altmuslim
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In the long history of the Australian Aborigines, who found their quiet island overrun by colonists who quickly dominated the continent and rendered them second-class citizens in their own land, one can find many parallels to the African-American experience. Both are stories of marginalized communities who continue to fight to reclaim a dignity that was taken from them by force over a hundred years ago. Lately, the two experiences are sharing another trait in common – the growing appeal of Islam among the most downtrodden. “The white Australian government has neglected them,” said Karander Seyit, editor of the Australian Muslim News. “If Christianity is not willing to treat them like human beings, I know Islam would.” Islam’s seeds in Australia (like in America) stretches back to the founding of the modern country – the first Muslim settlers came only a dozen years after the European ones. While many Aboriginal Muslims are finding a spiritual solace in Islam that helps them cope with the poverty and alienation from mainstream Australian society, some are combining Islam with angry politics and are flirting with jihadism. “It’s not a part of our religion to stand there and get stepped on,” said a 20-something Aboriginal Muslim who expressed support for Osama bin Laden on an Australian documentary aired this week. “That’s why Islam is so good for the Aboriginal people.” (Like the majority of Muslims in Australia, however, most do not support bin Laden.) More attention has been focused on Australian Muslims as a whole since the Bali bombings, making life even tougher and creating more anti-Muslim prejudice among the general population. Aboriginal Muslims have it even tougher, as they face hostility from both the Aboriginal communities from where they came as well as from Australian Muslims who have become more recently suspicious of newcomers.
Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.
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