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April 17, 2006

Australia: Muslims Unhappy With Federation Of Islamic Councils

The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) was founded in 1964, to provide an umbrella group for various Islamic bodies, or Islamic Councils, across Australia. It currently comprises nine state and territorial councils, including Australian Capital Territories (Canberra) and Christmas Island. It has sponsored mosques and Islamic schools, and has ingratiated itself with various governments. It claims to be representative body for the 300,000 Muslims in Australia. But now, it seems that AFIC's star may be fading.

Its outgoing head is Dr Ameer Ali (pictured), whom we discussed back in November. Then, he was claiming that it was not practical for members of the Muslim community to report to the authorities those imams who preached radicalism or terror. He had claimed: "Islam is not for example like Christianity where there is a Pope and an Archbishop, and so when the Pope says something others carry it out. The Imams are not a structurally organised community."

Despite this, in 1989 AFIC awarded the honorary title of "Mufti" of Australia to the controversial imam of the Lakemba Mosque in Sydney, Sheikh Taj al-Din al-Hilaly. We reported earlier this month on the AFIC's plans to depose Hilaly, who has spoken of the 9/11 attacks as "God's work against oppressors". The Mufti has also blamed Jews as "the cause of all wars". The AFIC also pays the Mufti.

But the reasons for the Mufti being deposed, to be replaced by a figure chosen by a body of imams, chosen by AFIC, are not connected to his extremist views, nor to his Machiavellian outlook. The reasons given were that he was "out of touch".

Now, a new survey has shown that for many Muslims in Australia, the Australian Federation of Muslim Councils is, of itself, "out of touch". The Australian and the Australian Daily Telegraph report on the results of the survey, which was carried out by the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV).

Next week there will be crucial elections within the AFIC, to fill important posts, including Dr Ameer Ali's post of president. The report found that Muslims polled found the AFIC to be "sexist, secretive, unrepresentative and irrelevant".

It is also corrupt, with its own internal investigators revealing in March that it was diverting money from a non-profit Muslim school for its own ends. The Malek Fahd school in western Sydney, which is funded by the government, was found by accountant Robert Smith to have siphoned money from schoool funds to subsidise political activities of Islamic groups across Australia.

A report produced by the ICV states: "The ICV executive committee found the most pressing concern the Muslims of Victoria have about AFIC is its transparency and representativeness...The community feels very strongly that AFIC is a closed, unrepresentative and therefore irrelevant organisation."

ICV found people thought of the current AFIC as a sexist "old boy's club" and that it had little relevance to Muslim youth and Muslim women, who together comprise at least 60% of the Australian Muslim demographic. It bemoaned the "complete absence of women and youth in AFIC" and criticised its poor consultation with state councils, and its lacklustre performances in the media.

The report noted Muslims' concerns about secretive aspects of AFIC, stating: "Community members were concerned they did not get to see and retain documents outlining AFIC's true financial position."

The IVC, which represents 90,000 Muslims in the state of Victoria, has decided that the lack of support for AFIC among its community needs to be challenged. It is therefore nominating one of its own, Ikebal Patel, to take over from Dr Ameer Ali, the AFIC president.

Dr Ameer has denied the claims made in the report, and Amjad Mehboob, the AFIC's chief executive, dismissed the claims of accountancy fraud as being unsubstantiated.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at April 17, 2006 7:28 PM

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