7/30/2019 Islamoohobia Rooted in History and Politics

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I sit cross legged at the back ofthe plain room.

Harsh, slanting light piercesthe shady interior, illuminatingthe brightly coloured prayermats. They point forward, north-west towards the Sacred Mosquein Mecca and the kabah whichMuslims believe Allah chose as aplace of worship.

Periodically the peacefulsilence is punctuated by a whis-pered Allah-u-akbar God isthe greatest coming from oneof the many worshippers rockingforward on his knees.

This, however, confuses me.The last time I heard Allah-u-

akbar, I was watching a news

clip of a suicide bomber.The Allah-u-akbar was zeal-

ously chanted by a man in Iraqwho had just filmed a fellowfighter turning a 4x4 into a crudeyet disturbingly effective fireballas it collided with a US Humvee.

It is hard for many to under-stand how one religion can beresponsible for these two oppo-site ways of life; one of peace, theother of war.

It is this ignorance that breedsfear, fear that breeds hatred, andhatred that leads to violence.

In July, a British anti-warpolitician, George Galloway, gavetwo fiery speeches to overflowingaudiences in Auckland; the topic,Islamophobia a fear of Islamand Muslim people.

He warned that Islamophobia

is fallout from the internationalWar on Terror.The cause of this is the propa-

ganda war, which must be wagedalongside any war.

How can an undiscerning per-son be expected to understandthat Johnny Muslim in

Afghanistan and Iraq is evil, butTommy Muslim down the roadisnt? said a passionateGalloway.

He spoke of the dilemma ofallowing diversity of opinion inNew Zealand but not allowinghate speech to gain a hold.

One can ignore it, perhapslike the Jews in Germany did.

Galloways views find supportfrom the calm and collectedTarek Cherkaoui, a Moroccanborn Muslim who has lived inNew Zealand for five years and iscurrently a Phd student at AUTUniversity.

He argues that modern anti-Muslim propaganda is the merg-ing of two discourses: historicalOrientalism and modern terror-ism.

Orientalism was a discourseused by the Catholic Churcharound the 12th century with theaim of negatively altering think-ing about Muslims in an attemptto slow the rapid spread of Islam.

This discourse has pervaded

parts of the Western world andhas become so much a part of thefabric of society that many fail tonotice its influence.

The latest addition is the moremodern idea of terrorism, whichallows accusers to sidestep theneed for proof of guilt or wrong-doing.

Modern anti-Muslim senti-ment is often supported and cul-tivated by the media who sensa-tionalise events.

Salim Siddiqui is a PakistaniMuslim who has been living andstudying in New Zealand for sixyears and loves the country.

New Zealand has a culture ofunderstanding, so although theydont understand Islam theydont care, theysay hes

Muslim, thatsokay.S i d d i q u i

stresses thatthis suits Islamfine as it is notan exclusivereligion.

F o l l o w e r sare taught to respect all others,especially Christians and Jews.

Siddiqui is involved in his newhome as an executive member ofthe AUT Muslim Students

Association and also anAuckland City youth councillor.

Five times a day he takes timeoff from what hes doing to say

his prayers, as determined by theprophet Muhammed. If hes atuniversity he heads to the

Auckland University prayerroom.

He greets fellow Muslims withthe traditional assalam-o-alaikum peace be upon you

as he takes off hisshoes and washeshis hands, armsand face beforefinding a spot onone of the rows ofprayer mats.

There can be asmany as 150 wor-shippers at anyone time duringthe noon prayers.

To Siddiqui, the beauty ofIslam was represented by a situ-ation he found himself in whenhe met three friends on the wayto the prayer room.

Tunisia, Pakistan, Palestineand Somalia, he said, pointingto himself and his friends.

This global reach is somethingIslam shares with a few of theworlds major religions such asChristianity.

Believers can also be found inparts of South East Asia andeven Eastern Europe, in placeslike Bosnia.

Other Muslims are my broth-ers, whether they are from North

Africa, Afghanistan, Malaysia.

That is why when I see inAfghanistan or Iraq, Muslimsdying I am sad, says Siddiqui.

Suffian Abdul, a MalaysianMuslim who has lived in NewZealand for almost two years,says sometimes it can depend onthe colour of your skin as towhether people identify you asMuslim.

The office assistant for theFederation of Islamic

Associations in New Zealandbelieves the media do sometimescause Islamophobia.

Sometimes media, when itcomes to Muslims, they will like

to say Muslims are terrorists. Itssomething they can sell.

The federations deputy presi-dent, Mustafa Farouk, agrees,saying the media is not giving

justice, just giving sound bytesand misreporting.

There is no reporting ofissues that involve Muslims, notpositive. Muslims are not likesome unique form of human

beings. We have similar feeling,similar likings. The only thingthat is different is that we have aset of beliefs that we adhere to.

This teaches us to live peace-fully with our neighbour, to do toothers what we want others to doto us and teaches us to respectothers.

We are like you.Inshallah God willing

New Zealands culture of accept-ance will continue andIslamopobia will be somethingNew Zealands almost 36,000Muslims will not have to dealwith.

It is out with the old and inwith the new for former UnitedFuture MPs Gordon Copelandand Larry Baldock.

On May 17 Copeland resignedfrom United Future and re-formed an independent FutureNew Zealand (FNZ) party withLarry Baldock, taking formerUnited Future list MP BernieOgilvy with him.

Copeland says the party is apotential coalition partner forNational.

Destiny New Zealand, aChristian values-based party, is

supportive of FNZ. LeaderRichard Lewis says both partieswill be squeezed for votes if theygo head-to-head at the next elec-tion.

Based on our environmentnow, there is only room for oneChristian party. That will pres-ent some challenges for any morethan one Christian party lookingfor votes.

FNZ co-leader Larry Baldockagrees with Lewis, and says: Wewould prefer tosee one Christianparty as well.Most voterswouldnt want tosee two Christianparties competefor votes.

But Baldocksays FNZ could-nt merge with the Destiny party.

We would lose many support-ers. The Destiny party is tooassociated with Destiny Church.But there are good people in theDestiny party that could join us.

Baldock says they could poten-tially create a totally new party.

We are open to a change ofname. We havent registered yet.

A totally new party might beachievable.

Lewis says Destiny and FNZhave the right things in common

to work togeth-er.

We share alot of values andcommon goalswith Future NZ,a good basis towork together.The key will bebringing that

about and putting a good united

front across.Lewis agrees that starting an

altogether new party is the wayto go.

United Future leader Peter

Dunne will not comment onCopeland and Baldock formingthe new party.

Lewis says Dunne isnt happyand wont make any comment tothe media because if somethinglike this would eventuate, hewould be kissing his future good-bye.

Baldock says their leaving wasabrupt.

We had worked hard withUnited Future and it hadtremendous potential. But Peterignored what party memberswanted.

Baldock and Copeland wereleft quietly confident after theSunday Star Times published a

recent poll by UMR research thatfound that 15 per cent of voterssaid they would be likely to votefor a new political party basedon Christian moral values.

Out of the poll of 750 voters, 6per cent said they were almostcertain to vote for such a party.

However UMR ResearchsStephen Mills warns the resultshad to be taken with a pinch ofsalt.

Hypothetical polling of thiskind can easily overstate a polit-ical partys prospects.

The poll also showed thatfloating voters are those mostlikely to be receptive to aChristian morals message.

These results are encouragingfor FNZ who need to reach the 5per cent threshold to make it intoParliament.

The research shows its

achievable as long as the party isnot extreme, has good membersand a wide range of policy, saysMills.

6 Te Waha Nui, 31August 2007

PHOTO:

DYLAN

QUINNELL

Future New Zealand born again

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Muslims are not likesome unique form ofhuman beings, we

have similar feeling,similar likings.

We had worked hardwith United Future and

it had tremendouspotential.

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By Caralise Moore

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