Against the odds, Islam flourishes in Australia

Whenever I travel in the Muslim world, from Malaysia to Qatar to Turkey, I always seem to get the same incredulous questions from locals: “You’re Muslim?!” (as a white woman in a hijab, I am seen as utterly incongruous), followed by, “What’s it like for Muslims in Australia?”. The more politically informed will often then follow up with, “isn’t Australia a very racist country?”

I can understand the questions, frustrating though they can sometimes be (such as when guards at famous masajid refuse to believe I really am a Muslim and won’t let me in to pray); for many, religion is tied up inextricably with culture. I am a white Westerner, therefore, I must be Christian. They are Arab/Malay/Turkish, and so they are Muslim. And never the twain shall meet.

I can even appreciate their questions; Australia is one of the Western countries they probably know the least about, and what they do know – kangaroos, beaches, cricket, the Outback — probably doesn’t readily link with Islam.

The fact is, however, that there are hundreds of thousands of Muslims in Australia, more than half of who were born here, and it is one of the fastest-growing religious communities in the country. Of course, a population of a few hundred thousand only makes up a couple of percent of the overall Australian population, which is about 21 million, and as a small but relatively visible minority, we have certainly had our share of friction with the wider community. So when addressing the question about racism, I have to be honest, and acknowledge its occurrence here in Australia, especially the relatively recent focus on Muslims.

In the last ten years, Australian Muslims have rarely been away from the spotlight. International events, such as September 11, the London and Bali bombings, and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have all provided a firm platform for anti-Muslim sentiment in Australia.

Distressing increases in verbal and physical attacks and discrimination against Australian Muslims was profiled by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, talk-back radio has been awash with hysterical callers about Muslims (including one woman who rang up to say disabled Muslims shouldn’t be allowed into shopping centres in wheelchairs, as they may conceal weapons in their chairs), right-wing politicians cashed in on the public sentiment and called for the banning of hijab because it was “defiance” and “may conceal weapons” and a halt to Muslim immigration, and the now infamous Cronulla Riots occurred, where a large group of mostly drunk Anglo-Australian young men rioted on Sydney beaches against anyone they thought was Muslim (thus attacking Indian Sikhs, amongst others because they had brown skin).

Tensions were also certainly exacerbated by Australian Muslims ourselves. Prominent male Muslim leaders made sexist comments such as comparing uncovered women to uncovered meat that attracts cats, and seeming to condone wife beating and marital rape, all too much public outrage. Local Muslims were also arrested and charged with planning terrorist attacks, and a few Sydney-born men of Lebanese background formed groups and specifically targeted Australian girls for gang rape attacks.

Despite, or perhaps because of, the simmering hostility between wider and Muslim Australia, things have been happening that indicate an organic Australian Islam is slowly developing, and that being a Muslim is a valid, mainstream Australian existence.

Because alongside all the negativity, many Muslims have been carving out a distinctly Australian place for themselves, and many non-Muslim Australians have been receptive. In the past couple of years in Melbourne alone, there has been art exhibitions by young Muslim women fusing their Western and Islamic identities in innovative new ways, such as stenciling geometric patterns on skateboards as part of a wall installation, two young Muslim men won the “Best New Comers” award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for their edgy political and faith-based observations, a women-only fashion parade, fusing dawah and stylish, muhajabat clothing, travelled the country to sold-out shows, and Salam Cafe , a panel and sketch-based comedy show made by young Australian Muslims, screened its first critically acclaimed season on national, free-to-air TV. It has just been nominated for a ‘Logie’, the Australian television industry’s premier award.

And the most amazing part is that all of these ventures were, in some way or another, government funded.

So it was natural that Muslims would eventually make in-roads in these contemporary Australian areas of comedy, art, fashion and television, and when we did, the social landscape upon which we operate would change. The public response to all these initiatives has been amazingly positive.

These many and varied initiatives showed the rest of the country the beautiful, controversial, incisive, gentle, confronting, funny face of the Muslims living amongst them. And it was then that the wider Australian community started to relate, because they could see the human beyond the label. They could see themselves.

In 2004, Susan Carland was awarded Australian Muslim of the year.

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