Word: islamism
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Australia's most senior Islamic cleric, Sheik Taj Al-Din Hilali, was justly slapped down by the community after he described women who did not wear the hijab (headdress) as "uncovered meat." In a Ramadan sermon in September, the mufti also told his flock that women, by the way they dress and act, were to blame for sexual assault. When the comments were reported in late October by the Australian newspaper, the nation's leaders condemned Hilali. After he apologized, claiming his words were taken out of context, Hilali fell into the arms of his physicians. He rode...
...episode, it feels as if the gap between Muslims and their fellow citizens gets wider: hearts harden, fear seeps in, unreal stereotypes become set in concrete. But that's not happening in those communities where Muslims live in large numbers. The Sydney suburb of Lakemba is Australia's Islam Central; immigrants from the Middle East, Asia and Polynesia have transformed a place that was solidly Anglo-Irish and European (and obviously Christian) for most of last century...
...Living in the same community and bearing goodwill toward one another, however, does not mean that young Christians and Muslims understand each other. "We're in the epicenter of Islam in Australia," says Holy Spirit science teacher David Gearin over a spicy lunch at a Lakemba caf?. "And I asked myself, and others, How much do we know about Islam?" Gearin, 41, has spent most of his life teaching, playing sport and growing up in the area. "It's like when you're in a group at a party. When someone new arrives, you invite them into the circle...
...message. "These are normal Aussie kids, doing normal things," says Dr. Ali, whose staff is 40% non-Muslim. "We don't have the ghetto mentality here. We want the students to experience the full gamut of life." He says students are involved in civics and citizenship courses and when Islam is in the news they are free to discuss the issues. Unlike many Australians, Dr. Ali says his students don't register a division between Muslims and others. "I can tell you what's on their mind right now," he says. "They're more interested in what will happen...
...swiftly in the south. He has departed radically from Thaksin's iron-fisted?and ultimately self-defeating?attempts to crush the rebellion. He has personally apologized for the government's past heavy-handedness, including the notorious Tak Bai incident in which 85 Thai Muslim protesters died, and has acknowledged Islam's special place in a corner of this predominantly Buddhist nation. His government has also revived the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center, a peace and development agency credited with keeping a lid on the violence until Thaksin dismantled it in 2002; kick-started the investigation into the 2004 abduction...