The Grand Mufti, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, has accused Tony Abbott of stirring up anti-Islamic sentiment. Photo: Steven Siewert
The Grand Mufti of Australia, Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, has accused Tony Abbott of aiding terrorism by conflating Islam with terrorism and providing legitimation for anti-Islamic sentiment.
Terrorists operating against Western targets claim their acts are inspired, and in many cases required, by Islam. But should our leaders be openly linking Islam and terrorism, or is it better if they publicly deny any such links? After all, many religions have both those who legitimate violence and those who work for mutual respect in the name of the religion. All religions have those who are an embarrassment to others.
All religions have those who are an embarrassment to others.
Abbott's recent comments aren't new for him. When he delivered his national security statement as prime minister in February, he made it clear where he stood. "I have often cited Prime Minister Najib, of Malaysia, who has described the Islamist death cult as 'against God, against Islam and against our common humanity'. In January, President al-Sisi told the imams at Egypt's Al-Azhar University that Islam needed a 'religious revolution' to sweep away centuries of false thinking."
Our political elites aren't experts on the Islamic religion. They won't have much credibility challenging Muslim scholars who point to Islamic sources that reject terrorist behaviour. But does it follow that they should keep silent on the issue of any links between Islam and terrorism?
Tony Walker, international editor at the Australian Financial Review, clearly thinks so. Writing at the weekend, he stated that like Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen and "others on the far right", Abbott has "dared to traverse into an area that is highly contentious, and in a way that he must have known would give offence".
Both Islam and Christianity preach peace and work for harmony and community cohesion. But Islam is subject to the temptations of a political fundamentalism that doesn't differentiate between religion and the state, since it has no model of such a separation based on a literalist interpretation of the Koran.
The problem is exacerbated by Islam's lack of an authority structure and globally accepted authority figures.
Publicly saying there's a link between Islam and terrorism might, however, be self-defeating: it could, as seems to have occurred with Abbott's latest remarks, stir up trouble with moderate Muslims who oppose terrorism.
It's a sensitive and complex debate. Most political leaders will want to avoid being open to the charge that they're somehow at war with Islam. But shouldn't they be calling it as they see it? The major terrorism threat we face is violent extremism perpetrated or inspired by groups or lone actors who claim to act in the name of Islam.
The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has argued that he's "all for restraint on the issue, and would never hold every Muslim accountable for the acts of a few. But it is not good for us or the Muslim world to pretend that this spreading jihadist violence isn't coming out of their faith community".
Asra Nomani, an American Muslim born in India, has argued there's a loose, well-funded coalition of governments and private individuals "that tries to silence debate on extremist ideology in order to protect the image of Islam".
I'd like to see here more of the kind of demonstration that occurred in Norway this year: more than 1000 Muslims formed what they called a ring of peace around Oslo's synagogue, offering symbolic protection for the city's Jewish community and condemning an attack by a Danish-born son of Palestinian immigrants, who killed two people at the synagogue. "Humanity is one and we are here to demonstrate that," one of the protest's organisers told a crowd of Muslim immigrants.
In a powerful gesture after the Sydney siege, a Muslim bride made a pilgrimage to Martin Place on her wedding day. Manal Kassem was adorned in a white dress, hijab and veil when she laid her wedding bouquet among the floral tributes to the Lindt cafe victims. Onlookers applauded. Her wedding planner explained that she did it out of "respect for her country, that will one day be the country of her children and grandchildren".
As we engage our Muslim communities at home after the terrorist attack at Parramatta police headquarters and the Paris massacres, we should focus on the value of life.
Our strategy must be to support and work with the religious moderates and community leaders who make it clear they won't tolerate those who seek to alter fundamentally our way of life by imposing their values on others by killing people.
Anthony Bergin is deputy director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
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