Acknowledging differences

Clear-thinking Australians point out that whatever wall exists between the Australian Muslim and Anglo-Australian communities, it has been built by both sides. It is a wall that is founded on the values and ideals which two different groups of people hold in their heads. This cultural wall has existed for a long time. With increasing migration from Lebanon and various Muslim countries, the Muslim religion has become the second largest in the country after Christianity and the wall has increased in height and influence.

I found several interesting types of grievances expressed by local Muslims. By and large Muslim communities  feel that the socio-cultural  and religious diversity of some sixty Muslim countries are rarely presented in public forums. They point out that the mass media shows images of Muslims as bland, simple, manageable, backward and inferior.

In one novel, The Shabby Sheikh, where the setting is Australia, not Arabia, the villain Shabby Sheikh is so named “because he resembles a phoney Arab”. Throughout the book the sketches reveal an ocker Australian in Arab clothing riding a camel and tormenting anyone in his way.

Sections from the mainstream community express similar racial intolerance. One of them appearing in a major daily newspaper read:

To our 300,000 [Muslim] enemies. There is an airport at [Sydney] with aircraft to take you home. Do not interfere in our way of life. We have accepted you here and your religion. If you don’t like it, leave. How many of our 300,000 enemies are on social security?

People promoting such sentiments of a mono-religious and mono-cultural Australia may be motivated by a kind of loyalty, but they are hindering the development of a newly emerging Australian identity. This new identity will come to see Muslim Australians to be like Catholic Australians, Italian Australians, Irish Australians … that is, both Muslim and Australian.

Admittedly the air of naïve wonder about the way some immigrants see the Australian lifestyle has raised too many eyebrows. Says a newly arrived Middle-Eastern writer in his book AL-Tareeq ila Australia (The road to Australia):

One of the things which puzzles the newcomer is the customs of the Australian people, their love for instructions and law and order … the Australian obeys warning notices and thus he avoids incurring severe [legal] punishment … traffic lights are operated automatically and the public obeys them even though there is no traffic on the road (p.33).

Life here is constantly moving, like a factory in which everyone is working and producing; and then they eat their meals in the streets, on the tram, or on buses (p.34).

Speaking of sex shops, this is a subject without an end … strip shows showing beautiful figures - and what incredible figures they are - attempting to excite their customers with their sighs, moans and groans …

In another similar kind of writing, an editor of a Sydney-based Arabic language bi-weekly newspaper proclaimed:

We as Australian citizens welcome His Holiness the Pope, alongside the Australian Government and the private sector, as a dear guest in Australia. Though the Muslims with a humanitarian outlook on humankind similar to that of the Christians we have a comment to make on this occasion. It is expected that the Vatican acts according to God’s prophet Issa (Jesus) son of Mary, peace be on Him, to assist the underdog in regaining their stolen rights.

Given these opposing views how can the rest of us bring about a meaningful dialogue between these two groups? How can stereotypes be broken down, and fear removed from each other’s religion?

Significant differences in the lifestyle and attitudes between the two religions are not to be side-stepped. Differences of interpretation towards social values and way of life should be acknowledged, respected and addressed without aiming at a fine compromise. Not because we no longer need a dialogue, but because “these different approaches have concrete implications to both communities living together in a shared place”.

The Australian-Muslim communities can play a role in bringing about various initiatives. A few ordinary and professional thinkers have become more publicly vocal and self-critical. Muslim thinkers are tilting in the direction of increased integration and participation in civic life. For example an Australian-Muslim academic, Kamal Siddiqi, notes that many of the overseas resident clerics who come to Australia have little knowledge of the local culture, and may inadvertently do a disservice to the community. He believes that not only do they replace home-grown ones but they continue to look to their home country to address local problems.

Clearly efforts to promote harmony on talk-back radio, in letters to the editor, book reviews, films, comedy festivals, public debates, or photographic displays have not been fully exhausted.

The flow of information and fair sense of play, I believe, is a two-way traffic. The ethnic Muslim communities and their press have been less sophisticated and more cut off from the mainstream cultural life. Today more names of second generation Muslim Australian writers and editors in the mainstream media should speed up this process. At the end of the day each community should ask: what are we doing to portray a better image of the other community?