Hi Foxy,

First let me express my (belated) gratitude for your initiative and I will do what i can for it be successful.

I was brought up in a atheist household, but have adopted Islam as my way of life, so i'm always keen to see Islam portrayed accurately. I had a typical Australian upbringing, which included a lot of parties and booze, and so when someone asks me what is the "positive contribution" of Muslims i may put a bit more emphasis on what is important for children, their upbringing and development of character. I would place more emphasis on what the religion can offer, which is more in line with the contribution of Waleed Aly (although with far less eloquance and erudition) than Sabrina (who is much better looking!).

What made me mention these things is Cornflower's comments on the Muslim Miss Australia:

"Sabrina's freedom and bright future come choosing the right parents: flexible, adaptable, caring and above all, not fundies. Is she the exception to the rule? Maybe so and that is why she is noteworthy."

It struck me how much i have changed. I would have said something like this in my pre-Islamic days, but these days i guess Cornflower would call me a fundy :-).

My main point is that this sort of dialogue can be challenging in part because people have their views on what is and is not a "positive contribution" and they are not always the same. I think an acknowledgement of this and preparedness to take on board these differences would go a long way to a very constructive dialogue.

Another thing. I'm a lapsed Collingwood supporter and i have not been following AFL for quite a while. Do you (or anyone else) know the names of the Muslim AFL players that you refered to in your first post?

Dear Cornflower,

Thanks for your input.

Is Sabrina Houssami the norm in Muslim terms?
Sabrina Houssami is not the norm in anybody's
terms. However, she does regard herself as a
Lebanese Australian and a Muslim. Her mother Alka,
is Hindu-Indian and her father Ahmed is Lebanese
Muslim. As author Shakira Hussein tells us:
"The beaut thing is secularism runs in the bloodstream
of many Australian Muslims. They have absorbed its
language and its way of seeing the world. They frame
their claims of belonging to the Australian society
in secular terms."

I forgot to add in my previous post on Sabrina Houssami
that apart from being a former Miss World Australia as
well as Miss World Asia Pacific, she was also the second
runner up to Miss World 2006.

Having a loving, caring home, is important to us all
regardless of our religious affiliation, isn't it?

Dear Grateful,

Thank You so much for being so open and honest and
sharing your background with us on this Forum.
I greatly enjoyed reading your post. It was so
positive. Football is a great melting pot in
which a common goal unites the players and the fans
of different racial, religious, and economic backgrounds.
There are several Muslim AFL players that come to
mind. Sedat Sir (Bulldogs) is a Muslim Turk. Then there's
the famous Bachar Houli (Essendon). Robin Nahas (Richmond
Tigers), just to name a few.

Bachar Houli, is of course a primary figure both in his
community and his country.

grateful,

I'm positively interested in how an atheist can "adopt Islam as (their) way of life".
May I ask you a few questions?
Do you believe that Archangel Gabriel brought messages from Allah to Mohammed?
Do you believe that those messages are the eternal truths contained in the Koran?
Do you believe that the world will ultimately unite under Islam, Insha'Allah?
Do you believe that it is not gravity but the will of Allah which causes objects to fall to the earth?
Do you believe that if Allah so wished the above process could be suspended or reversed?
Do you believe that 9 year old Aisha was 52 yo Mohammed's favourite wife?
Do you believe in the beheading by Mohammed of the 400-900 Jews of the Banu Qurayza tribe?
http://www.wikiislam.com/wiki/Banu_Qurayza
Do you believe Mohammed was a man of peace?
Do you believe that Mohammed was the perfect example?
Do you believe that sons and daughters should receive equal shares of inheritance, in contradiction of Islamic law?
Are you a Muslim because you enjoy the rituals?
Are you a Muslim because it fulfils a sense of spirituality which atheism cannot?
Are you a Muslim because you believe everything contained in the Koran, Hadith, Sunna, Sharia law, etc?
Do you think it is encumbent on Muslims to study the Koran, Hadith, Sunna, Sharia law, etc, to see what they really say?

Yours positively,
Proxy

Gee Foxy,

You really kicked over a rock here and look at what's some scuttling out from underneath.

For the last 7 years Muslims have organised meals for the homeless on a monthly basis in Sydney. The main organiser of this, and other projects, is Afroz Ali, of Al-Gazzali centre.

Here are some photos: http://www.alghazzali.org/gallery.php?event=cp

By the way, for those who may be interested in meeting some young, and not so young, Muslims i couldn't think of a better way of doing so than sharing a Saturday afternoon cooking and the evening distributing the food to the homeless.

Foxy, "Sabrina Houssami is not the norm in anybody's terms"

To the contrary it is the norm in Australia and in the West that women have choice and Sabrina was exercising that choice. She does not allow a fundamentalist religion to rule her.

You mentioned Shakira Hussein. Shakira is the first to say that Muslim women face a range of challenges within their communities, ranging from gender violence to lack of formal community representation. That is one of the reasons why she saw the to-do over burqas as a diversion from those more important issues. As Shakira says too, Muslim women have trouble making themselves heard.

This is why Sabrina's courage and independence in making her own choices in life are to be applauded, along with her obvious willingness to speak her mind - good for her! However Sabrina's example also shows that young women and young men first need freedom from fundamentalism in the home to make the best of themselves.