yes, coach, it's all a big conspiracy by sharia activists, jewish bankers who eat kids and aboriginals in loin cloth spearing your great great grandmother.

“After all, Sharia is not a synonym for amputations and beheadings.”
Yes, it is. And worse.

“…Sharia and the common law sit side by side." and "This simple fact is taught to first year law students in universities across the world.”
No, they don't and no, it isn’t.

“…it might mean non-Indigenous Australians will have to pack their bags and return to their motherlands.”
Nonsense.

“Many of our fundamental common law doctrines are taken from the works of Sharia jurists, and Sharia has also borrowed from the common law.”
Rubbish.

“…tiny minority…” Anyone who does even basic research of Islam and Islamic movements around the world knows that this is a crock which is rapidly growing whiskers.

“Instead of criticising inevitable and understandable ignorance, Muslim leaders need to educate the community about their faith and values.”
The “inevitable and understandable ignorance” lies with the Muslim leaders and even more so with their flock. Australians are well-known to be laid back and easy-going. That does not make us the fools some seem to think we are. There is a limit and we’ve just about reached it, I reckon.

"Muslims too must share what they treasure - their religious and ethical values. If Aussie Muslims do not share their faith with their countrymen, how can they blame the rest of Australia for not understanding them?"
No. Australia’s ethical values are just fine, thanks. So too are our social values to the extent that Australians have no difficulty in accepting into our population multiple races, religions and creeds. There is one proviso: that neither by overt nor covert means do those so accepted attempt to impose their beliefs, religious or otherwise, on us.

The obligation does not lie with the Australian people to "understand" those we have welcomed into our home. The obligation to fit in to Australian culture, observe Australian laws, uphold Australian values, and to keep religious matters strictly private lies with anyone who chooses to live here.

We are happy to share our home, but that does not give you the right to re-arrange the furniture.

Irfan

I believe, unlike leftists, who by ignoring the realities of Muslim xenophobia are either tacit assimilationists (who believe that "they'll mix in over a few generations", and who care little for those who live among these violent diasporas), or just ignorant, that Muslims are my equals.

I can understand why leftists do stick their heads in the sand on Islamic issues, I mean, Australia has never brought a culture here that is so xenophobic.

It is seen in how non-Muslims were turned away from the rock pools at Cronulla beach by Muslim males so burqa-clad women could swim uncontaminated.

Or how some young Lebanese Muslim males form gangs based solely on religious & ethnic identity, racially targeting outsiders for intimidation, sexual harassment,& bashings.

Xenophobia was shown when Muslim leaders claimed they needed protection from a “redneck backlash” after the Cronulla riots, in the midst of numerous churches, not mosques, being burnt and shot at by Muslim youth.

How children of Lebanese migrants are under pressure to marry within their own ethnicity, and that the already high level of in-marriage for the children of Lebanese migrants rose in the 1990s, with 61 per cent of grooms marrying a woman from Lebanon and 74 per cent of women marrying Lebanese men, shown in a study by Monash University Centre for Population and Urban Research director Bob Birrell.

How comments by Aziza Abdel-Halim, of the Federal Governments Muslim Community Reference Group, who at a SBS Insight forum aired on 30-08-05 said that “A lot of women sometimes that I meet tell me “My daughter is a friend of an Australian girl. I can't let her be like that".

However, I believe the best example of xenophobia is that Muslim leaders don't even acknowledge that they do have this problem!

Irfan?

Any thoughts on Muslim xenophobia? Let's have a real debate. Refute my claims, but do it with evidence, not insults.

Dear Strewth
your all over the place mate.. look at u...

come to think of it, for you to
a) Have the passion you do for so called “Indigenous” Palestinians and
b) Actually speak as you do from the ‘Israeli’ position of living in Australia on stolen land

...without being the absolute POPE of Hypocrites yourself, you would HAVE to be an Indigenous Australian who has converted to Islam.

If you are not, you are indeed that ‘pope’ of all hypocrites :)

Imaginary exile ? sheesh.. ur on drugs arn’t u -read Josephus etc

I refer to the Roman exile and you accuse me of living in the first century and that I need a life, yet you then point to the Canaanites (who, by the way ‘are’ under the judgment of God) duh. Thats quite a way back from the year 70.

Unpalatable ? yep.. I know, much of real life is, like Masada, Holocaust, massacres of Indigenous Australians, killing Whales etc.

Secondly, it sounds like you have been boning up on Palestinian propaganda yourself, and see life through PLO distorted eyes. Can you tell the difference between an Arab Palestinian and a ‘canaanite’ Palestinian ? Are you telling me that u can ? that they can ? if so, how ?

I don’t consider Israel any more ‘righteous’ than any other, but I do maintain they have as much right to forge territory as any other did. Do you dispute this ? Are you going to unravel each and every conflict in that region and separate them into sheep and goats ? have fun.

The ONLY “right” that any of them have, is that of might, and guess what.. Israel has it.
Your reference to the UN and various resolutions and most laughable ‘Human Rights’ is pandering to a defunct body, which in any case is controlled by..guess who ? WINNERS in power struggles. Ever heard of the Security council ? They are the allied winners of WW2 +China.
Rights are actually ‘privileges’ granted by those with the power.

Ben,

Basically you are presuming that every single person in Australia who has Islam as part of their identity is part of a single conspiratorial monolith.

Hence your claim of a single Islamic culture that is more xenophobic than the cultural strains that:

1. slaughtered so many indigenous peoples

2. ripped indigenous kids apart their families and

3. waited some 200 years before deciding these people might deserve compensation for property rights usurped from them.

I could go on and on about these matters, but then what is the point? Most conservative spokespeople have their heads in the sand about their xenophobic attitudes toward indigenous people.

How can i expect a people who engage in historical revisionism of indigenous Australia's treatment by european settlers to face the honest facts about the faith and values of another people?

Then again, there is hope. Francis Fukuyama and others are beginning to admit that the neo-Con experiment was just a big con. I wonder how long it will take nazified pseudo-conservatives to accept this.

Irfan

You're not really refuting anything that Ben said there, come on take one of his points and do something substantial with it.

You (ab)use the word nazi so much it's lost all it's impact.

You always do this when someone makes valid points.

You're a joke