Anglo-Australians Show New Face of Islam
“I’m a proud Aboriginal Australian Muslim. It’s a profound quietness when I pray and when I connect with God. I’ve never had that up until I embraced Islam,” Sarah, an Anglo blue-eyed Australian woman, told SBS program The Feed on Monday, October 13.
“I hear of all the atrocities that are happening overseas and I pick up my Qur’an which is my life guide.
“There is nothing in there about torturing people, conflict and fighting,” she added.
Sarah, who sees herself as a proud Aboriginal and a Muslim, says she is the same Sarah she was three years ago before choosing Islam. The only change is her headscarf.
Growing up in the bible belt of the New South Wales (NSW) hills district, which has highest Christian church attendance in the country, Sarah took a long time to find Islam.
She revealed how she researched, read books and watched lectures online and has never been happier with the decision she took while studying psychology at university.
“My message to Australians who will watch this story and who are afraid of me is we’re not that different,” she said.
“I’m an Australian. I bleed red, I have hair but this is how I choose to live my life. I’m the exact same I just have a scarf on.”
Muslims, who have been in Australia for more than 200 years, make up 1.7 percent of its 20-million population.
In post 9/11-era, Australian Muslims have been haunted with suspicion and have had their patriotism questioned.
The anti-Muslim sentiments further increased following last month’s anti-terror raids, deemed the biggest in Australian history, in which 15 people were arrested from north-western Sydney.
Build Bridges
For another Sydney man, Luke, the true Islam is not that propagated in the media. It is what gives him peace in his life.
“What goes on around the world or what’s going on within Australia I don’t think that skews my judgment of what Islam really is because I feel I know better,” he said.
“I feel I know the true Islam and that’s what gives me peace.”
The Feed reporter Patrick Abboud said his program was driven by a wish to show the life of Australians who choose to revert to Islam.
“I wanted to see the reality for Anglo-Australians who had converted,” he said.
“It’s an element of the Islamic community which isn’t talked about.”
For him, Sarah presented Anglo-Australians who choose to revert to Islam for reasons other than marriage.
“Sarah is Aboriginal-Australian with blue eyes and white skin. She shops at Bondi. She loves the beach. She’s as Australian as they come” Abboud said.
He added converting has been a very positive experience for Sarah whose indigenous grandfather has accepted whole heatedly, having seen a dramatic difference in her.
The case was not the same for Luke whose family struggled to accept his decision.
President of the Australian New Muslims Association tells The Feed it is seeing around 3-4 converts a week, of which Anglo-Australians make up the majority.
“With the current situation we are in now you get the feeling that people are looking at you differently as if you’re one of the enemy now. We asking the wider community to get to know what Islam is all about,” Said Kanawati said.
“Build those bridges. Remove the fear.
“I don’t want to see my religion dragged through the mud nor do I want to see my fellow Australian scared of me or my wife or my children so I’m doing this for the future.”
Source: On Islam
