Assaults on Muslims in Australia in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks have brought the vexed issue of identity in a multicultural society to the fore. Being Muslim in Australia has not been easy, but before the recent events there was a sense among Australian Muslims that the two objects of loyalty could stand side by side. This was clearly evident among a growing number of Australian-born Muslims who knew no other homeland than Australia. That belief is now placed under enormous strain as racist attacks on Mosques and Islamic schools question the 'Australianness' of Muslims

Akbarzadeh, S.

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Muslims in Australia

Leiden University Scholary Publications

Regional IssuesI S I M  N E W S L E T T E R  9 / 0 2 33Muslim Communities in Australia, edited byAbdullah Saeed and Shahram Akbarzadeh (Sydney:UNSW Press, September 2001).ISBN 086845809Shahram Akbarzadeh is a lecturer in politics atL a Trobe University, Victoria, Australia. He haswritten extensively on Islam and nationalism inCentral Asia and is currently working on Islama n dg l o b a l i z a t i o n .E-mail: S.Akbarzadeh@latrobe.edu.auDo w n Und erS H AH R AM  A K B A R Z A DE HAssaults on Muslims in Australia in the wake of theSeptember 11 terrorist attacks have brought thevexed issue of identity in a multicultural society tothe fore. Being Muslim in Australia has not beeneasy, but before the recent events there was a senseamong Australian Muslims that the two objects ofloyalty could stand side by side. This was clearly evi-dent among a growing number of Australian-bornMuslims who knew no other homeland than Aus-tralia. That belief is now placed under enormousstrain as racist attacks on Mosques and Islamicschools question the 'Australianness' of Muslims.Muslims in AustraliaMuslim settlement in Australia started inearnest in the 1970s after the governmentof the day lifted the White Australia Policy,allowing non-Europeans to migrate to Aus-tralia. Lebanese immigrants comprised thefirst large Muslim community to arrive onAustralian shores, fleeing the Lebanese civilwar. They were followed by an influx of Iran-ian, Iraqi, Somali and Afghan refugees, allfleeing internal and inter-state conflict. In1996 the census recorded a total populationof Muslims in Australia at just over 201,000,or 1.1% of the total population, on par withHindus. But the actual number is likely tohave been higher as the question concern-ing religious affiliation was optional andmany Muslims felt uncomfortable about dis-closing their faith for fear of possible perse-cution by government agencies. The 2001census has not yet been published, but it isestimated that the Muslim population inAustralia exceeds 300,000.Although they still constitute a very smallminority, Australian Muslims have been es-tablishing themselves in this country as per-manent residents. This signifies a qualitativeshift from the sporadic Muslim presence inthe 19t h century. Muslims' first contacts withAustralia, represented by the arrival of Mus-lim fishers, convicts and early settlers, weretoo limited in scope to have any impact onAustralia. Muslim presence only becamepermanent in the second half of the 19t hcentury. This shift had significant implica-tions for self-perception among Muslims.Phases of identity-formationIt may be argued that the Muslim identityin Australia has gone through three phases.In the first phase, individual Muslims foundit extremely difficult to maintain their reli-gious identity. They were often isolatedfrom mainstream Australian society andfrom their country of origin. As many Mus-lim men married non-Muslims, their Islamicidentity was often diluted, or placed in thebackground. The adoption of Christiannames by freed Muslim convicts and earlysettlers was indicative of a process of assim-ilation. Individual Muslims in the 19t h c e n t u-ry found it extremely difficult to exhibit theirreligious identity and at the same time beaccepted in the larger Australian communi-ty – these appeared to be conflicting objec-tives. The first phase was therefore charac-terized by the presence of atomized Mus-lims and the absence of a Muslim communi-t y .The arrival of Afghan camel drivers andthe establishment of a community in 'Ghantown' signalled a shift away from atomizedidentity and the growth of a Muslim com-munity. The Ghan town mosque, construct-ed in 1889, symbolized the growth of a per-manent Muslim community in Australia, al-though it served a very specific ethnicgroup. In the early 20t h century, Muslims inAustralia were still few (3,908 in 1911 and2,704 in 1947), constituting less than half aper cent of the total population. The smallsize, however, had significant social implica-tions: Muslims felt the need to band togeth-er, emphasizing their commonality anddowngrading their differences in order tomaintain their Islamic identity and a senseof community. This constituted the secondp h a s e .The emergence of a veritable u m m a, com-plete with its prayer houses and cemeteries,indicated recognition among Muslims thattheir existence in Australia was not transito-ry. They needed to make Australia homeand establishing Islamic institutions was anecessary step in that direction.The third phase of Muslim identity in Aus-tralia is characterized by the numericalgrowth of various ethnic groups, made pos-sible by the revoking of the White AustraliaPolicy. Like many other settlers, newly-ar-rived migrants and refugees from Muslimsocieties went through an adaptationphase. As pointed out by many researchers,mosques played a vital social role in this pe-riod, providing assistance to newly arrivedsettlers and acting as a conduit to the largersurroundings. Mosques also provided a con-genial environment for socialization and re-habilitation. Iraqi women, for example, tendto treat their mosque as a social club wherethey can hear the latest news about familyand friends, exchange cooking recipes andnews of bargains in the shops. All this de-pends on the ability to communicate in thecolloquial language. The growth of Muslimethnic communities has given rise to thegrowth of ethnically oriented mosques toserve their needs. Many Muslim ethnicgroups are now large enough to sustaintheir own mosques.The third phase, therefore, signifies an-other qualitative shift in identity. Just asethnically mixed congregations contributedto the ideal of u m m a, the growth of ethniccongregations tends to detract from it. Theconcept of a unified u m m a, though not re-jected by Muslims, is now qualified with ref-erence to ethnicity. This process has led tothe increasing relevance of ethnic and sec-tarian Islam to Muslim settlers in Australia.This is in line with the growing popularityand accessibility of the community of lan-guage which serves as the pillar of the na-tional ideal, and the fusion of religious andnational identities. This nationalization ofIslam has resulted in a de facto fragmenta-tion of the ideal Muslim community.Islamic associationsNationalization of Islam and the consoli-dation of national identities among Muslimsin Australia may be a dominant trend but itis not absolute. The alternative ideal ofu m m a is represented by many supra-na-tional Islamic associations. The critical ques-tion is to what extent such associations areable to mobilize and sustain a truly multi-ethnic community in Australia. The MuslimStudents Association (MSA) and the MuslimCommunity Cooperative of Australia (MCCA)present noteworthy cases for research.These, and other similar associations, pur-port to serve the imagined Muslim commu-nity regardless of ethnic/national divisions.However, these institutions are of differentnatures and their members are attracted tothem for different reasons. MSAs tend to bedominated by overseas students, whose ex-perience in Australia is fleeting and for thatreason isolated. MSAs serve an importantsocial function by providing a familiar envi-ronment for these short-term residents. Theuse of English in MSAs helps bridge the lan-guage gap and allows the participation ofsecond-generation Muslims, who often feelmore comfortable with English, especially ata tertiary level of discourse, than with theirparents' mother-tongue. The extent of com-mitment to the imagined u m m a a m o n gthese members, however, remains untest-ed. It is unlikely that MSAs could operate onthe same level as they do now in the ab-sence of the energy and enthusiasm of over-seas Muslim students.The MCCA, on the other hand, is an in-digenous experiment. It relies on the com-mitment and participation of its Australian-based founders and account-holders. Thestated objective of the MCCA is to provideethically acceptable financial services to itsmembers, avoiding conventional bankingpractices which are regarded as usuriousand illegitimate by Islamic scholars. This isan attractive alternative for some Muslims inMelbourne and Sydney, especially thoselow-income borrowers who face gruellinginterviews in mainstream financial institu-tions. For a good number of these borrow-ers, the MCCA is their best chance of secur-ing a loan. Services provided by this institu-tion, therefore, provide tangible benefits toits members, and that is an important factorfor its costumer base. The MCCA, by themere fact of its religious operation, fostersthe ideal of u m m a.It might be a truism to say that the realityof life for Muslims in Australia is contradicto-ry, but it bears repeating as over-generaliz-ing analysis can easily overlook this basicfactor. On an intellectual level, very few peo-ple from Muslim societies would reject theideal of Muslim unity. At the same time,Muslims tend to gather in national frame-works because of the immediacy of thatcommunity and flow-on benefits such asSunday language schools and celebration offestive days on the national calendar. Thisdoes not mean that they deny their Islamicheritage. The Islamic component of theiridentity is never far below the surface. Butthe Islamic component is merely that, acomponent, significant as it may be, of alarger national identity. It does not dwarfpride in national identity, but feeds it and bydoing so detracts from the ideal of Muslimunity. For that reason it is more accurate totalk about many ethnically delineated Mus-lim communities in Australia, rather than asingle Muslim community.There are occasions, however, when thesediscrete communities are pulled together.Developments overseas may provide thestimulus for some form of Islamic cohesion.The second Gulf War (1990-91) in which Iraqwas punished for invading Kuwait by West-ern powers under the aegis of the UnitedNations provided that stimulus. The plightof the Iraqi people inspired sympathyamong Muslims in Australia and led to someefforts to provide them with material assis-tance. In more recent times, street fightingin Jerusalem and the killing of Palestinianyouths gave rise to similar feelings of sym-pathy among Muslims in Australia, who ex-pressed their solidarity with the Palestiniancause in street rallies in Melbourne, Sydneyand Perth. These expressions of unity, how-ever, are limited, temporary and transient.In this context, second and third genera-tion Muslims face incongruent, sometimesconflicting, sets of loyalties. On the onehand they are brought-up by their familiesto feel proud of their ethnic/religious back-ground, on the other hand they seek recog-nition and acceptance from their peers andthe wider Australian mainstream. It is notsurprising that those aspects of their par-ents' identity which are regarded with scep-ticism and bias by the Australian main-stream tend to be under-played in favour ofless 'alien' characteristics. Second and thirdgeneration Muslims in Australia, therefore,tend to express their ethnic/national identi-ty more readily than their Muslim identity.That is in conformity with the secular natureof the Australian society and the officialrecognition of Australia's multiculturalism.This sense of inclusion is important for thewell-being of the Australian society. It fos-ters commitment and social responsibilityamong Muslim residents, facilitating theemergence of an Australian Muslim identity.Just as historical developments have lednewly arrived Turkish, Lebanese and Bosn-ian Muslims to value their national heritageand acknowledge the place of Islam in shap-ing it, policies of multiculturalism and socialinclusion favour the formation of an Aus-tralian identity which acknowledges theethnic and religious diversity of its commu-nity members. This acknowledgement facil-itates the expression of Islam as a compo-nent of Australian identity, giving rise to anascent community of Australian Muslims.Government policies are instrumental in ad-vancing or hindering this very novel identi-ty, where the primary point of reference isAustralia. The emergence of an AustralianIslam would add another layer to the al-ready multi-layered identity of Muslim resi-dents, complementing the ethnic points ofreference among the existing Muslim com-munities in Australia. 

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Muslims in Australia

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