Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia conference hears ‘this country at war’ with radical Islam
A HARDLINE Islamic group has warned Muslims that the government was trying to “brainwash” their children and that they should resist any attempts to water down their strict view of Islam.
“The government is playing a dirty, dirty game,” Wassim Doureihi told the 600-strong audience at the Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia conference in Lidcombe yesterday.
Hizb ut-Tahrir wants global sharia law. Yesterday in Sydney it launched a 124-page report on what it sees as Australian government attempts to divide the Muslim community into extremists and moderates.
“The fundamental objective of these policies is to change Islam, to secularise Islam, to produce a so-called ‘moderate Islam’: a state-sanctioned version of Islam that is secular, politically impotent and localised,” it said. Mr Doureihi warned the audience that it was “a war on Islam – a war that is being waged in this country as it is in the rest of the world”. Fellow speaker Soadad Doureihi warned: “This is truly a battle.” He said the Australian government had “arrogantly” assumed that because Muslim youth “went to their schools and watch their TV shows” they would adopt “their values”.
Because that did not happen, he said, authorities had instead moved to target young Muslims with sponsored leadership programs. “This is not a leadership course, it is a brainwashing course,” he said. Outside, about 20 Australian Defence League members waved banners and chanted: “Australians are welcome, terrorists are not” watched by police .
League president Ralph Cerminara said: “This (Hizb ut-Tahrir) is a terrorist organisation and it needs to be banned from Australia.” Inside people told how they had been approached by representatives of ASIO and the Australian Federal Police to inform on other members of their Muslim community. “Know your rights,” Wassim Doureihi said. “When ASIO calls the simple message is that you open the door and slam it on their face.”
The organisers said the government was attempting to manipulate their community by providing funding via counter-terrorism and counter-extremism groups. “Not only do you reject it, you spit on it because it is money that will be the source of your demise,” Mr Doureihi said. “It’s not engagement, it’s entrapment.” Soadad Doureihi condemned the National Imam’s Council and the Lakemba Muslim Association for taking government money that was “absolutely conditional” on producing a more watered down version of Islam. Sheik Rian Wiramihardja said: “They are rewriting Islam to make it more palatable to Western tastes and we have to be aware of this.” The speakers called on those present to resist any attempts to moderate Islam.
Source: dailytelegraph.com