Muslim Heretics Conference

Jill Rowbotham and Richard Kerbaj | April 30, 2008

GRIFFITH University’s Muslim scholar Mohamad Abdalla has vowed not to “chase” any more Saudi government funds and admitted that accepting money from Riyadh was not a good look for his Queensland institution.

Dr Abdalla, who helped Griffith University obtain a $100,000 Saudi embassy grant for his Islamic Research Unit, yesterday also praised a controversial Islamic group, which has a Brisbane arm, but said he was not its leader.

Queensland’s Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson last night intervened to support the Islamic scholar, who, The Australian revealed last week, had in 2006 sought $1.37 million from the Saudi embassy and offered to keep elements of the deal secret.

Mr Atkinson praised Dr Abdalla for engaging with the authorities and promoting harmony between Brisbane’s Muslims and the rest of the community.

He dismissed Dr Abdalla’s links to Tablighi Jamaat, whose overseas members have been linked to al-Qa’ida and the 2005 London bombings, saying the Griffith academic was a role model for young Muslim men.

“His stance, from what I have seen of him, is in terms of being a moderate person, a sensible person, a person who encourages the Islamic community to engage with the broader Australian community,” Mr Atkinson said.

“(He) works extremely well with youth and has a very positive influence on youth.”

Mr Atkinson said Dr Abdalla had encouraged young Muslims to join Queensland’s police force.

Dr Abdalla admitted that if the Saudi embassy were to approve the remaining $1.27 million in funding sought by Griffith, he would advise the university against accepting it.

“I would say: no, don’t take the money,” he said.

Dr Abdalla, the director of Griffith’s Islamic Research Unit, played down accusations that the Saudi grant would influence the university’s agenda.

“(The argument) that Saudi money would affect us is farcical,” he said.

“I will not chase them - Saudi or non-Saudi.

“We would like to be seen as doing work that is not going to be influenced.”

Asked if he accepted that receiving Saudi funding was a bad look for the university, Dr Abdalla said: “Yes, it is”.

He said he would not return the $100,000 grant and would not rule out accepting unsolicited Saudi funds in the future.

The Australian yesterday revealed that Muslim leader Fadi Rahman, who is close to Dr Abdalla, said the academic was the leader of the Tablighi in Brisbane.

Experts say the group’s non-violent teachings about the importance of the afterlife had left some of its young followers susceptible to recruitment as suicide bombers.

Dr Abdalla denied he was the leader of the Tablighi in Brisbane. However, he was sympathetic to its ideals and the group was represented at the Kuraby Mosque - in Brisbane’s southeast - where he is one of the leaders.

Queensland District Court judge Clive Wall last week accused Griffith University of becoming an “agent” through which the Saudi embassy was propagating hardline Islam.

He also compared Griffith to Pakistan’s madrassas, which are notorious for breeding radicals.

When Vice-Chancellor Ian O’Connor defended the university’s pursuit of Saudi funding in an opinion article published in The Australian last week, he came under fire for using Wikipedia as a source of his material and for his confused interpretation of Islam.

Islam scholar ends Saudi cash chase | The Australian

ATLANTA (Map, News) - About 75 activists, educators, students and others gathered this weekend to discuss what they see as a “crisis over the intolerance of difference” in the Muslim faith.

During the three-day Celebration of Heresy Conference, panelists debated such issues as sharia, critical thinking and democracy and Islam - issues organizers of the conference say are central to Islamic reform, but which Muslims are not free to discuss within many contemporary Islamic societies.

Abdullahi An-Na’im, a professor at Emory University’s School of Law and co-organizer of the conference, which he said was a grassroots, spontaneous initiative grown from a concern that the Islamic tradition of open debate has narrowed.

“Heresy is creative,” An-Na’im said. “It reaffirms the need to create space for disagreement. If our religious values are strong, heresy will not hurt us. If they are weak, heresy will remind us what we need to be doing.”

The topic of democracy and Islam was debated for more than an hour on Saturday. An-Na’im pointed to factors like poverty, a lack of education and underdevelopment as reasons why democracy has not taken root in more Muslim-based societies around the world.

“Islam is not the problem,” he said. “If Islam is consistent with Democracy, why are most Muslim societies not Democratic? The religion is not opposed to it.”

Fereydoun Taslimi, a Muslim activist in Atlanta, said that not many Middle Eastern countries can claim that they are operating under a representative form of government, with theocracy or less inclusive elections being the order of the day. Ensuring certain rights - like equality between the sexes and freedom of speech - can be attained through democracy.

An-Na’im said that Muslims must figure out how to legitimize and reinforce Democratic values from an Islamic perspective.

Taslimi said the goal of the conference is to connect more like-minded Muslims so that discussions like those happening this weekend can happen more often. He said that emotional reactions by Muslims to minor issues have been a distraction and that more criticism and self-reflection is needed in the faith.

“It is a cry … that there is something wrong and we need to do something,” Taslimi said. “We want to create a network of people who are willing to discuss different issues to the end that they can address subjects that may have been taboo.”

The Heresy Conference continues through Sunday.

Muslims organize conference to encourage openness, dialogue - Examiner.com