Author: Richard Kerbaj
Publication: The Australian
Date: December 28, 2005
URL: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17672916%255E2702,00.html
Self-Appointed Muslim religious figures would
be named and shamed and young followers warned away from them as part of a
push to weed out extremist Islamic teachings in Australia.
Moderate leader Yasser Soliman yesterday backed
the need to regulate and censor Muslim clerics, saying there was growing concern
that Muslims "having read a few books in their back yard" were too
often claiming "they're somehow sheiks, or imams, or clerics".
Under a plan being devised by moderate Muslim
leaders -- and revealed in The Australian yesterday -- a new national board
of imams would register clerics and set guidelines for religious figures,
including setting qualification levels.
Under the plan, which has angered clerics
such as Melbourne's hardline Sheik Mohammad Omran, sermons could also be monitored
by the board.
The head of John Howard's Muslim Advisory
Council, Ameer Ali, told The Australian that followers of the radical imams
would be "told these whom they are following are not telling the right
interpretation of Islam, and that's not what Islam is all about".
Dr Ali warned that clerics who failed to comply
with the guidelines, which will be thrashed out at a national meeting of Muslim
leaders next month, would be publicly identified.
"If the majority of the imams and the
leaders are moderates and have to turn to set guidelines, then those who want
to stay in the periphery will be identified," said Dr Ali, president
of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.
Mr Soliman, another member of the Prime Minister's
Muslim Advisory Council, said the new proposal, which will include a registration
system for imams, will "distinguish between the mainstream leaders and
those who are self-appointed".
"Some people are coming out, having read
a few books in their back yard, and claiming that they're somehow sheiks,
or imams, or clerics, or individual leaders, or spokespeople on behalf of
the Muslim community," he said.
"And they need to be identified as not
meeting the criteria."
It is understood there is growing concern
among influential Muslims about the number of unregulated "spiritual
leaders" emerging to teach Islam to young followers in Melbourne and
Sydney.
One such man is alleged terrorist spiritual
leader Abdul Nacer Benbrika, who was arrested last month with 17 other men
charged with planning acts of terrorism.
Mr Soliman said the proposed code would also
consider having non-English-speaking clerics undergo courses in English and
Australian politics so they could deliver more effective sermons to their
followers.
"One of the things we discussed, and
is still being discussed, is that newly arrived clerics undergo a certified
English training course of some sort, to make sure they at least have a minimum
level of English," Mr Soliman said.
"And they'll be encouraged obviously,
if they're going to play an effective part in their local community, to continue
their education, not just in English, but other communication skills, and
maybe conflict-resolution skills and understanding the politics and the systems
of the country and so on."
