Friday, December 3, 2010

Islam in South Africa

Islam in South Africa pre-dates the colonial period, and consisted of isolated contact with Arab andEast Africa traders. Many South African Muslims are described as Coloureds, notably in the Western Cape, including those whose ancestors came as slaves from the Indonesian archipelago (the Cape Malays). Others are described as Indians, notably in Kwazulu-Natal, including those whose ancestors came as traders and indentured servants from South Asia; they have been joined by others from other parts of Africa as well as white or black South African converts. However, the current Muslim tradition in the country dates from the arrival of Sheikh Abdurahman Matebe Shah, a Malay sheikh from Sumatra, in 1668.


File:South Africa-Ladysmith-Sufi Mosque-01.jpg
Soofie Mosque - KwaZulu-Natal


History:

Sheikh Abdurahman Matebe Shah was exiled to Constantia, Cape Town in the Cape by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) following his resistance to the Dutch occupation of the East Indies. The sheikh used his exile to consolidate the teaching of Islam among slaves in the Cape, many of whom came from Muslim backgrounds in Malaysia and Bengal.


The VOC period

During the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century the Dutch continued to exile Muslim leaders from Batavia to the Cape: they includedSheikh Yusuf of Bantam, who lived at Faure in Cape Town. Probably the first imam to live in Cape Town was Said Alochie of Mocha inYemen, who was sentenced to work on Robben Island for ten years in 1747. Said Alochie later moved to Cape Town where he worked as a police constable - an occupation which gave him ample opportunities for visiting slave quarters at night to teach. In 1767 Prince Abdullah Kadi Abu Salaam of Tidore was exiled to the Cape. He wrote a copy of the Quran from memory, and the volume is still preserved in Cape Town; Abdullah assumed leadership of the community in Cape Town and became known as "Tuan Guru". In 1799 the growth of the community encouraged Cape Town's Muslims to petition the VOC for permission to build a mosque. Islam was a popular religion among the slaves - its tradition of teaching enabled literate slaves to gain better positions in their masters' households, and the religion taught its followers to treat their own slaves well.


Arrival of Indian Muslims

In 1800's there were two waves of Muslims that emigrated to South Africa from India. The first began with a wave of immigration by indentured labourers from South India in 1860's. These labourers were brought to South Africa by the British. 7-10% of these labourers were Muslim. The second wave of immigrants were merchants or traders that arrived from North India and settled in Natal, the Transvaal and the Cape. The first mosque in Natal, Juma Masjid, was built in Grey Street in Durban in 1884. It is now the largest mosque in the Southern Hemisphere.


After apartheid

Since South Africa became a democracy in 1994, there has been a growing number of Muslim migrants from South Asia and North Africa; however, their numbers are fairly low.[citation needed] Most of the Muslims are urban dwellers and thus live in or near Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, East London, Kimberley, Pretoria or Johannesburg.


New rise in conversions

According to the Christian Science Monitor, the biggest reason for the dramatic rise in Islam is that the religion is a refuge from sex, AIDS, alcoholism, and domestic violence that is rampant in the black townships, where the greatest rates of conversions are seen. It is estimated that Islam is the largest religion of conversion in South Africa. Islam grew by six fold in thirteen years, during the time from 1991 to 2004. Even though organizations such as IPCI, the Islamic Dawah Movement of South Africa, and the Africa Muslim Agency have been eager to proselytize in the region, there have been other civic organizations such as the MYMSA and the Call of Islam who considered other approaches to weave Islam into the social fabric of South Africa as a more significant way of making the Muslims' presence conspicuous.
According Michael Mumisa, a researcher and writer on African Islam, there has been an increase in the number of black South Africans converting to Islam particularly among the women and the youth. He believes that for some of the youth and women who were schooled in the politics of South African resistance and confrontation with the security forces of the former Apartheid state, the acceptance of Islam has become part of a radical rejection of a society based on Christian principles which are seen as having been responsible for establishing and promoting the Apartheid doctrine through the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa. The influence of the radical ideas espoused by Malcolm X is very evident among South African Muslims of all races. Branches of the Nation of Islam are already established in South Africa. Louis Farrakhan paid a visit to South Africa and was received by President Nelson Mandela and African Muslim communities.
Another Reason has been the presence of a growing Number of Sufi Orders and Groups. Amongst these is the Murabitun, a group that has a strong following in Spain. Many young Afrikaners find themselves attracted to its economic radicalism as well as its emphasis on a Western Expression of Islam.
Prominent Muslims:
Prominent Muslims are found in many spheres of South African life, notably in politics where they are represented at all levels of government.
Members of the Cabinet have included Naledi Pandor, former Minister of Education, and current Minister of Science and Technology, as well as Enver Surty. Essop Pahad and his brother Aziz Pahad. Other former Ministers include Kader Asmal (Education) and Dullah Omar[Justice,Transport].
In addition to Cabinet ministers, there are a number of Members of Parliament as well as councillors in the various provinces.[who?] The formerWestern Cape premier, Ebrahim Rasool, is Muslim.
Ismail Mahomed was the first post-apartheid Chief Justice of South Africa.
In sport, the most prominent South African Muslim is Test cricketer Hashim Amla. In rugby, the new talent of Ismaeel Dollie has come to the fore.
Hazrat Sheikh Ahmed Badsha Peer was a highly respected Sufi. He arrived in South Africa in 1860 as an indentured labourer and was given an honourable discharge by the colonial British authorities when he was discovered to be mystic. . His tomb is at the Badsha Peer Square/Brook Street Cemetery in Durban.[8]
Abu Bakr Effendi was a Osmanli qadi who was sent in 1862 by the Ottoman sultan Abdülmecid I at the request of the British Queen Victoriato the Cape of Good Hope, in order to teach and assist the Muslim community of the Cape Malays.
Riaadh Moosa is a popular comedian.
South African school of Islam:
Most South African Muslims are members of the Sunni branch of Islam; there are however a small number of individuals who had converted to the Shi'a school. Although they were vocal in the late 1980s and early 1990s, they seem to have become part of the silent Muslim minority at the turn of the 21st century. This could be attributed to the fact that South Africa's large Sunni oriented community have not adopted a favourable and accommodating attitude towards the Shi'is, and that Iran's influence had dwindled in the 1990s. Organizations such as theJamiat ul-Ulama of the Transvaal (est. 1923), The Muslim Judicial Council (est. 1945)The jamaa of nepali Muslims whose leader is today Dr Jigme Rai and Muslim Youth Movement of South Africa (est. 1970) enjoyed a fair amount of moral and financial support from the Muslim community for their social welfare activities. The once strong Muslim Students Association of South Africa (est. 1974), which had branches on many tertiary campuses, became less vocal and thus lost its grip on student activities; the MSA was thus replaced by Islamic societies that were either independent or affiliates of other Muslim organizations outside these institutions. The Muslim Students Association of South Africa has recently been very active once again. The first National Muslim Students Association of South Africa Conference (first in the last 10 years) was held in Durban in January 2004. MSA representatives from all over the country met here. This was hoped to be a new future of student work in the country. There is also a recent presence of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community who established in the country in 1946,[9]and a small community of Qur'an Alone Muslims.[10][11] There is also a Sufi community.[12][13]


Theology

Sunni's make up the majority of South African Muslims.


Madhab

Most of the Indian community follow the Hanafi Madhab, while the Malay, Kokni Indian & East African Communities usually follow the Sha'afimadhab, which predominates in the Western Cape. There is also an increasingly large number of adherents to the Malikimadhab, composed mostly of recent West African and Maghribi Migrants.
Theological differences between Sunni and Salafi Muslims is noted.


Scholarship

The Dominant traditions of scholarship are the rival South Asian Deobandi/Barelvi schools within the Indian Community.
The Malay Community has a much more varied tradition with graduates of Al-Azhar in Egypt, Umm-al Qurra in Mecca & other universities in Saudi Arabia & South Asia. Most of the Indian scholars are graduates from Deobandi affiliated Madrassahs.

Islam in Spain

Islam in Spain has had a fundamental presence in the culture and history of the nation. The religion was present in modern Spanish soil from 711 until 1492 under the rule of the Arabs and Moors of al-Andalus. For key historical dates, see Timeline of the Muslim presence in the Iberian peninsula. As of 2007, an estimated over 1 million Muslims live in Spain, most of them recent immigrants from North Africa, Middle East, and South Asia; although there is a sizable number of converts numbering at 20,000. The first Mosque in modern Spain was built after approximately 700 years.
File:Mosque of Cordoba Spain.jpg
The Great Mosque of Córdoba turned church after the Reconquista.
History:

Conquest

Hispania was the Latin name given to the whole Iberian Peninsula (covering the territories of present day Spain and Portugal), and after the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476 AD) the Teutonic tribe of Visigoths ended up ruling the whole peninsula until the Islamic conquest (during that time they pushed another Teutonic tribe out—the Vandals – and conquered another one—the Suevi). It is frequently stated in historical sources that Spain was one of the former Roman provinces where the Latin language and culture grew deep roots. After the fall of the Empire the Visigoths continued the tradition by becoming probably the most Romanized of all Teutonic tribes.
On April 30 of 711, Berber leader Tariq ibn-Ziyad landed at Gibraltar and by the end of the campaign most of the Iberian Peninsula (except for small areas in the north-west such as Asturias and the Basque territory) were brought under Islamic rule. This campaign's turning point was the battle of Guadalete, where the last Visigothic king Roderick was defeated and killed on the battlefield. After this eight year campaign, Muslim forces attempted to move north-east across the Pyrenees Mountains toward France, but were defeated by the Frankish Catholic Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours in 732.
It is commonly held that the relative ease that the Arab/Berber armies conquered the Iberian Peninsula with was due to the centralized nature of government under the rule of the Visigoths. After the defeat of Roderick, the Visigoth dominion over the Iberian peninsula folded and fell apart from the Northern coast of Spain, and the province of Septimania (an area of France going from the Pyrenees to Provence), all areas previously under the rule of the Visigoths were under Islamic rule.
Several historical sources state that the Islamic caliphate had not actually targeted Spain for conquest, but that political divisions within the Visigothic kingdom created an opportunity that Tariq and his army exploited successfully. For example, King Roderick was not considered a legitimate ruler by all the inhabitants of the Kingdom, and some Visigothic nobles actually aided the Islamic conquest. One name frequently mentioned is Count Julian of Ceuta in North Africa (this version calls him a Gothic noble), who according to some stories invited Tariq to invade because his daughter had been raped by King Roderick. Other sources instead consider Count Julian to be the last representative of the Byzantine Empire in North Africa.
Islamic rule in the Iberian peninsula lasted for varying periods ranging from only 28 years in the extreme northwest (Galicia) to 781 years in the area surrounding the city of Granada in the southeast.

Rule


The majority of the Army as well as commander Tariq himself were not Arab but Islamic Berbers, and in time Islamic migrants from places as diverse as North Africa to Yemen and Syria came to live in the Iberian peninsula. The Islamic rulers called the Iberian peninsula "Al-Andalus", which some say means "Paradise." That was the root for the name of the present-day region ofAndalusia, the southernmost region of Spain and Portugal.
For a time, the area that is today Spain and Portugal was one of the great Muslim civilizations, reaching its summit with the Umayyad Caliphate in the 10th century. Muslim Spain had the following chronological phases:
  • The Emirate directly dependent on the Caliph in Damascus (711–756)
  • The Independent Emirate (756-929)
  • The Caliphate of Córdoba (929-1031)
  • The first Taifas (1031-c. 1091)
  • The Almoravid rule (c.1091-c. 1145)
  • The second Taifas (c.1145-c. 1151)
  • The Almohad rule (c.1031–1212)
  • The Kingdom of Granada (1212–1492)
  • The late Alpujarras revolt (1568–1571), with two monarchs appointed successively by theMorisco rebels (Note: the dates when the different taifa kingdoms were annexed by Almoravids and Almohads vary)
The status of Christians and Jews who lived in Spain during the period of Islamic rule has been a subject of controversy. Islamic religious doctrine from the onset clearly state that other monotheistic faiths had to be tolerated. In this period of history, tolerance was rare and invaders normally expelled or murdered existing populations without question. Even though some Islamic rulers did not always follow the dictates of their own religion, there is plenty of evidence to prove that overall the majority in the Iberian peninsula did so, the strongest is the persistence of large Jewish and Christian communities throughout the era of Islamic rule.
The Islamic rulers imposed restrictions on building new churches and synagogues, and there was discrimination regarding giving evidence against Muslims in judicial proceedings[citation needed]. In addition, the Christian and Jewish population had to pay a special tax, and non-Muslim males were not subject to military service. There was a brief period of Christian persecution in the 8th century. Regardless, compared to the treatment of minorities in European kingdoms during that time period, the Muslims were generally much more tolerant[citation needed]. It was only by the end of the fourth century after Tariq's conquest that a majority of the population practiced Islam (including descendants of Visigoths and Romans).
The Madrasah of Granada was the first university in Granada, Andalusia. It was founded by the Nasrid dynasty monarch Yusuf I, Sultan of Granada in 1349.

File:BasharatMosque1.jpg

'The Basharat Mosque' First Mosque in Spain after 700 years, run by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

Reconquista

After the disintegration of the Caliphate, Islamic control of Spain was gradually eroded by the Spanish Reconquista. The Reconquista (Reconquest) was the process by which the Catholic Kingdoms of northern Spain eventually managed to succeed in defeating and conquering the southern Muslim states of the Iberian Peninsula. The first major city to fall to Catholic powers was Toledo in 1085, what prompted the intervention of Almoravids. After the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, most of Al-Andalus fell under control of the Catholic kingdoms, the only exception being the Nasrid dynasty Emirate of Granada.
The Granada War (Guerra de Granada or First Rebellion of Alpujarras) of the Reconquista began in 1482 against the Emirate of Granada. It was not until 1492 that the Emirate of Granada with city of Granada and the Alhambra and Generalife Palaces, the last remaining Muslim territory in al-Andalus, fell in the Battle of Granada to forces of the Catholic Monarchs (los Reyes Catolicos), Queen Isabella I of Castile and her husband King Ferdinand II of Aragon.[6] The conquest was accompanied by the Treaty of Granada signed by Emir Muhammad XII of Granada, allowing the Spanish crown's new Muslim subjects a large measure of religious toleration. They were also allowed the continuing use of their own language, schools, laws and customs. But the interpretation of the royal edict was largely left to the local Catholic authorities. Hernando de Talavera, the first Archbishop of Granada after its Catholic conquest, took a fairly tolerant view.
However 1492 started the monarchy's reversal of freedoms beginning with the Alhambra Decree. This continued when Archbishop Talavera was replaced by Cardinal Cisneros, who immediately organised a drive for mass forced conversions and burned thousands of texts in Arabic. Outraged by this breach of faith, in 1499 the Mudéjar rose in the Second Rebellion of Alpujarras, which only had the effect of giving Ferdinand and Isabella the excuse to revoke the promise of toleration. That same year the Muslim leaders of Granada were ordered to hand over almost all of the remaining books in Arabic, most of which were burned. Beginning in Valencia in 1502, Muslims were offered the choice of baptism or exile. The majority decided to accept the former, becoming 'New Catholics', of very great interest to the newly established Spanish Inquisition, authorised by Pope Sixtus IV in 1478.
The Morisco conversos (converts), though outwardly Catholic, continued to adhere to their old beliefs in private as crypto-Muslims in a practice known as taqiyyah or precaution, conduct allowed for by some Islamic authorities when the faithful are under duress or threat of life. Responding to a plea from his co-religionists in Spain, in 1504 the Grand Mufti of Oran issued a decree saying that Muslims may drink wine, eat pork and other forbidden things, if they were under compulsion to conform or persecution. There were good reasons for this; for abstinence from wine or pork could, and did, cause people to be denounced to the Spanish Inquisition. But no matter how closely they observed all of the correct forms, the Morisco or Little Moors, a term of disparagement, were little better than second-class citizens, tainted, it might be said, by blood rather than by actions.
Despite all of these pressures some people continued to observe Moorish forms, and practice as Muslims, well into the sixteenth century. In 1567 King Philip II finally made the use of the Arabic language illegal, and forbade the Islamic religion, dress, and customs, a step which led to the Second Rebellion of Alpujarras and the Morisco Revolt. This was suppressed with considerable brutality. In one incident, troops commanded by Don John of Austria destroyed the town of Galera east of Granada, after slaughtering the entire population. The Moriscos of Granada were rounded up and dispersed across Spain. 'Edicts of Expulsion' for the expulsion of the Moriscos were finally issued by Philip IIIin 1609 against the remaining Muslims in Spain, who by that time were concentrated in the Kingdom of Aragon in the north, and areas around Valencia where they made up 33% of the population. The corresponding expulsion of Muslims from the Kingdom of Castille was officially completed in 1614, although it is believed that up to 10,000 Moriscos remained in Spain.
The decline in revenue, and loss of technical skills, from the expulsion of Muslims from Aragon precipitated the downfall of Aragon, and the prominence of Castille – a reality which remains until today. Further, the loss of revenue and skills from Valencia lead to a shift of Catalan power from Valencia, to regions around Barcelona, which had far fewer Muslims and were thus less-affected. Present day cultural survivals of Islamic influence in Spain and Portugal include expressions such as Spanish "ojalá" and Portuguese "oxalá", meaning "may God will it" or "I hope" which is a close adaptation from an Arabic equivalent "inshallah" evoking Allah.
Recent Immigration and conversion: 
In recent decades, immigration has resulted in a resurgence in the presence of Islam, with over one million Muslims currently residing in Spain, of which the majority areMoroccans and Spaniards represented by the Islamic Commission of Spain. Many Muslims include those from other neighboring African countries (Mostly Morocco), Syrians, Lebanese, Iraqis, Iranians, Indians and Pakistanis.
There is a sizable number of converts to Islam numbering at 20,000. Many converts to Islam reside in the southernAndalusia region and have opened Muslim learning centers drawing visitors from across Europe, Canada and the United States.
File:Centro Cultural Islámico - Mezquita de Madrid 01.jpg
Mosque of Madrid, inaugurated in 1992.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Islam in Brazil

Islam in Brazil was first practiced by African slaves. The early Brazilian Muslims led the largest slave revolt in Brazil, which then had the largest slave population of the world. The next significant migration of Muslims was by Arabs from Syria and Lebanon. The number of Muslims in Brazil according to the 2000 Brazilian census was 27,239[1], or 0.00016% of the total population. According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life's 2009 report, that number had grown to 191,000, or 0.096% of the total population.


File:Mesquita72.JPG
Mosque in Foz do Iguaçu.
History

African Immigration


[edit]The history of Muslims in Brazil begins with the importation of African slave labor to the country. Brazil obtained 37% of all African slaves traded, and more than 3 million slaves were sent to this one country. Starting around 1550, the Portuguese began to trade African slaves to work the sugar plantations once the native Tupi people deteriorated. Scholars claim that Brazil received more enslaved Muslims than anywhere else in the Americas.

Malê Revolt

Main article: Malê Revolt

The Muslim uprising of 1835 in Bahia illustrates the condition and legacy of resistance among the community of Malês, as African Muslims were known in 19th century Bahia. The majority of the participants were Nago, the local designation for ethnic Yoruba. Many of the "Malês" had been soldiers and captives in the wars betweenOyo, Ilorin and other Yoruba city-states in the early part of the 19th Century. Other participants included Hausa and Nupe clerics, along withJeje or Dahomean soldiers who had converted to Islam or fought in alliance with Muslims.."
Beginning on the night of January 24, 1835, and continuing the following morning, a group of African born slaves occupied the streets ofSalvador and for more than three hours they confronted soldiers and armed civilians.
Even though it was short lived, the revolt was the largest slave revolt in Brazil and the largest urban slave revolt in the Americas. About 300 Africans took part and the estimated death toll ranges from fifty to a hundred, although exact numbers are unknown. This number increases even more if the wounded who died in prisons or hospitals are included. Many participants were sentenced to death, prison, whippings, or deportation. The rebellion had nationwide repercussions. Fearing the example might be followed, the Brazilian authorities began to watch themalês very carefully and in subsequent years intensive efforts were made to force conversions to Catholicism and erase the popular memory of and affection towards Islam. However, the African Muslim community was not erased overnight, and as late as 1910 it is estimated there were still some 100,000 African Muslims living in Brazil.


Muslim immigrants in Brazil

Following the assimilation of the Afro-Brazilian Muslim community, the next period of Islam in the country was primarily the result of Muslim immigration from the Middle East and South East Asia. Some 11 million Syrian and Lebanese (mostly Christians) immigrants live throughout Brazil.[10] The biggest concentration of Muslims is found in the greater São Paulo region.
Architecture and cuisine also bear the trademarks of the culture brought to the hemisphere by the Arabs. Not even fast food has escaped the immigrant influence, as the second largest fast food chain in Brazil is Habib's, which serves Arab food. And the diversity of influence stretches to businesses such as the textile industry, which is dominated by merchants of Syrian-Lebanese origin(mainly of Christian faith). The São Paulo city council even has a Muslim Councillor by the name of Mohammad Murad, who is a lawyer by profession.[11] A number of mosques dot the greater São Paulo area. The oldest and most popular of these is found on Av. Do Estado. Since its establishment over seventy years ago, the mosque has added a Quranic school, library, kitchen and meeting hall for various functions.
Today: 

Population

According to the Brazilian census of 2000 there were 27,239 Muslims living in the country, primarily concentrated in the states of São Paulo and Paraná. Muslim community leaders in Brazil estimated that there were between 700,000 and three million Muslims, with the lower figure representing those who actively practiced their religion, while the higher estimate would include also nominal members. There are significant Muslim communities in the industrial suburbs of the city of São Paulo and in the port city of Santos, as well as in smaller communities in Paraná Statein the coastal region and in Curitiba and Foz do Iguazu in the Argentina-Brazil-Paraguay triborder area. The community is overwhelmingly Sunni; the Sunnis are almost completely assimilated into broader society. The recent Shi'ite immigrants gravitate to small insular communities in São Paulo, Curitiba, and Foz do Iguazu. There are approximately 60 mosques, Islamic religious centers, and Islamic associations, however the history of the Ahmadiyya community only began in the late 20th century, when the community was established in Brazil in 1986.
A recent trend has been the increase in conversions to Islam among non-Arab citizens. A recent Muslim source estimated that there are close to 10,000 Muslim converts living in Brazil.[10]Brazil may have become a hub for Islam in Latin America. During the past 30 years, Islam has become increasingly noticeable in Brazilian society by building not only mosques, but alsolibraries, arts centres, and schools and also by funding newspapers. The growth of Islam within Brazil is demonstrated in the fact that 2 of the 3 existing Portuguese translations of the Qur'an were created by Muslim translators in São Paulo.

Infrastructure

As has been the case in many of the larger metropolitan mosques in South America, foreign assistance and individual effort have played major roles in the sustainability of the mosques in the greater São Paulo area. For example the Imam of the Av. Do Estado Mosque is from the Middle East and often Imams are chosen jointly by the Mosques' management committees and the Arab governments that pay for the Imam's services. Ismail Hatia, a South African who came to Brazil in 1956, built a mosque in Campinas two years ago. Hatia, who also runs a language school, felt that the approximately 50 Muslim families in Campinas were in dire need of some community organization to help provide cohesion and direction for the Muslims. The Campinas mosque now holds regular Friday juma prayers and is in the process of establishing regular night prayers on Monday, Tuesday, Friday.

Islamic in Australia

Islam in Australia is a small minority religious grouping, but fourth largest after all forms of Christianity (64%), irreligion (18.7%) and Buddhism (2.1%), excluding 11.2% who failed to answer at the last census. According to the 2006 census, approximately 340,392 people, or 1.71% of the total Australian population were Muslims.
While the Australian Muslim community is defined largely by religious belonging, the Muslim community is fragmented further by being the most racially, ethnically, culturallyand linguistically diverse religious grouping in Australia, with members from every ethnic and racial background, including Anglo-Celtic Australian Muslims. Members of the Australian Muslim community thus also espouse parallel non-religious ethnic identities with related non-Muslim counterparts, either within Australia or abroad.
Although Islam's presence in Australia is often perceived to be recent by Australian non-Muslims, adherents of Islam from what is today Indonesia had in fact been visiting the Great southern land prior to colonial era settlement of European Christians. For several centuries these Muslims had traded with coastal Aboriginal peoples of the north. The common misconception among Australian non-Muslims that Islam is new to Australia is due mostly to knowledge of Islam and Muslims limited only to the recent migratory waves from the Middle East and North Africa, South East Asia, the Balkans of Europe, Indian sub continent, and most recently from Sub-Saharan Africa.
Although the recent migratory waves of Muslims to Australia brought awareness of Muslims and Islam, it also encouraged a distorted perception of the history of the religion and the proportion of Muslims in the country. Not all of the peoples from the migratory wave from these regions — or their Australian-born descendants — were Muslims. In fact, most were non-Muslims. Thus, for instance, most Lebanese Australians, and as a result most Middle Eastern Australians, are in fact Christians, and most Australians with origins in the Indian sub continent are Hindu, Christian, or Sikh, while most African Australians are Christian.
File:Auburn Gallipoli Mosque.JPG
A Mosque in Auburn.

History: 

Pre-European Australia

The first Muslims in Australia were traders from ethnic groups indigenous to the Indonesian archipelago. The Macassan and Bugis traders from Indonesia may have had a relationship with the Indigenous people of northern Australia, and their language influenced Indigenous Australiansof different tribes.
Macassan trepangers and Bugis traders from Sulawesi (formerly Celebes) visited the coast of northern Australia for hundreds of years prior to arrival of Europeans in Australia to fish for trepang (also known as sea cucumber or "sandfish"), a marine invertebrate prized for its culinary and medicinal values in Chinese markets.
During the voyages the Macassans left their mark on the people of northern Australia — in language, art, economy and even genetics in the descendants of both Macassan and Indigenous Australian ancestors that are now found on both sides of the Arafura and Banda Seas.

First Fleet

The early fleets of settlers used Muslims from coastal Africa and the islands and territories under the British Empire, for labour and as navigators.

19th Century

Cameleers settled in the areas near Alice Springs and other areas of the Northern Territory and inter-married with the Indigenous population. The Adelaide to Darwinrailway is named The Ghan (short for The Afghan) in their memory.[6]Between 1860 and the 1890s a number of Central Asians came to Australia to work as "Afghan" camel drivers. Camels were first imported into Australia in 1840, initially for exploring the arid interior (see Australian camel), and later for the camel trainsthat were uniquely suited to the demands of Australia's vast deserts. The first camel drivers arrived in Melbourne in June 1860, when eight Muslims and Hindus arrived with the camels for the Burke and Wills expedition. The next arrival of camel drivers was in 1866 when 31 men from Rajasthan and Baluchistan arrived in South Australiawith camels for Thomas Elder. Although they came from several countries, they were usually known in Australia as 'Afghans' and they brought with them the first formal establishment of Islam in Australia.
The first mosque in Australia was built in 1882 at Marree in South Australia. TheGreat Mosque of Adelaide was built in 1890 by the descendants of the cameleers.
During the 1870s, Muslim Malay divers were recruited through an agreement with the Dutch to work on Western Australian and Northern Territory pearling grounds. By 1875, there were 1800 Malay divers working in Western Australia. Most returned to their home countries.

Early 20th Century

In the early twentieth century, Muslims of non-European descent experienced many difficulties in emigrating to Australia because of a government policy which limited immigration on the basis of links with Great Britain and Ireland. Known as the White Australia Policy, politicians of the era claimed that non-white immigrants would cause social disharmony.
However, some Muslims still managed to come to Australia. In the 1920s and 1930s Albanian Muslims were accepted along with BosnianMuslims, whose European heritage made them more compatible with the White Australia Policy. Albanian Muslims built the first mosque in Victoria in Shepparton in 1960 and the first mosque in Melbourne in 1963.

Post World War II

The perceived need for population growth and economic development in Australia led to the broadening of Australia’s immigration policy in the post-World War II period. This allowed for the acceptance of a number of displaced Muslims who began to arrive from Europe.
Moreover, between 1967 and 1971, approximately 10,000 Turks settled in Australia under an agreement between Australia and Turkey. This was the first Muslim community of Middle Eastern origin to settle in Australia. Almost all of these people went to Melbourne and Sydney.
From the 1970s onwards, there was a significant shift in the government’s attitude towards immigration. Instead of trying to make newer foreign nationals assimilate and forgo their heritage, the government became more accommodating and tolerant of differences by adopting a policy of multiculturalism.
By the beginning of the twenty-first century, Muslims from more than sixty countries had settled in Australia. While a very large number of them come from Bosnia, Turkey, and Lebanon, there are Muslims from Indonesia, Iran, Fiji, Albania, Sudan, Egypt, the Palestinian territories,Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, among others.

Late 20th century


Lebanese Muslims form the core of Australia's Muslim Arab population, which also includes many Iraqis, particularly in Sydney where most Arabs in Australia live. Approximately 3.4% of Sydney's population are Muslim. Adherents of the Sunni denomination of Islam are concentrated in the suburb of Lakemba and surrounding areas such as Punchbowl, Wiley Park, Bankstown and Auburn. Adherents of the Shi'a denomination of Islam is centred in the St George region of Sydney, ccampbelltown and liverpool, with the al-Zahra Mosque being built at Arncliffe in 1983,[10] However there are also a small number of adherents to the Ahmadiyya sect.[11]Larger-scale Muslim migration began in 1975 with the migration of Lebanese Muslims, which rapidly increased during the Lebanese Civil War. Lebanese Muslims are still the largest and highest-profile Muslim group in Australia, although Lebanese Christians form a majority of Lebanese Australians, outnumbering their Muslim counterparts at a 6 to 4 ratio.
There are also Somali populations scattered throughout Australia who fled their country from the start of the Somali civil war in 1991. In 2005, tensions between Lebanese Australian Muslims and Anglo-Celtic Australian non-Muslims caused the 2005 Cronulla riots.
Many Muslims living in Melbourne are Bosnian Muslims and Turkish Muslims. Melbourne's Australian Muslims live primarily in the northern suburbs surrounding Broadmeadows (mostly Turkish) and a few in the outer southern suburbs such as Noble Park and Dandenong (mainlyBosnian Muslim).
Very few Muslims (mainly iraqi) live in regional areas with the exceptions of the sizeable Turkish and Albanian community in Shepparton, Victoria and Malays in Katanning, Western Australia. Men in both communities work in the local meat-packing industries. A community ofIraqis have settled in Cobram on the Murray River in Victoria.
Perth also has a Muslim community focussed in and around the suburb of Thornlie, where there is a Mosque. Perth's Australian Islamic School has around 2000 students on three campuses.
Mirrabooka and neighbouring Girrawheen contain predominantly Bosnian Muslim communities. There are a number of Halal restaurants in Perth. The oldest mosque in Perth is the Perth Mosque on William Street in Northbridge. It has undergone many renovations although the original section still remains. Other mosques in Perth are located in Rivervale, Mirrabooka, Beechboro and Hepburn.
There are also communities of Muslims from Turkey, the Indian subcontinent (Pakistan, India and Bangladesh) and South-East Asia, in Sydney and Melbourne (the Turkish communities around Auburn, New South Wales and Meadow Heights and Roxburgh Park and the South Asian communities around Parramatta and Dandenong. Indonesian Muslims, are more widely distributed in Darwin.
Australia also attracts Muslim students from Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and increasingly from the Persian Gulf region.
There is a deep split within the Australian Muslim community. Many of the Muslims in New South Wales are Arabs but there are also Turkish and Bosnian Muslim communities, while Victoria has Bosnian, Turkish or Albanian Muslims. There are also Pakistani and BangladeshiMuslim communities in both cities, numbering roughly 10-12 thousand.
The mainly moderate Bosnian Australian community refused to accept the fundamentalist Taj El-Din Hilaly (an Arab born in Egypt) as Australia's mufti. Victorian Imams do not recognise Hilaly. Hilaly, who was criticised by Australian politicians for allegedly broaching Holocaust denial, is no longer recognised as a mufti.

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