The second-largest religion in the world after Christianity, Islam is also the fastest-growing religion. In the United States, for example, nearly 80 percent of the more than 1,200 mosques have been built in the past 12 years.

Some scholars see an emerging Muslim renaissance as Islam takes root in many traditionally Christian communities.

Islam has drawn converts from all walks of life, most notably African-Americans. Former NAACP President Benjamin Chavis, who joined the Nation of Islam recently, personifies the trend.

“In societies where you have minorities that are discriminated against, I think they may find an appeal in Islam,” said Waleed Kazziha of American University in Cairo.

Many moderate Islamic countries such as Turkey and Egypt are becoming more conservative.

Two decades ago, few middle-class Egyptian women wore scarves or veils on their heads. Now they crowd into special emporiums that advertise Islamic clothing.

The shift toward Islamic fundamentalism worries many in the secular world, a fear underscored when splinter groups target Westerners with violent attacks.

Islam vs. the West

But most scholars argue that the extremists are a very small minority and that most Muslims adhere to principles in the Koran that teach peace and tolerance.

“The Islamic world is like any other society we have known in history,” said Kazziha. “You might say it has the good, the bad and the ugly.”

Founded in 622 A.D., Islam is among the newer major religions. But to the non-Muslim world, it sometimes appears inflexible. Clashes between Islamic tradition and Western influence are sweeping the globe.

In Islam, contrary to Western beliefs, the rights of the community are considered more important than the rights of the individual. Women are seen primarily as caretakers of the home, and religion strongly influences schools, government and courts.

Many Muslims today are trying to find a balance between being members of a global society and maintaining ties to a religion that calls for strict adherence to the Koran.

A case in point is 35-year-old Hisham Hussein, a wealthy playboy who turned to religion and swore off alcohol after an automobile accident.

He is going to Mecca this spring. “The most important thing is to maintain the purity of the Hajj, to lead a pure life,” he said.

If Albanians were allowed to settle here, as well as Lebanese and Turkish Cypriots, what does that tell you? Just that they were accepted to settle, no more, no less. Does that entitle them to anything that other Australians are not entitled to? I don’t think so.

No. Muslims have no ‘rich heritage’ here which has been forgotten. But they certainly have a history of jihad which goes back a hundred years, even in Australia.

‘Muslims were visiting Australia long before white settlement. By the 1700s Macassans from Indonesia were sailing our northern shores, fishing for trepang and trading for pearls with the local Aboriginal people,’ says Ross Gibbs, Director-General of the National Archives.

However, the first Muslims to settle in Australia arrived as camel drivers in the mid-1800s. Generally known as ‘Afghans’, they came from India as well as Afghanistan.

Using hundreds of records from its collection, the National Archives has compiled a broad-ranging collective biography which provides a glimpse into the times, the challenges early Muslims faced and the enormous contribution they made to the nation.

The 100-page feature Uncommon Lives: Muslim Journeys website, which was produced with support from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, was launched by Senator Gary Humphries today.

‘The site features a range of stories that reveal the human face of Muslims in Australia,’ said Mr Gibbs.

Award-winning author Hanifa Deen whose Muslim grandfathers both came to Australia as hawkers from India in the 1890s, was a guest speaker at the launch and at a public lecture in the evening. In conjunction with National Archives staff, Ms Deen played a key role in researching and writing Muslim Journeys. Using letters, photographs, government applications, court transcripts and other records held by the National Archives, she uncovered a ‘goldmine’ of material and ‘a cast of Muslim characters’.

They include Afghan Mahomet Allum who arrived in Australia as a young man in the 1880s. He weathered the challenges of working on the land and eventually went on to gain great admiration as a herbalist and philanthropist.

Mahomet Allum started out as a cameleer on the Western Australian goldfields, tried his hand at mining and eventually settled in Adelaide as a herbalist. While he initially attracted the condemnation of the medical profession, by 1935 he claimed 30,000 satisfied patients and had become a rich man. He chose to share his wealth, treating the poor for free and supporting worthy causes.

When Mahomet Allum died in 1964, a mile-long procession followed his funeral entourage from the mosque to the Centennial Park cemetery in Adelaide.

Other online stories include Sumatran-born pearl diver Samsudin bin Katib who was recruited as a commando in Australia’s ‘Z’ special unit during World War II and served behind enemy lines. Kosova-born Albanian Assim Ethemi provides another aspect of Muslims in Australia. He arrived as a displaced person in 1949 after spending five years in refugee camps.

Attending the launch as a ‘living archive’ was Ibrahim Dellal, a Turkish Cypriot who arrived in Australia in 1950 at the age of 18 and who became known and loved as a community leader and philanthropist. His cheerful enthusiasm helped establish mosques, Turkish schools, newspapers and community organisations.

‘As a nation we owe a great deal to our Muslim settlers,’ said Ross Gibbs. ‘It was their skills that enabled inland exploration of Australia, the establishment of the Western Australian goldfields and the expansion of the country’s manufacturing industry.’

‘In 1860 two Muslim camel drivers arrived in Melbourne to join the Burke and Wills expedition. Between the late 1880s and the 1920s the number of cameleers in Australia was estimated at somewhere between 2000 and 6000.’

In the late nineteenth century, Malay Muslims were brought to Australia as divers and crewmen for the pearlshell industry in Broome, Darwin and Thursday Island.

By the 1920s and 1930s Muslims from Albania had settled in Australia, taking on back-breaking jobs such as land clearing and cane cutting in rural areas. In the late 1940s Turkish-Cypriot Muslims first settled in Australia. They were able to support later immigrants from Turkey who arrived in 1968 to meet Australia’s growing need for more workers in its manufacturing industries.

As a result of the civil war in Lebanon in 1975, many Lebanese Muslims arrived in Australia. In Melbourne, through the efforts of Sheikh Fehmi, who also features on the website, the Lebanese were well represented in the early Islamic Society of Victoria and in the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils. Sheikh Fehmi is the current Mufti of Australia and Australia’s longest-serving imam.

‘The rich heritage of Muslim immigrants to Australia is sometimes forgotten,’ said Mr Gibbs. ‘I am proud that the National Archives of Australia, working with the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, has captured some fascinating aspects of the Muslim community’s contribution to our nation over more than 100 years.’

Muslim Journeys can be seen at uncommonlives.naa.gov.au.

Besides, in case it escaped you: Islam is not to be ‘interpreted’, not by you or anybody, Islam is written in stone. But perhaps you can explain one thing to me: why do you think Islam needs to be ‘defended?’ Is Islam so weak that it falls apart if you don’t commit violence in its defense?

A small person like you with the hate of islam, how could you stop a relgion that has been around for centuries? You would need a nation of millions to stop it.

* No ‘Sean’, any small person can speak up and stop this hateful cult. Muhammedans like you don’t scare me, you are a pitiful creature.

The best thing for you and your hater friends need to do is either except it or move to Mars.

* Now you would like to evict me from my own country? So soon? No, I don’t think so. No need to move anywhere. We’ll stay right here and keep things as they are. We don’t accept crime, we don’t accept terrorism, we don’t accept cannibalism and we don’t need to accept Islamic liars like you.

Another thing, Muslims have been in Australia before Captain Cook landed. They found a mosque and old Qurans in South Australia dating back 300 years ago.

* There were no Muhammedans and no mosques in Australia and no such traces exist.

Now, if Muslims were here before the Criminals that we prisoned here,

Who is ‘we?’

Shouldn’t it be a muslim country. But that won’t work with you, The English killed off almost all that was here before them including the Native Blackman.

The English built this country. White Europeans built this country. Jewish, Christian, Asian Hindus and Buddhists and atheists built this country.
Muhammedans came to destroy it. We won’t let that happen.

Now this thread is closed.

the terrorism trial against Nacer Benbrika and his ilk costs more then grazy John ever paid in taxes to this country. The billions of dollars that Australia has to spend to protect herself from Islamic terror shows clearly that we would be better off not having any Muhammendans at all.

You may be right that there are Muslims everywhere in Australia, but they don’t mix and they create a lot of problems. Muhammedans are not here to become Australians, they are here to make Australia Islamic.

There is no economic benefit having migration from Islamic countries to Australia.

Prove me wrong!