Muslim Australians - Religion Cultural Diversity Resource Manual

More documents

Info

STEREOTYPES AND MISCONCEPTIONS Muslims believe that in Australia there are widespread misconceptions about Islam and Muslims. The following are some of the most common ones and how Muslims often respond to such misconceptions: Muslims worship a different God Some people believe that Muslims worship a different god from people of other religions, a god whom they call Allah. In fact, Muslims believe that they worship the same God that was worshipped by Abraham, Moses and Jesus. The following verse of the Qur’an makes this clear: And do not dispute with the People of the Book [Christians and Jews] except by what is best, except those of them who act unjustly, and say [O Muhammad]: We believe in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you, and our God and your God is One, and to Him do we submit. (Qur’an 29:46) The name Allah simply means ‘the God’ in Arabic. It is also the name used by Christian Arabs for God. Muslims worship Muhammad For Muslims, the Prophet Muhammad was the last Messenger of God. Like other messengers who came before him he was a human being, nothing more. A Muslim cannot worship Muhammad or any other human being. Muslim worship is directed to God alone. That is why Muslims object to being referred to as ‘Muhammadans’, which is an old English name for Muslims. Muhammad wrote the Qur’an Muslims believe that the Qur’an is the word of God, communicated to the Prophet Muhammad in the Arabic language. Muhammad then transmitted the Qur’an to his followers, family, friends, and other people in the community. For Muslims the Qur’an is not the speech or word of Muhammad, but entirely the word of God. Muslims hate Jesus It is a fundamental belief of Muslims that they respect and love Jesus. It is true that Muslims do not consider Jesus to be God or the son of God. But they believe that he is one of the greatest messengers of God and one of the most honoured human beings. The Qur’an is full of references to Jesus and his birth, his miracles and mission. Islam is a racist religion Islam stresses that all human beings are created by God, are equal before Him, and are descended from the same parents: Adam and Eve. The Prophet emphasised many times that human beings cannot claim superiority over one another on the basis of colour, language, ethnicity or race. There are many references to this in both the Qur’an and Hadith. 66 Muslim Australians:THEIR BELIEFS, PRACTICES AND INSTITUTIONS
The Qur’an is full of references to Jesus and his birth, his miracles and mission. Islam is a religion for Arabs only It is true that the Prophet Muhammad was an Arab, the Qur’an is in Arabic, and the first Muslims were mostly Arabs. But Islam spread to all corners of the world from the time of the Prophet in the seventh century. Today, less than twenty percent of Muslims are Arabs. Most belong to other ethnicities such as Indonesian, Turkish, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, European and American, to name a few. As well, not all Arabs are Muslim. There are Arab Christians and Arab Jews. Islam was spread by the sword In the West, there is a belief that Islam was spread by force. According to this view, Muslims from the seventh century onwards conquered non-Muslim lands and forced non-Muslims to convert to Islam. For Muslims, this is historically inaccurate. It is true that Muslims from Arabia conquered lands outside Arabia. But they were following a tradition that was practised by powerful empires of the time. They conquered these regions and brought them under the political and military control of Muslims. However, they did not require the inhabitants to become Muslims. It was not until about one hundred and fifty years after the conquests that large numbers of non-Muslims converted to Islam through their own free will. Even today, in almost all Muslim countries, there are significant groups of Christians and other minorities. The Qur’an says: There is no compulsion in religion; truly the right way has become clearly distinct from error; therefore, whoever rejects Satan [and what he calls to] and believes in Allah, he indeed has laid hold on the firmest handhold, which shall not break off, and Allah is Hearing, Knowing (Qur’an 2:256). Islam condones the killing of innocent people The Qur’an clearly prohibits taking the life of an innocent person, whether they are Muslim or not. The Qur’an holds all human life as sacred. According to the Qur’an, if someone kills another human being, it is as if all of humankind had been murdered. It is against Islamic law to commit murder, and there are harsh punishments (including capital punishment) for anyone convicted of murder, whatever the religious background of the victim. Some people point to a small number of verses in the Qur’an that seem to advocate killing of non-Muslims. These verses, however, must be taken in their correct context and not misrepresented by isolating them from other verses in the Qur’an. The Qur’an allows justified self-defence in protecting the safety and wellbeing of a community which is being attacked, but strictly maintains that if the warring party seeks peace, then the other party must stop military action and seek peace as well. Muslim Australians:THEIR BELIEFS, PRACTICES AND INSTITUTIONS 67
Page 1 and 2:
Australians Muslim THEIR BELIEFS, P
Page 3 and 4:
CONTENTS Introduction . . . . . . .
Page 5 and 6:
Muslim Community in Australia A vie
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
Page 57 and 58: Al Zahra College Al Zahra College i
Page 59 and 60: 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: Cross Cultural Coffee After the tra
Page 69 and 70: Islam is against democratic values
Page 71 and 72: Muslims marry only Muslims This is
Page 73 and 74: ISLAM, STATE AND AUSTRALIAN CITIZEN
Page 75 and 76: APPENDIX ONE Key Mosques in Austral
Page 77 and 78: South Australia Adelaide Mosque 20
Page 79 and 80: APPENDIX THREE Key Muslim Schools 4
Page 81 and 82: Saeed, Abdullah, “Rethinking Citi
Page 83: ByFriday DLD 04
show all

Muslim Australians - Religion Cultural Diversity Resource Manual

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?