Dear Proxy,

It is because I am an educated person ...
and I do have the facts that I am able
to see that religious affiliation is not
necessarily an accurate identifier of any
person.

You have not been reading any of my posts on
this thread - or they haven't penetrated
- otherwise you couldn't possibly
behave in the disgraceful manner that you are
on this thread. It's better to hide your ignorance
then to display it so openly here.

Most Muslims, Western or otherwise, lack the
Arabic language skills to read the relevant texts.
And Australian Muslims come from around 70 diverse
cultural backgrounds and traditions. They are fragmented
further by being the most racially, ethnically,
culturally and linguistically diverse community in
Australia. Yet you insist that they all think alike.

Lebanese, Albanians, Malays, Arabs, Turks, Yugoslavs,
Indians, Pakistanis, Afghans, South Africans, Somalians,
Burmese, Bosnians, Cypriots, Muslims from Kosovar,
all think and believe identically?

And you question my reality?

Do take my advice and take out the book,
"Islam in Australia," by Abdullah Saeed, from your local
library. Professor Saeed is Associate Professor and
Head of the Arabic and Islamic Studies Program at the
Melbourne Insitute of Asian Languages and Societies,
University of Melbourne.

No, I won't be converting to
any other religion. I was raised as a Roman
Catholic, and I will die a Roman Catholic.
What religion are you?

Dear Al,

Keep trying - hopefully, you will get there.

I will once again ask both Al and Proxy
to either contribute to the subject of
this thread if they wish to post, or
leave the thread. This thread is NOT
about Islam. It is about the positive
contributions of Australian Muslims.

If you continue with your off topic
rants then I shall have to recommend
your posts for deletion. Because you
are breaking the rules of this Forum.

Mahboba Rawi, the sister mentioned in Foxy's article, runs a charity for Afgan woman and children. In fact she has been been helped by a number of non-Muslims and gained prominance 7 or so years ago when she appeared a number of times on national TV describing the dire situation in Afganistan. She is Australian, a noble example and deserves our respect.

The following is taken from the Home-page of her charity Mahbooba's Promise:

Who We Are
Mahboba's Promise is an Australian non-profit voluntary organisation dedicated to the women and children of Afghanistan. Mahboba's Promise was founded by Mahboba Rawi, herself a refugee from Afghanistan, now an Australian citizen.

How We Work
Being small and having Mahboba’s knowledge of the language and culture, the organisation has been able to respond quickly and with flexibility to meet the needs of widows and children disenfranchised by decades of war and civil unrest.

What We Do
We work with widows and children to improve education, offer vocational training and establish them as self sufficient. We have started schools for girls in areas where they had no educational opportunities. Primary health care in rural areas and provision of clean drinking water are among the many other projects undertaken over the last few years.

http://www.mahbobaspromise.org/content.cfm?id=1611&menulink=466&subid=0

Oh dear, foxy! My heart goes out to you at the derailing of this well-intentioned thread. I find so many of the things that have been said abhorrent, not to mention one-eyed.

Sadly, there is little I can contribute. I've had a sheltered suburban life, spent largely in Catholic schools (both as a student and as a teacher). I have met and engaged with very few Muslims and, in parochial old Townsville, I don't think I'll have too many opportunities to do so any time soon. I don't bear Muslims any animosity, though, and I have enjoyed reading some of the posts in here which remind me that there are plenty of Muslims out there doing wonderful things for our country.

Proxy,

You seem to be fixated with quoting from various ancient texts as if they are automatically associated with people today.

However, actions speak louder than words.

Considering the hundreds of thousands of pagans slaughtered by Christians in the first centuries after the Council of Nicea and the millions during the Spanish Inquisition plus the 6 million or so Jews during WW2, I think there is one religion that historically beats all the others for violence based on religious tolerance by a country mile.

The same goes for all those others that use a crucifix as a crutch to support all their own sectarian hatreds.

Glass houses?

Dear Wobbles... you seem fixated with the quaint idea that people today do not take seriously 'ancient texts' :).. sorry old son but you live a much too sheltered life.

When was the last time you listened closely to a sermon from Lakemba mosque pulpit? Or the mouth of the illustrious Sheik Faiz ?

Did you know Faiz is till plugged into over 4000 of Sydney's muslim youth via email and web sites?

Like I said before.. no fair person would deny that some Australians who happen to be Muslim have made some positive contributions to Australia. But the problem comes when the 'other' side of the picture comes immediately to mind due to some rather colorful headlines over the years which I won't bore you with.

Grateful is misdirected though, he seems to think positive contributions to AFGHAN charities is somehow 'Australian' ? Grateful, I think Foxy mean't 'in Australia' and 'for Australia'.

But the fundamental problem with the thread/topic is that it could easily be named "The positive contributions of Pablo Escobar to the Colombian poor of Medayin"

Which of course would mean the complete ignoring of how he obtained the wealth with which to do his 'humanitarian' work.

We could equally criticize the 'humanitarian' work of a plantation owner of the British aristocracy.. as his wealth was obtained off the backs of hundreds of black slaves....

No one has the right to avoid critical scrutiny. That includes me, Foxy and her topic.