Australian Muslim Leaders, Normalisaton and Social Integration

AUSTRALIAN MUSLIM LEADERS, NORMALISATON AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION Mohammad Hadi Sohrabi Haghighat Thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2013 Swinburne University ABSTRACT Functionalism has been the dominant framework for the explanation of social integration. Policies for the integration of migrants in the West have mainly centred on the improvement of migrants’ socio-economic situation (employment, education and income). Nonetheless, for Muslim minorities in the West, including Australia, the functionalist conception of integration is inadequate. Although Muslim minorities are socio- economically disadvantaged, they are also subject to social exclusion based on their religion and culture. This is due to a longstanding historical ideological construction of Islam as stagnant, pre-modern, despotic, patriarchal and violent, in opposition to the progressive, modern, democratic, egalitarian and civilised West. This is to say that Muslims have been placed outside the space of ‘normal’ in western discourses. Muslims will not be able to fully integrate into Australian society unless their derogatory image changes. This study aims to explore the issue of social integration from the perspective of Australian Muslim leaders. It is argued that social integration can be defined as a process of normalisation. ‘Integrationist’ Muslim leaders struggle to normalise the image of Muslims and Islam in the Australian public sphere. Their efforts have both organisational and discursive aspects. This process of normalisation, however, is contested from both within and without. From within, there are Muslim ‘radicals’ and ‘isolationists’ who challenge the normalisation process. From without, the media’s disproportionate focus on provocative and radical Muslim voices challenges the integrationist leaders’ efforts. This thesis purports to reveal the dynamics and struggles within the Australian Muslim leadership field regarding the normalisation of Islam and Muslims’ images in Australia. The evidence comes from 30 in-depth interviews conducted with Muslim leaders in Melbourne and Sydney. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank all 30 Muslim leaders who participated in this study and shared their stories, insights and experiences. Special thanks are due to my coordinating supervisor Associate Professor Karen Farquharson whose critical comments, expert knowledge and constant support have been immensely helpful during the period of my candidature. I am also grateful to Professor Michael Gilding and Dr Zuleyka Zevallos, my associate supervisors, for their critical comments on the drafts of this thesis. Finally, I thank Dr Jillian Graham for her proofreading and copyediting efforts. iii DECLARATION This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award to a candidate of any other degree or diploma, except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis. To the best of my knowledge, this thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis. The thesis has been copy-edited and proof-read by Dr Jillian Graham whose services are consistent with those outlined in Section D of the Australian Standards for Editing Practice (ASEP). Dr Graham’s own fields of study encompass Musicology, Social History, Women’s Studies and Psychoanalysis. Signed _______________ Date _______________ iv Contents CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................1 CHAPTER TWO: SOCIAL INTEGRATION AS A NORMALISATION PROCESS ......................8 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................8 SOCIAL COHESION AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION .................................................................9 ETHNIC DIVERSITY AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION IN POLICY AND SOCIAL THEORY .......................................................................................................................................................12 NORMS AND NORMALITY .......................................................................................................25 NORMALISATION ......................................................................................................................30 CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................................34 CHAPTER THREE: AUSTRALIAN MUSLIMS AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION ........................36 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................36 THE CONSTRUCTION OF ISLAM IN THE WEST ...................................................................39 AUSTRALIAN MUSLIMS, STATE AND THE MEDIA ............................................................48 AUSTRALIAN MUSLIM LEADERS AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION .....................................58 CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................................73 CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH METHODS ..................................................................................75 CHAPTER FIVE: THE NORMALISATION PROCESS AND ITS ORGANISATIONAL ASPECTS ..........................................................................................................................................91 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................91 THE NORMALISATION OF IMAMS’ VOICES ....................................................................98 THE ENHANCEMENT OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATON .............................................104 MUSLIM YOUTH LEADERSHIP .........................................................................................109 MUSLIM WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP ....................................................................................114 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................120 CHAPTER SIX: DISCURSIVE ASPECTS OF THE NORMALISATION PROCESS .................121 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................121 ISLAMIC VALUES AND AUSTRALIAN VALUES................................................................122 THE SEPARATION OF CULTURE AND RELIGION .............................................................127 SOCIAL COMPARISON AND THE NORMALISATION PROCESS .....................................132 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................145 CHAPTER SEVEN: THE NORMALISATION PROCESS AND ITS DISCONTENTS ..............146 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................146 HIZB UT-TAHRIR AUSTRALIA ..............................................................................................148 v AHLUS SUNNAH WAL JAMA’AH ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA (ASWJAA) ............154 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................162 CHAPTER EIGHT: THE MEDIA AND THE NORMALISATION PROCESS ............................163 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................163 THE MEDIA AND ITS PORTRAYAL OF AUSTRALIAN MUSLIMS ..................................163 STRATEGIES TO INFLUENCE MEDIA DISCOURSES .........................................................175 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................179 CHAPTER NINE: CONCLUSION .................................................................................................181 vi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION This study contributes to the extant literature on the social integration of Australian Muslims into wider society. The issue of social integration is widely debated within policy and academic circles; nonetheless, a consensus has not been reached regarding an appropriate definition for social integration in an ethnically diverse society. Governments, minority advocacy groups, non-government organisations (NGOs) and scholars offer separate frameworks vis-à-vis social integration. This study focuses on Muslim leaders’ perspectives to explore how they understand the issue of social integration. In this first chapter, I outline the research problem, design, scope, and theoretical framework of the study. STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM Muslim settlement in Australia pre-dates White settlement. Macassan fishermen, from Indonesia, were the first to arrive in the northern and western coasts of Australia to trade with Aboriginals (Cleland 2001). However, mass migration of Muslims to Australia began seriously in the 1970s, with Lebanese and Turkish people being the first groups to arrive. Since then, Muslims from over 60 countries have settled in Australia, though they still comprise only a small percentage of the population. At the time of the 2011 census, the Muslim population was 476,300, accounting for a mere 2.2 per cent of the whole population (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2012a). Despite their small numbers, Australian

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