To be 'Mossie' or 'Aussie' - that's the question!

The Muslim world has absorbed the Islamic faith into its richly diverse customs and traditions. What is considered to be the norm among the villagers in the southern region of Bangladesh might be alien to the urban pop-culture of the capital, Dhaka; not to speak of the customs observed in Nigeria or Turkey.

A Muslim, by definition, is a person who acts in accordance with the principles of Islam. Merely sporting a luxuriant beard or a full hijab would make anybody as much a Muslim as holding a navy blue passport makes Paul Charles Denyer a committed Australian. Let us be fair and judge Islam by not the criminal acts of a terrorist, but by its primary sources, namely the Koran (the canonical text) and sunnah (Prophetic practice), which formulate its principles.

The Islamic rituals of the payment of zakat, five daily prayers, fasting during the month of Ramadan, and once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to Mecca are not mere perfunctory expressions, but they are actions necessitating lifelong sacrifice for global harmony and justice.

The Koran is unequivocal in maintaining: “O believers, stand out firmly for justice and bear true witness before God, even though it be against yourselves, your parents, or your kinsfolk ...” (4:135). Let us explore how the Koran perceives of these rituals: “(It is) a warning to people who pray but who are careless of their devotions, whose prayers are only for show; refusing to share even the smallest kindness” (107: 4-7). “It is not righteousness that you turn your faces toward the east or west (while in prayer); rather it is righteousness … to spend out of your substance for the needy and destitute … to honour and fulfil the contracts which you have made … (2: 177).

Consider what the Koran says about the sacrificial animals slaughtered on the eve of a major Muslim festival: “It is neither their meat nor their blood that reaches God. It is your piety that reaches Him” (22:36).

The last prophet of Islam, Mohammed, was reported to have said about fasting: “Whoever does not abandon falsehood in word and action, and speaking bad words to others, then God has no need that he should (fast) leaving his food and drink” (S. Bukhari 8.73.83).

He taught us about human brotherhood: “None of you are a true believer until you desire the same for the others which you desire for yourselves” (S. Bukhari 1.2.12). Mohammed firmly stood against prejudice and racism: “An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; a white has no superiority over a black, nor a black has any superiority over a white except by righteousness and good action” (Last Sermon).

As an aside, allow me to denounce the attitude of misguiding people with misinformation or quoting references out of contexts for paltry material gain. Strapping explosives to bodies has got absolutely nothing to do with Islam. It is rather all about human instinct of self-defence, often cloaked in a religious package that is capable of evoking mass mobilisation. It is altogether a different story.

There is no doubt that there are some elements in Islam that stand in stark contrast to the Australian pop-culture of pornography, gambling, alcoholism, and drug addiction.

The Koran says about gambling and intoxicants: “In them is great harm and also some profits for people, but their harm far outweighs their profits” (2:219). Needless to say, the consumption of alcohol is prohibited in Islam. Islam always abides by the philosophy that prevention is better than cure. Perhaps, this philosophy deserves better attention especially while one in eight adults in Australia drink at a high risk level (The Age, August 25, 2006).

Add pornography to alcoholism, and you will get precisely the explanations for the steady increase in sexual assaults and incests on the record in Australia for the past ten years.

So, Islam tells you to become no-nonsense people who are serious about life and determined to help make the world a better place for all, upholding truth, justice, and social harmony. The Koran exhorts its followers to strive for success and not to sit idly by - “God does not change a nation’s condition until the people change themselves" (13:11). I leave it to the readers to decipher whether or not it is possible for the “Mossies” in the true sense of the word (i.e. the followers of the Islamic principles), to remain true blue Aussies, promoting true Australian values.