Wednesday, March 21, 2007

A Sydney Muslim We Can Do Business With


I like this guy.

Mr Zreika, 31 year-old President of the Lebanese Muslim Association says in a report entitled "Australian Imams; the Way Forward", that

"Australians have had enough of us."

Mr Zreika says in the submission to the Australian National Imams Council, which will meet for its first official conference in Sydney on Sunday,

"Organisations like the Surf Life Saving Association ... should be joined as a matter of course by the imam and his followers. If an imam finds it impossible to comply with the laws of this country, and justifies its breach, then they should leave Australia altogether, for such ignorance is tarnishing the Prophet's religion and superior morality,"

Mr Zreika went on to blame the bad English-language skills of some imams for poor understanding and "bitterness" towards local Muslims.

"We have become the new communism, particularly in the West, and some people in our community are so repulsed by our actions, it is making life unbearable for us and our offspring. The last thing this society wants is angry men and women following radical but charismatic cults, like figures who promote breaches of the law and violence on the preposterous justification that they are simply acting in self-defence in a time of war. We are not at war, and we need some of our imams to stop being negligent."

Other recommendations include


  • calling on imams to reaffirm their allegiance to Australia and "do all things necessary to prevent any radicalistion or breeding of fanatical opinions".

  • auditing the activities of religious leaders and issuing them with accreditation, without which they could not practise

  • monitoring of clerics to ensure they preach the right messages.

  • banning imams linked to any organisations of suspicion

  • imams to declare as income all gifts from officiating at weddings and funerals, as well as any other financial gift

Who said there are no reasonable Muslims.

Tom is a 31 year-old solicitor and Liberal Councillor for Auburn. He previously banned five of Australia's most powerful imams from talking to the press. He has a tough job ahead. Good luck pal!

Update: it would seem that his comments have not been well received by the local Muslim community with "non-stop death threats" being issued.