Young Muslims Travelling Across Rural Aust to Challenge Misconceptions About Islam
Agroup of young Australian Muslims are embarking on a rural expedition across the country to challenge misconceptions about their faith. More than 60 young men from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association (AYMA) will travel from six cities this weekend on a seven-day ‘Discover Islam road trip’, culminating in a gathering at Uluru. The group, made up of several high school and university students, will stop at more than 50 towns along the way in an effort to promote social cohesion.
“We really, really hope to have honest conversation and open dialogue,” 27-year-old participant Ata Ul Hadi told SBS News.
Mr Hadi, who is an outreach coordinator working with young Muslims, and a medical student at Griffith University, said for him the trip is an opportunity to interact with people from all walks of life and break down social barriers. “We believe we can improve social harmony within our society and bring Australians closer together because when we know better about each other, we are more tempted to be better human beings and be better Australians,” he said.
Mr Hadi believes the best way to counteract negative misconceptions is through dialogue, which he
hopes will occur on the trip.
Tackling misconceptions
Research published in the Journal
of Muslim Minority Affairs suggests about 70 per cent of Australians know “little to nothing” about Muslims or what they stand for. The road trip aims to educate people in regional areas about the peaceful nature of Islam, and to remove misconceptions about the faith.
Waqas Ahmad, national president of the AYMA told SBS News many misconceptions Muslims encounter in their everyday life surround the misconception that Islam is a violent religion.
“Islam is seen to be a violent religion and the Qu’ran teachings are seen to be teachings which promote violence, which is totally incorrect,” he said.
“If we take out just a few handpicked teachings from the hadith book, let alone the Qu’ran, it doesn’t really paint the whole teaching. Islam is not a violent religion. Islam literally means ‘peace’. And the words that Muslims use with each other means ‘peace be upon you’.”
Discrimination in Australia
The Ahmadiyya Muslim sect, considered unorthodox by many mainstream Muslims, makes up only a small percentage of Australia’s overall Muslim community.
It is estimated there are only a few thousand Ahmadiyyas practising in Australia. The impact of misconceptions about Islam affect the lives of everyday Australian Muslims, one of the road trip participants said. Waqar Ahmad Nasir, who works within the AYMA as the head of moral, ethical and spiritual training recounts various times people have discriminated against him either at a social gathering, in the workplace and in public.
Most recently, he said he was approached by someone on a bus who told him Muslims were creating problems in Australia. “Somebody openly said to me ... ‘What are you doing here? You should leave this country. You should leave here, because of you a lot of problems are being created’”
“I politely said to him ... ‘Look, you know, that is your view, you are right. There are people [causing problems] but they are a very, very small amount’.”
Mr Hadi said the AYMA is prepared for some negative reaction to the excursion and social media can be a place where many young Muslims experience discrimination and offensive comments. He believes social media comments are a short-term problem though, whereas engaging in dialogue and conversation provides a long-term change in values.