DOCSLIB.ORG

Representations of Islam in the Politics of Mosque Development in Sydney

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Representations of Islam in the Politics of Mosque Development in Sydney REPRESENTATIONS OF ISLAM IN THE POLITICS OF MOSQUE DEVELOPMENT IN SYDNEY KEVIN M. DUNN Lecturer, School of Geography, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. E-mail: [email protected] Received: August 2000; revised January 2001 Abstract The negative constructions of Islam which circulate at (inter)national levels include Muslims as fanatical, intolerant, militant, fundamentalist, misogynist and alien. The various constructions of Islam had varying utility for mosque opponents in Sydney, Australia, during the 1980s and 1990s. Fanaticism and intolerance are constructions of Islam which have now had centuries of articulation in the West. These constructions have attained great potency as a result of their reiterative deployment. In Sydney, they were used to influence planning determinations and political decisions within local authorities. The charges of militancy and misogyny did not easily convert into a planning ground for opposing a mosque, but they were used to heighten public unease and widen opposition. Local authorities also refused development consent for mosques on the grounds that the proposals were ‘out of character’ with surrounding development, drawing on the construction of Muslims as alien and ultimately out of place. The discourses of opposition to mosques did not simply rely on the stereotypes of Islam, but also drew heavily on cultural constructions of what constituted a local citizen and the local community. Mosque supporters attempted to deploy counter-constructions, of Muslims as moderate, tolerant, peaceful, clean living, family-orientated, ordinary local citizens. A social construction approach is used to examine the politics surrounding mosque development in Sydney. This reveals both the socio-spatial impacts of identity constructions (of a minority group and the imagined dominant community) as well as the important role of space and locale. Key words: Islam, Sydney, stereotypes, social constructivism, mosques, citizenship SOCIALLY AND SPATIALLY and Islamic centres. Two forms of content CONSTRUCTED INTOLERANCE anaylsis were drawn on to reveal the construc- tions of Islam. This first involved an assess- During the 1980s and 1990s, in Sydney, ment of manifest content within Australian Islamic groups repeatedly ran into vociferous media, using as a case study the newspaper opposition to their building of places of wor- reporting of the African Muslim nation ship. Such local level land-use disputes and Algeria. Second, the latent content – mean- inter-communal tensions reveal the manner ings – within the discourses surrounding in which stereotypes, and social constructions mosque developments in Sydney was used to generally, are consumed and reproduced. reveal the everyday operation of constructions This paper first reports on the key stereotypes of Islam and local citizenship. Further details of Islam in Australian media. The lineage of on these methods are provided later. these stereotypes is unpacked. Finally, the A social construction, or constructivist, local utility – deployment and impact – of approach to identity and representation is constructions of Islam are revealed within now well established within Geography (Bon- debates over the establishment of mosques nett 1996, pp. 872–877; Jackson & Penrose Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie – 2001, Vol. 92, No. 3, pp. 291–308. # 2001 by the Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden MA 02148, USA 292 KEVIN M. DUNN 1993; Waitt et al. 2000, pp. 96–99). The core Peake 2000; Valentine 1993). The policing of premise of this theoretical stance is that space, and the local deployment and creative identities (nations, ‘races’, classes, genders, articulation of identities and stereotypes, are etc.) are social constructions rather than all crucial to social constructions. The every- natural or biological givens. These construc- day (referred to here as the ‘local’) is where tions should be unsettled or revealed as con- social constructions (trans)form and material- structed (Bonnett 1996, p. 872; Jackson & ise. In this paper I demonstrate that this Penrose 1993, p. 203; Kobayashi & Peake 1994, materialisation is dependent on power rela- p. 230). In newspapers, and in other forms of tions, the accumulated strength of stereotypes, media, ethnic minorities and other less power- and the local comprehensibility of social ful groups are constructed as Other, as ‘ethnic’ constructions. The everyday, the local, is a or foreign (Goodall et al. 1994, p. 54). Uneven critical site of symbolic contestation. The local power relations are reproduced in this is not simply a repository for the expression of way. This process if often spatialised. Social meanings constructed from above. In Aus- constructions are not just geographically ex- tralia, local and national representations of pressed, they are also geographically (re)pro- Muslims are mutually reinforcing, and pre- duced (Bonnett 1996, pp. 875–877). For dominantly negative. Mosque opposition at example, constructions of citizenship are the local level, for example, is (mis)informed spatially articulated. Australian media repre- by the stereotypes of Islam that are repro- sentations award, and continually reinscribe, duced in the national media. There is an the power to Anglo-Australians to describe intertextuality between the local and national themselves as ‘us’ and refer to the country as discourses, knitted together in a symbolic web. ‘ours’ (Bell 1993, p. 68). Sites like talk-back The local is the scale at which citizenship is radio are potent places for awarding what observable and measurable. Hage (1998, pp. 42–46) has termed the status of national ‘spatial manager’. Spatial man- AN ACCUMULATED WESTERN HERITAGE agers are those who are empowered to speak OF ISLAMAPHOBIA on the direction of ‘our’ country and voice opinions on who should be allowed into it or Mosque opposition has been a primary ex- excluded, and about how difference (the pression of the racism suffered by Muslims ‘they’ who are different) should be managed in Australia.1 Anti-Muslim feeling or Islama- or tolerated. The status of manager or citizen phobia in Australia has been chameleon-like, pertains at the local level (Sandercock 1998, evolving and changing its emphases, and p. 3), with members of dominant cultural developing new strains. The Macassan fishers groups typically exercising a greater pro- and Malay pearlers were forcefully excluded prietory confidence than those of cultural or relegated to a lowly labour force and social minorities (Isin & Siemiatycki 1999, pp. 10–13). positions within a ‘racial’ hierarchy (Choo The construction of local belonging and the 1993; Manderson 1988). The Afghans faced a privilege of spatial management is demon- specifically fearful response from Anglo-Celtic strated in this paper. Australia at a time when the White Australia Social constructions of identity are given life Policy was being given legislative and instru- through their articulation. Through repeti- mental teeth. They were seen as dirty, treach- tion they can achieve a remarkable durability. erous, brutal, non-British and a menace to In a sedimentary-like process the reinscription white women (Stevens 1989, pp. 148–166). of social constructions (Muslims as fanatical, This was a stereotype born of a developing real Australians as white, etc.) can come to be Orientalism and a bloody colonial history of widely accepted as unproblematic, and as a Afghan-British conflict (Stevens 1989, pp. 1, natural given (Butler 1990, p. 140; 1993, p. 10). 6–9, 164–166). Albanians were officially de- Ordinary and safe space is then assumed to be fined as enemy aliens (Carne 1984, pp. 186– white/heterosexual space. Deviance, by way of 188). From the 1970s, Muslim migrants from normative transgression, in such spaces is seen Turkey and Lebanon were portrayed initially as ‘unusual’ or ‘out of place’ (Kobayashi & as naive, sexist peasants who at best were factory # 2001 by the Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG ISLAM IN THE POLITICS OF MOSQUE DEVELOPMENT IN SYDNEY 293 fodder and at worst were welfare bludgers or Sydney and the Werribee College in Mel- workers’ compensation rorters (Ethnic Affairs bourne were attacked by arsonists (HREOC Commission of New South Wales 1985, pp. 1991, pp. 146, 152; Trad 1992, p. 7). Racist 164–165; Mackie 1983, pp. 79–82, 132–133). violence against Muslims, and the related anti- Later, the Lebanese and other Arab Muslims Muslim feeling that circulated in the media, were constructed as violent and barbaric, a resulted in many Muslims becoming fearful of stereotype that drew on old and new oriental- leaving their homes. These discriminations isms (The Committee on Discrimination were perceived to have constructed ‘a hostile Against Arab Australians 1990; The Human and threatening environment’ for Australian Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Muslims (HREOC 1991, pp. 145–153). How- (HREOC) 1991, pp. 395–396; Kheir 1991, pp. ever, the Islamic Council of NSW (1989, p. 21) 47–48). In the 1980s and 1990s, the main- had concluded before the Gulf Crisis occurred stream Australian media and conservative that there was a ‘deeply in-grained ideological commentators became concerned about the antipathy against Islam’ in Australia (see also status of women within Islam (Sawer 1990, Goodall et al. 1994, pp. 61–63). Indeed, many p. 19). More latterly, African Muslims, and Australians have a deep hostility to, or
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Migration Action
    MIGRATION ACTION Vol. XXIII, Number 1 April/May2001 III fl~,y BROTUmunnn n r o r ______ 67 F11 VIC Behind public policy on asylum seekers The Ecumenical Migration Centre (EMC), now work­ ing as part of the Brotherhood of St. Laurence, is a statewide non-ethno-specific agency working with new and emerging communities in Victoria to ensure they have full access to resources, services and opportunities. Within this context the key activities of the EMC are: • identifying and articulating the needs of migrants and refugees, with particular attention to the needs of emerging communities; • advocacy in collaboration with these commi­ nutes; • working with these groups to address issues and build on strengths; and • preparing information, research and resources for those working with newer emerging communities. EMC ECUMENICAL MIGRATION CENTRE a part of the Brotherhood of St. Laurence 95-97 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, Victoria, 3066 Ph: 03 9416 0044 Fax: 03 9416 1827 [email protected] / M igration A ction MIGRATION ACTION Contents YOL XXIII, NUMBER 1 APRIL/MAY 2001 Editorial ,2 ISSN: 0311-3760 M igration Action Survival stories: voices from the shadow of public policy is published by the Ainslie Hannan.....................................................4 Ecumenical Migration Centre 95-97 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, Victoria Australia, 3065. Temporary Protection Visa Holders in Queensland: Tel: +61 3 9416 0044 the first report Fax: +61 3 9416 1827 Email: [email protected] Daryl Briskley MP................................................ 10 The Ecumenical Migration Centre (EMC), of the Brotherhood of St Laurence, works for Current public policy on asylum seekers: does it stand up to the development of Australia as a multicultural scrutiny? society through its welfare, educational, project and community work.
    [Show full text]
  • Cultural Profiles for Health Care Providers
    Queensland Health CCoommmmuunniittyy PPrrooffiilleess for Health Care Providers Acknowledgments Community Profiles for Health Care Providers was produced for Queensland Health by Dr Samantha Abbato in 2011. Queensland Health would like to thank the following people who provided valuable feedback during development of the cultural profiles: x Dr Taher Forotan x Pastor John Ngatai x Dr Hay Thing x Ianeta Tuia x Vasanthy Sivanathan x Paul Khieu x Fazil Rostam x Lingling Holloway x Magdalena Kuyang x Somphan Vang x Abel SIbonyio x Phuong Nguyen x Azeb Mussie x Lemalu Felise x Nao Hirano x Faimalotoa John Pale x Surendra Prasad x Vaáaoao Alofipo x Mary Wellington x Charito Hassell x Rosina Randall © State of Queensland (Queensland Health) 2011. This document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 2.5 Australia licence. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/au. You are free to copy, communicate and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, as long as you attribute Queensland Health. For permissions beyond the scope of this licence contact: Intellectual Property Officer Queensland Health GPO Box 48 Brisbane Queensland 4001 email [email protected] phone 07 3234 1479 Suggested citation: Abbato, S. Community Profiles for Health Care Providers. Division of the Chief Health Officer, Queensland Health. Brisbane 2011. i www.health.qld.gov.au/multicultural Table of contents Acknowledgments............................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Quaker Peace & Legislation Committee WATCHING BRIEF 21-8
    Quaker Peace & Legislation Committee WATCHING BRIEF 21-8: AFGHANISTAN AND AUSTRALIA As Quakers we seek a world without war. We seek a sustainable and just community. We have a vision of an Australia that upholds human rights and builds peace internationally, with particular focus on our region. In our approach to government, we will promote the importance of dialogue, of listening and of seeking that of God in every person. We aim to work for justice and to take away the occasion for war. August 2021 The fall of the government of Afghanistan has generated much consternation and alarm within and beyond the country. The future under Taliban control is fraught with danger for many. The Taliban leadership has said it will not seek revenge on those who have worked for the UN, the US and its allies, and NGOs, and will respect women’s rights to education and work ‘within Sharia’. What has led to the present situation? After years of peace, notably between 1929 and 1978, Afghanistan experienced a Marxist coup, and so began a series of wars. The Soviet Union invaded in 1979 and that war lasted for ten years. Between 1992 and 2001 the Taliban (backed by Pakistan) took power. In 2003 the US and NATO intervened, and war has continued at differing levels of violence until this year. Australia has been part of the UN and US activities since 2003. The country has been in a state of chaos for many years. Background Information from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) website. • A landlocked country that borders Pakistan, Iran, China, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan.
    [Show full text]
  • Afghan Music in Australia John Baily*
    BAILY, John (2010), “Afgan music in Australia”, in CÔRTE-REAL, Maria de São José (ed.), Migrações Journal - Special Issue Music and Migration, October 2010, no. 7, Lisbon: ACIDI, pp. 157-176 Afghan music in Australia John Baily* Abstract Based on research carried out in Melbourne and Sydney in 2009, this paper discusses Afghan migration to Australia, the emergen- ce of the multicultural society, the civic promotion of the Afghan Bazaar Precinct in Dandenong (Melbourne), the genres of Afghan music performed in Australia, with brief biographies of some of the musicians, and a survey of CDs produced in Australia. The pa- per concludes that the Afghan-Australian community (less than 25,000 overall) is too small to support a fully-fledged Afghan mu- sic profession. The result is a vigorous amateur music scene cate- ring for a community of music lovers. The work of three contem- porary Australian composers influenced by Afghan music is also discussed, to show how the culture of this immigrant community has enriched Australian culture. Keywords Afghanistan, Australia, multiculturalism, recordings, professiona- lism, keyboards. * Emeritus Professor of Ethnomusicology, Head of the Afghanistan Music Unit, Department of Music, Goldsmiths, University of London ([email protected]) Migrações _ #7 _ October 2010 157 Afghan music in Australia John Baily Introduction My research on the music of Afghanistan began in the 1970s, with two years of eth- nomusicological fieldwork, most of it in the provincial city of Herat, and to a lesser extent the capital, Kabul. My research in Herat was wide-ranging, looking into the performance of various genres: urban and rural; folk, popular and art; vocal and ins- trumental; traditional and modern; professional and amateur; female and male; and also at various forms of religious singing that did not fall clearly into the category of music, such as Sufi zikr, Shiah lamentations and Quranic recitation.
    [Show full text]
  • Intergenerational Responsibilities in and Around the Texts of FA and Lily Brett
    University of Wollongong Research Online Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers Faculty of Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities 2003 Displaced Mothers Respond: Intergenerational Responsibilities in and around the texts of F.A. and Lily Brett Gay Breyley University of Wollongong Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/lhapapers Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons, and the Law Commons Recommended Citation Breyley, Gay, "Displaced Mothers Respond: Intergenerational Responsibilities in and around the texts of F.A. and Lily Brett" (2003). Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers. 1468. https://ro.uow.edu.au/lhapapers/1468 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Displaced Mothers Respond: Intergenerational Responsibilities in and around the texts of F.A. and Lily Brett Abstract Migration to Australia creates a site of encounter. On this site, 'migrants' and 'Australia' respond to and become each other, as they negotiate forms and levels of responsibility for their newly shared site. Citizens and non-citizens who have been displaced from distant sites of violence and persecution respond continually to intersections of current events and previous displacements, of children's questions and revived memories. Such intersections recur in moments of eating, sleeping, working, driving, talking and media consumption, among others, as the meetings of past and present, self and other, 'here' and 'there' suffuse daily interactions. Interactions range from those with the effects of international media representations and government policies to the responsibilities of family relations, especially those between remembering parents and inquiring children.
    [Show full text]
  • Department of Human Services Southern Metropolitan Region Understanding the Client Experience: Refugees Settling Into the Austr
    Department of Human Services Southern Metropolitan Region Understanding the client experience: Refugees settling into the Australian culture April 2010 1 Published by Social and Community Strategy Unit Southern Metropolitan Region Victorian Government Department of Human Services Melbourne Victoria Australia April 2010 © Copyright State of Victoria, Department of Human Services, 2010. This publication is copyright. No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. Authorised by the Victorian Government, 50 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne If you would like to receive this publication in an accessible format, such as large print or audio, please telephone 9213 2424; 133 677 (TTY -National Relay Service) or email [email protected] 2 Table of contents 1. Background and aims.................................................................................. 4 2. Experiences and views of refugees ............................................................. 5 2.1 Lack of knowledge of the Australian culture and language barriers ................... 5 2.2 Cultural differences affecting use of services and community participation ........ 6 2.3 Importance of maintaining cultural identity ................................................... 7 2.4 Challenges facing young people ................................................................... 7 2.5 Challenges facing families ........................................................................... 9 2.6 Recommendations from people
    [Show full text]
  • Community Profiles for Health Care Providers Was Produced for Queensland Health by Dr Samantha Abbato in 2011
    Queensland Health CCoommmmuunniittyy PPrrooffiilleess for Health Care Providers Acknowledgments Community Profiles for Health Care Providers was produced for Queensland Health by Dr Samantha Abbato in 2011. Queensland Health would like to thank the following people who provided valuable feedback during development of the cultural profiles: • Dr Taher Forotan • Pastor John Ngatai • Dr Hay Thing • Ianeta Tuia • Vasanthy Sivanathan • Paul Khieu • Fazil Rostam • Lingling Holloway • Magdalena Kuyang • Somphan Vang • Abel SIbonyio • Phuong Nguyen • Azeb Mussie • Lemalu Felise • Nao Hirano • Faimalotoa John Pale • Surendra Prasad • Vaáaoao Alofipo • Mary Wellington • Charito Hassell • Rosina Randall © State of Queensland (Queensland Health) 2011. This document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 2.5 Australia licence. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/au. You are free to copy, communicate and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, as long as you attribute Queensland Health. For permissions beyond the scope of this licence contact: Intellectual Property Officer Queensland Health GPO Box 48 Brisbane Queensland 4001 email [email protected] phone 07 3234 1479 Suggested citation: Abbato, S. Community Profiles for Health Care Providers. Division of the Chief Health Officer, Queensland Health. Brisbane 2011. i www.health.qld.gov.au/multicultural Table of contents Acknowledgments............................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Health Promotion with Australian Afghan Community
    Health Promotion with Australian Afghan communities; how building relationships with community groups assists with health promotion activities Higher prevalence of CHB Key challenges of the Afghan-born population among Afghan-Australians: Afghan-born population in Australia: in Australia: In Australia, the prevalence of CHB is significantly higher Afghans have a long history of living in Australia (since 1860) among people born in certain countries including Afghanistan. • Prevalence of viral hepatitis B among Afghans-born More than 30 years of war in Afghanistan resulted in The Afghan community is one of the most vulnerable Australians is significantly higher than that of communities in Victoria with limited resources about hepatitis general population. millions of refugees in different countries. B in their own languages. Most members of the community • Low level of community knowledge regarding HBV. Total Afghan population in Australia: around 29,000 are unaware that they are living with the disease. Misconceptions and myths about the disease. • Total Afghan Population in Victoria: around 10,000 In Australia the prevalence of chronic viral hepatitis B in • Poor history of healthcare in their country of birth the Afghan-born population is the highest after those born (Afghanistan) and in refugee camps. Most Afghan Victorians are living in south east Melbourne in Taiwan, Vietnam, China and Cambodia. • Poor history and recording of vaccination in the City of Casey and Greater Dandenong Figure 1: Estimated prevalence of chronic hepatitis B Low health literacy Figure 2: Geographic distribution of Afghan-born people in infection in Australia by country of birth. • • Language barriers and cultural differences metropolitan Local Government Areas, Victoria: 2011 • Lack of access to and difficulty using qualified interpreters.
    [Show full text]
  • Accepted Manuscript
    Swinburne Research Bank http://researchbank.swinburne.edu.au Hopkins, Liza. (2008). Young Turks and the new media: the construction of identity in an age of Islamophobia. Media International Australia incorporating Culture and Policy. 126(Feb.) : 54-66. Copyright © 2008 University of Queensland. This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here with the permission of the publisher for your personal use. No further distribution is permitted. If your library has a subscription to this journal, you may also be able to access the published version via the library catalogue. Young Turks and new media: the construction of identity in an age of Islamophobia Abstract The place of Islam in a multicultural society is high on the agenda of every western nation at the moment. In the wake of a series of local and global events, Australia’s Muslims have found themselves in the glare of media scrutiny over what it means to be Australian and a Muslim. Increasingly that media discourse contributes to a rising tide of anti-Islamic feeling, also known as Islamophobia, in the community. Diasporic communities across the globe are using new technology to overcome some of the structural difficulties inherent in being cast as ‘outsiders’, even of the country in which they were born. This paper examines the use of communications and media technologies to establish, assert and define social groups and notions of social identity, using a research project with Melbourne’s Turkish community as a case study. The qualitative research, which forms part of a broader study of the Turkish community in Melbourne, focuses on the experiences of a small cohort of young people of both first and second generation Turkish background, who are completing their education in the Australian university system.
    [Show full text]
  • Masterarbeit / Master's Thesis
    MASTERARBEIT / MASTER’S THESIS Titel der Masterarbeit / Title of the Master‘s Thesis „Patterns of Consciousness Formation among Women belonging to the Dari-speaking Afghan Diasporas of Austria and Pakistan.“ verfasst von / submitted by Mechthild Geyer, BA MSc angestrebter akademischer Grad / in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (MA) Wien, 2019 / Vienna 2019 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt / A 066 805 degree programme code as it appears on the student record sheet: Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt / Masterstudium Globalgeschichte und Global Studies degree programme as it appears on the student record sheet: Betreut von / Supervisor: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Margarete Maria Grandner Acknowledgements This is dedicated to all who have contributed to the realization of this project. Of course, I need to apologize that I cannot mention every person who participated in this research - especially, the 57 women in Austria and Pakistan who were content to fill my questionnaires. So, everyone mentioned down below represents some greater background and network. Although this work has tried to make obvious, that representations always fail to depict the reality, it needs to make use of these representations. Knowing that life is much more than that: more amazing, more colorful and more diverse than any of our representations can articulate. Thank you and tashakkor besior siod for supporting me learning this! Kobra Gol Ahmadi, pharmaceutical assistant in Vienna, mother of one cheerful daughter, my friend, for her advice, the distribution of ten questionnaires and her energizing spirit. Elaine Alam, Secretary General of FACES Pakistan, for her openminded attitude and for facilitating my entire research stay in Lahore.
    [Show full text]
  • Afghanistan Bibliography 2019
    Afghanistan Analyst Bibliography 2019 Compiled by Christian Bleuer Afghanistan Analysts Network Kabul 3 Afghanistan Analyst Bibliography 2019 Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), Kabul, Afghanistan This work is licensed under this creative commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode The Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) is a non-profit, independent policy research organisation. It aims to bring together the knowledge, experience and drive of a large number of experts to better inform policy and to increase the understanding of Afghan realities. It is driven by engagement and curiosity and is committed to producing independent, high quality and research-based analysis on developments in Afghanistan. The institutional structure of AAN includes a core team of analysts and a network of contributors with expertise in the fields of Afghan politics, governance, rule of law, security, and regional affairs. AAN publishes regular in-depth thematic reports, policy briefings and comments. The main channel for dissemination of these publications is the AAN web site: https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/ Cover illustration: “City of Kandahar, with main bazaar and citadel, Afghanistan.” Lithograph by Lieutenant James Rattray, c. 1847. Coloured by R. Carrick. TABLE OF CONTENTS Bibliography Introduction and Guide ..................................................................... 6 1. Ethnic Groups ...................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Muslim Australians: Their Beliefs, Practices and Institutions
    Muslim THEIRAustralians BELIEFS, PRACTICES AND INSTITUTIONS A Partnership under the Australian Government’s Living In Harmony initiative by Professor Abdullah Saeed DEPARTMENT OF IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AND INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS and AUSTRALIAN MULTICULTURAL FOUNDATION in association with THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE (c) Copyright Commonwealth of Australia 2004 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Commonwealth available from the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the Commonwealth Copyright Administration, Intellectual Property Branch, Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, GPO Box 2154, Canberra ACT 2601 or at http:www.dcita.gov.au Design and layout Done...ByFriday Printed by National Capital Printing ISBN: 0-9756064-1-7 Muslim Australians:THEIR BELIEFS, PRACTICES AND INSTITUTIONS 3 CONTENTS Introduction . 4 Muslim Community in Australia: A View from the 2001 Census . 5 Muslims in Australia . 7 Beginning of Islam . 12 Key Beliefs of a Muslim . 17 The Five Pillars of Islam . 21 Commonalities and Differences . 26 Muslim Family Life . 30 The Milestones in a Muslim’s Life . 32 Muslim Women . 35 Holidays and Holy Days . 42 Sacred Places . 43 Sacred Texts . 45 Determining Right and Wrong . 48 Food and Drinks . 52 Mosques and Religious Leaders . 53 Community Organisations . 55 Islamic Schools: Weekend and Regular . 56 Islamic Banking . 58 Islam and Violence . 59 Islam and Other Religions . 62 Stereotypes and Misconceptions . 66 Islam, State and Australian Citizenship . 73 Contact Details Mosques in Australia .
    [Show full text]