Entries Tagged 'News' ↓

We’ve written before about some of these ’studies’ and the possible side-effects of emphasising and accentuating Muslim disadvantage, so there is no need to go over some of these issues again.

Earlier in the year, the Sydney-based Independent Centre for Research Australia (ICRA) released a report — perhaps tellingly called All Eyes On Youth study (an allusion, it seems, to the Tupac song All Eyez On Me) — that concluded that:

The All Eyes On Youth study found eight out of 10 young Muslims aged between 12 and 25 considered the education system of no assistance “in making lifetime choices”, and 94 per cent lacked a clear goal in life.

And:

ICRA president Fadi Rahman told The Australian yesterday he was alarmed that almost all the 75 males involved in the survey had experimented with drugs such as cannabis, ecstasy and cocaine.

The same Independent Centre for Research Australia (ICRA) is back in the media again with a new study.

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Following on from the imams as lifesavers and imams as firefighters call, comes a new call from south west Sydney for Muslim women — specifically “hijab-wearing women between the ages of 17 and 26″ — to enlist in the army in order to “prove” they are part of the national security solution. The suggestion comes, this time, from the president of some sporting club in Lakemba. The Australian reports:

YOUNG Australian Muslim women will be targeted to join the Army Reserve and prove they are part of the national security “solution”.

The plan by Sydney Muslim leader Jamal Rifi – which has been welcomed by the Australian Defence Force – is designed to break down barriers between Islam and mainstream Australia. It also aims to revive an element of Islamic culture that saw men and women fighting “side by side” during the days of the prophet Mohammed.

Dr Rifi, president of Lakemba Sports and Recreation Club in Sydney’s southwest, said he wanted “hijab-wearing” women between the ages of 17 and 26 to become reservists and would soon begin promoting the idea to Muslim parents on Arabic and Islamic radio networks to urge them to let their kids join.

Former president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) and former chairman of the Prime Minister’s handpicked Muslim ‘reference’ committee Dr Ameer Ali has an article in tomorrow’s The Australian which is going to make some waves (to put it rather lightly). The article isn’t online yet so we’re publishing a copy over the fold.

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Saudi leaders are rarely ever seen or heard in the media for a variety of reasons, not least because they prefer to maintain a discreet public face. This does however lead to them being depicted in caricature, either as opaque inscrutable fanatics by elements in the western press or as insufficiently religiously sincere by Muslims who live in the West. What is uniform in these polar opposite critiques of Saudis is that they are both untroubled by actual experience of Saudi Arabia.

In this piece at the World Affairs Council, Prince Turki al Faisal speaks about Saudi attempts to liberalize their economy, the Q and A session is especially interesting and lasts 45 minutes.

The Prince has since resigned his commission as the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, theories differ as to why and may reflect Royal reaction to this piece in the Washington Post. More recently, Saudi Arabia has sought to distance itself from the increasingly pungent odour of the Bush Administration.

Muslim Matters have a tribute to Waleed Shaalan, a Muslim graduate student who was killed in the recent Virginia massacre. Tariq Nelson is also advertising a fund that has been set up for his family (he leaves behind a wife and a young child). Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajioon.

I was informed today that Professor Muhammad Mohar Ali, the father of Abu Muntasir (of JIMAS), passed away on Wednesday morning. Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raaji’oon.

Here is a brief biography of the sheikh:

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Luke McIllveen (who, his profile reminds us, “enjoys country music, rugby league, cooking and exposing the hidden agendas of radical Islam. Dislikes: AFL, transit police, blokes with ponytails”) writes in the Daily Telegraph:

PEDDLERS of books and DVDs promoting jihadist causes and calling for the destruction of Western civilisation have been put on notice – the Federal Government will not tolerate them any longer.

Of course, it might seem almost reasonable to some people. After all, it’s only “jihadist calls for the destruction of Western civlisation” that are being banned. However, let’s try a quick thought experiment. Replace “jihadist causes” with “democratic causes” and “Western civilisation” with “Communism”. Read the sentence again and it doesn’t seem quite so appealing, does it?

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Recently radio talk show host Don Imus made a racist remark about black American women. The remark was not an incitement to violence, nor was it done during a time of fitna (public disorder), yet for his sin he has been sacked from his program after both American Express and General Motors pulled their sponsorship of it. The right wing pundit is now pleading the victim in the whole affair.

Here in Australia, the media regulator has recently delivered a finding of “inciting violence and brutality” against radio chat show host Alan Jones. This is somewhat surprising given Jones long history of supporting Lebanese Muslims, and his principled history as a broadcaster.

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In a piece on the ongoing Sheikh Taj debacle in tomorrow’s Australian (not online yet), Greg Sheridan makes the following points about the government’s engagement with the Muslim community over the last few years.

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A sobering warning from the Gold Coast Bulletin:

Three radical leaders codenamed ‘The Gypsy’, ‘The Painter’ and ‘The Village Idiot’, described as disciples of Alhilali, are reported to be continuing a campaign to radicalise the mosque and pressure other community members.

We warn Austrolabe readers: if approached in the mosque by a man identifying himself as ‘The Village Idiot’, beware as he may be radical.