http://www.theage.com.au/comment/muslims-are-speaking-out-but-no-one-is-listening-20140930-10nktr.htmlTygrys said:
Muslims are speaking out but no one is listening
Lately I've taken to wearing a small gold pendant with Allah inscribed on the front and a verse from the Koran on the back. It was given to me by my father a long time ago, and whenever I get the sense that Islam is under attack I reach for it. These past few weeks I've been more attached to it than ever. It gives me an opportunity to stand in solidarity with other Muslims in my community and I hope someone will ask me about it so I can tell them I am a proud Muslim.
No matter how much I hear that Islam is a religion of violence and oppression, I think my faith is beautiful and has shaped me in every way. I have Muslim friends who are kind, generous and loving. So it saddens and angers me to see my religion defiled by the self-titled Islamic State. But what stings even more is seeing the wider Australian community so willing to believe that these barbarians represent Islam and Muslims. I never have to scroll too far down the comments in the online news articles to come across menacing and ignorant anti-Islamic rhetoric. And most common of all are statements from Australians wondering why Muslim leaders aren't speaking out against terrorism and claiming that moderate Muslims must not exist because their voices aren't being heard.
The truth is, Muslim leaders are speaking out, but their voices are drowned out by sensationalism, such as the comments made by Palmer United Party MP Jacqui Lambie on Insiders last week when she equated sharia law to terrorism. Lambie's comments got a lot more media attention than when the Australian National Imams Council issued a media statement on September 15, that likened Islamic State to a "group of criminals" with nothing Islamic about their murderous actions, and stated: "Since the ISIS group was established we have been very clear about denouncing their lies and betrayal of our faith."
Inflammatory: Jacqui Lambie has equated sharia law to terrorism.
Inflammatory: Jacqui Lambie has equated sharia law to terrorism. Photo: Andrew Meares
How will Australians know that Muslim leaders are speaking out if the media chooses to cover it so scantily? For example, there was little, if any, coverage on July 2 when two of the world's most prominent Muslim leaders denounced Islamic State, one of them Iyad Ameen Madani, the Secretary General for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which represents 1.4 billion Muslims in 57 countries.
Madani stated that the actions of Islamic State "have nothing to do with Islam and its principles that call for justice, kindness, fairness, freedom of faith and coexistence", but his words fell on deaf ears. Since then there have been unequivocal condemnations from Muslim leaders around the globe.
In Britain, more than 100 Sunni and Shiite religious leaders produced a video denouncing Islamic State titled: UK Imams against ISIS. But since July it has only received 54,515 views, whereas the video of Lambie's interview on Insiders had more than 87,500 views in the past four days. The voices of the ignorant on Islam are much louder than those of the learned.
Last Monday on the ABC's Q&A program, Michael Keenan, Minister for Justice, estimated there were more than 100 Muslims in Australia who had come to the attention of the authorities for allegedly supporting Islamic State. That makes up less than 0.03 per cent of the Muslim Australian population. Meanwhile the other 99.97 per cent(381,900) Muslims are besieged on both sides. On one hand they witness their religion being abused by ignorant radicals ruthlessly killing Muslims as well as non-Muslims in the name of their faith, and on the other hand their community at home in Australia is inhospitable, suspicious and, in the worst cases, abusive.
So why aren't we hearing the voices of the 381,900 Muslim Australians denouncing Islamic State? Are they not speaking out or not being heard? Perhaps given the palpable distrust of Muslims in the community, there is understandable trepidation in organising a large gathering on the streets. Despite that, a group of Muslims in Lakemba, Sydney, organised a "Muslims love Australia" free barbecue to unite Australian Muslims against Islamic State.
Unfortunately, rather than capturing the stories and beliefs of Muslim attendees, the media coverage focused on the major donor, a father whose son has been fighting with Islamic State, and the fear of further radicalisation of young Muslims. So now Australian Muslims have taken another approach to get their voices heard by joining a global Twitter campaign #NotInMyName being used by Muslims to denounce the actions and religious ideology of Islamic State.
The irony is that the real antidote to Islamic State's poison is Islam itself. Perhaps that is why I reach for my pendant and display it. Australians, both Muslim and non-Muslim, need to work towards remedying the perception of Islam in the West and to remind each other of the beauty of this religion, praise the contributions it has made to civilisations both East and West, and emphasise its peaceful nature.
Reem Sweid is a senior social policy researcher
