (117 or 4% of the population) Perth - Thornlie (871 or 4% of the population) Brisbane - Runcorn (388 or 3% of the population) Darwin - Karama (82 or 2% of the population) Adelaide - Para Hills (150 or 2% of the population) Hobart - Sandy Bay (97 or 1% of the population) Suburb with the highest percentage of Muslims Dallas in Melbourne had the highest concentration of Muslims at 39% of the population. However, Dallas is a comparatively small suburb with only 6,346 residents. Muslims in Australia and Citizenship » An overwhelming majority, 79%, of Muslims in Australia have obtained Australian citizenship (221,856 out of a total of 281,578). Muslim Migration to Australia » Before 1981 approximately 41,000 Muslims had settled in Australia, making up 2% of migrants. » The proportion of Muslims immigrating to Australia is increasing steadily. Between 1996 and 2000 approximately 47,000 Muslims migrated to Australia. They represented 9% of Australia’s total immigration intake throughout that period. » In 2001 a further 7,533 Muslims migrated to Australia. Country of Birth of Australian Muslims » The most frequently cited country of birth for Australian Muslims is Australia (approximately 103,000). The next is Lebanon (29,321). » Turkey is third, with 23,479 Muslim Australians being born there. » Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Pakistan are the countries of origin of approximately 27,000 Australian Muslims, with approximately 9,000 people having been born in each of those countries. Languages Spoken by Australian Muslims » The three main languages spoken at home by Australian Muslims are Arabic, Turkish and English. » Approximately 95,000 of Muslims in Australia use Arabic, 45,000 use Turkish, and 32,000 use English as their language at home. Muslim Australians:THEIR BELIEFS, PRACTICES AND INSTITUTIONS 5
Page 1 and 2: Australians Muslim THEIR BELIEFS, P
Page 3: CONTENTS Introduction . . . . . . .
Page 7 and 8: MUSLIMS IN AUSTRALIA Origins of Isl
Page 9 and 10: Muslim doctors, engineers, lawyers,
Page 11 and 12: Muslim population figures » Of the
Page 13 and 14: Prophet Muhammad Prophet Muhammad w
Page 15 and 16: The Golden Age During the Golden Ag
Page 17 and 18: KEY BELIEFS OF A MUSLIM The most fu
Page 19 and 20: Equality of Humankind: A Common Vie
Page 21 and 22: THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM Call to P
Page 23 and 24: Concept of Muslim Worship Muslims b
Page 25 and 26: 5. Pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) At le
Page 27 and 28: In Australia, the majority of Musli
Page 29 and 30: Michael’s story Michael decided t
Page 31 and 32: Divorce Marriage in Islam is highly
Page 33 and 34: Learning about religion From early
Page 35 and 36: MUSLIM WOMEN 22 In most Muslim soci
Page 37 and 38: Between Traditionalists and Liberal
Page 39 and 40: Female circumcision Female circumci
Page 41 and 42: Inheritance One of the criticisms t
Page 43 and 44: SACRED PLACES Mecca The most sacred
Page 45 and 46: SACRED TEXTS The Qur’an The Qur
Page 47 and 48: A Muslim relies on historically rel
Page 49 and 50: Some principles to help Muslims dec
Page 51 and 52: The Qur’an teaches us that life i
Page 53 and 54: MOSQUES AND RELIGIOUS LEADERS There
Page 55 and 56:
COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS Muslims hav
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Al Zahra College Al Zahra College i
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ISLAM AND VIOLENCE Many people in t
Page 61 and 62:
Islam prohibits the killing of any
Page 63 and 64:
Jesus and Muslims For Muslims, Jesu
Page 65 and 66:
Cross Cultural Coffee After the tra
Page 67 and 68:
The Qur’an is full of references
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Islam is against democratic values
Page 71 and 72:
Muslims marry only Muslims This is
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ISLAM, STATE AND AUSTRALIAN CITIZEN
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APPENDIX ONE Key Mosques in Austral
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South Australia Adelaide Mosque 20
Page 79 and 80:
APPENDIX THREE Key Muslim Schools 4
Page 81 and 82:
Saeed, Abdullah, “Rethinking Citi
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ByFriday DLD 04
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