It is time to act; mere condemnation will not work as these never worked elsewhere
JUBAIL: It is encouraging to note that the Australian National Imams Council and the Grand Mufti, who is the top Muslim religious authority in Australia, have jointly condemned the December 15 Sydney cafe siege. But is this condemnation enough to face what lies ahead? The hostage-taking incident has once again brought the ugly reality on the surface that there are people among the Muslim community who are preaching extremism to young people, preparing them both physically and mentally for jihad against ‘infidels’. It has been reported that around 70 Australians are already fighting alongside the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq. The deviant philosophy of the IS may attract more youth to the quagmires created by international players. Finally, many of these so-called jihadists will return to their hometowns, of course not to live peaceful lives, but to continue their deviant struggle. We in Pakistan are suffering till date due to the aftermath of the game superpowers played in the name of jihad in the Afghanistan of 1980s. Till today, the fallout from that conflict is far from over — a school in Peshawar is under siege as I write and scores are already dead.
In this backdrop, where do the Australian Muslim community, in general and the National Imams Council, in particular stand? Australia is a country of migrants, which attracts talent from across the world and whoever migrates over there should respect the openness and values of Australian society. Therefore, extremists should not find any place in Muslim-run seminaries and other educational institutions. Though it is easy to say this, it is difficult to put this into action unless the community gets together to firmly stand against fanatics and takes an active role to identify the black sheep among its ranks. The 2.2 per cent of the country’s population that is Muslim will find the going tough in future. It is time to act; mere condemnation will not work as these never worked elsewhere.
Masood Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2014.
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