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May 5, 2006

Australia: Muslims Slam New Council Leadership

We reported on April 17 that the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) had been criticised in a report made by one of the Islamic Councils it is said to represent. The Islamic Council of Victoria criticised AFIC for being a sexist "old boys' club", and out of touch with young people and women.

AFIC, which has been in existence for 42 years, recently had an election for its main leadership positions, and the "old guard", as typified by its former chairman Dr Amir Ali, was replaced. The new chairman is Rahim Ghauri, a schoolteacher from Perth. The Vice Chairman is Dr Waqar Ahmad (pictured), who is a lecturer at Darwin University, where he specialises in remote sensing and GIS landscape mapping.

Now, with a hat-tip to Little Green Footballs, there is a new controversy surrounding the replacement leadership of the AFIC. The Australian reports that four of the Islamic Councils for which AFIC acts as an umbrella body have lambasted the elections from last weekend as "undemocratic".

Once again, charges are made that the AFIC's new leadership is there as a conspiracy to continue the "old guard". The president of the Muslim Council of New South Wales, Neil Kadomi wrote a letter in Arabic, which was obtained by the Australian. In this he advised the outgoing leadership to remain in place untila "legal and sharia-compliant solution" was reached. He said of the elections: "What took place during the congress is a farce that is devoid of morals and a nefarious scheme to take over the biggest Islamic body that represents the Australian Muslim Community."

In his letter, Kadomi claims he has the support of the Islamic councils of Tasmania, Christmas Island and ACT (Canberra). Kadomi asks why New South Wales and Victoria were not given "important office-bearer positions".

It seems from the above comment that Kadomi is expressing his personal sour grapes. He riled: ""(AFIC has) taken the path of isolation and exclusion that is based on dictatorship and fascism. This is contrary to the democratic process."

But the new vice chairman, Dr Waqar Ahmad defended the election process, saying: ""After many years, the true hold of a selected group is finally broken." Dr Ahmad claimed that Neil Kadomi is acting as a puppet of Amjad Mehboob, chief executive of AFIC.

Ahmad claimed that the former chairman, Dr Ameer Ali, and Mehboob had "resisted transparency and accountability, (and) failed to streamline administrative procedures."

Dr Ahmad, of Northern Territories Islamic Council, said Kadomi's letter was a "case of sour grapes ... and an attempt to destabilise the democratically elected team."

There will be a board meeting next week, and Dr Ahmad said the position of Mehboob would there be reviewed "very carefully".

Perhaps the only thing which can be said in Neil Kadmi's favour here is that it was he who suggested that the controversial "Autralian Mufti", 65-year old Sheikh Taj al-Din al-Hilaly, should be deposed. Al-Hilaly, imam at Sydney's Lakemba mosque, has called the 9/11 attacks as "God's work against oppressors". He also has accused Jews as "the underlying cause of all wars" and of trying to control the world "through sex, then sexual perversion, then the promotion of espionage, traitory and economic hoarding."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at May 5, 2006 7:21 AM

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