Lakemba Mosque Masjid Ali Bin Abi Talib [1] Imam Ali bin Abi Taleb Mosque [2] | |
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Religion | |
Affiliation | Islam |
Rite | Sunni Islam |
Ecclesiastical or organisational status | Mosque |
Ownership | Lebanese Muslim Association |
Leadership | Shaykh Yahya Safi (Imam) |
Status | Active |
Location | |
Location | Lakemba (Sydney), New South Wales, Australia |
Location in greater metropolitan Sydney | |
Geographic coordinates | 33°54′45″S151°04′27″E / 33.912589°S 151.074074°E |
Architecture | |
Founder | Lebanese Muslim Association |
Completed | 1977 |
Website | |
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Islam in Australia |
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People |
The Lakemba Mosque, also known as the Masjid Ali Bin Abi Talib [1] and officially the Imam Ali bin Abi Taleb Mosque, [2] is Australia's largest mosque. [3] It is located at 71-75 Wangee Road, Lakemba. Owned and managed by the Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA), [4] Lakemba Mosque and the LMA offices are situated contiguously at the same address.
This section needs additional citations for verification .(December 2018) |
A small house on the current site of Lakemba Mosque was purchased and used by the Lebanese Muslim Association from the 1960s as a place of worship. The house was demolished in the early 1970s and construction of the current building commenced. Construction lasted five years, with the mosque being completed in 1977. [5] The opening of the mosque was attended by the former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. Fundraising for the mosque took place both locally and internationally, with about half the funds coming from the Middle East and the largest single donation coming from the Saudi royal family. [6] Lakemba Mosque was the second purpose-built mosque in Sydney and remains arguably Australia's most well-known and important mosque.
While historically Muslims of Lebanese heritage constituted the majority of the congregation, today people of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Somali and South-East Asian backgrounds also attend in significant numbers, along with a small but growing number of converts. The overwhelming majority of the congregation is either of Hanafi or Shafi'i background.
During Ramadan celebrations on September 30, 1977, around 4000 copies of a document calling for a "Holy War" (Jihad) was distributed to worshippers at Lakemba mosque. The document stated that Muslims must wage war against foreign interference and to spread Islam. It also made discriminatory references to Christians, Jews, Hindus and others, referring to them as "infidels" that must be fought. Middle Eastern Christian groups such as the Maronites and Copts believed that the document was created by Muslim Brotherhood members active at the mosque. [7]
Taj El-Din Hilaly, the former Imam of Lakemba Mosque from the 1980s till 2007 (and whose wages were paid by Gaddafi's Libyan Islamic Call Society and private individuals" [8] [9] ) is known to have made numerous controversial statements.
In 1988 when Hilaly delivered a lecture to a group of Muslim students at University of Sydney on the topic "The Disposition of Jews in the light of the Qur'an." He was quoted as saying:
"The Jews' struggle with humanity is as old as history itself; the present continuing struggle with the Islam nation is a natural continuation of the Jews' enmity towards the human race as a whole. Judaism controls the world by...secret movements as the destructive doctrines and groups, such as communism, libertarianism, Free Masons, Baháʼísm, the Rotary clubs, the nationalistic and racist doctrines. The Jews try to control the world through sex, then sexual perversion, then the promotion of espionage, treason, and economic hoarding." [10] [11]
Hilaly has not since apologised nor retracted his comments, in which he accused Jews of "causing all wars." [12]
In February 2004 Hilaly gave a sermon at a mosque in Sidon, Lebanon, whilst overseas the text of which was translated by the Australian Embassy in Beirut. It appeared to show him supporting terrorist attacks. In his sermon, Hilaly said:
Sons of Islam, there is a war of infidels taking place everywhere. The true man is the boy who opposes Israeli tanks with strength and faith. The boy who, despite his mother's objections, goes out to war to become a martyr like his elder brother. The boy who tells his mother: 'Oh mother, don't cry for me if I die. Oh mother, Jihad has been imposed on me and I want to become a martyr'." 11 September is God's work against oppressors. Some of the things that happen in the world cannot be explained; a civilian airplane whose secrets cannot be explained if we ask its pilot who reached his objective without error, who led your steps? Or if we ask the giant that fell, who humiliated you? Or if we ask the President, who made you cry? God is the answer.
— Taj El-Din Hilaly [13]
In his speech, he also predicted that Muslims would control the White House and appeared to support Hezbollah. [13] [14] The Australian Federal Police declined to investigate his activities overseas.
In July 2006 Hilaly was sacked from Prime Minister of Australia John Howard's Muslim Community Reference Group following comments he made in which he denied the Holocaust, calling it a "Zionist lie". He also referred to Israel as a "cancer". This prompted calls for legal action to be pursued against him in a country which has the highest per-capita number of Holocaust survivors in the world outside Israel. [15]
In October 2006, Hilaly delivered a Ramadan sermon in Arabic in which he made statements concerning female clothing which proved highly controversial. The key part of these was:
If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats' or the uncovered meat? The uncovered meat is the problem. If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred."
He also said, "in the state of zina, the responsibility falls 90 per cent of the time on the woman. Why? Because she possesses the weapon of enticement (igraa)." [18] Hilaly later claimed that he had intended to suggest that "if a woman who shows herself off, she is to blame...but a man should be able to control himself." He also contended that his references to the prison sentence of Bilal Skaf, the leader of a group of Lebanese Australians who committed gang rapes in Sydney in 2000, in which he said that women would "sway suggestively" before men "and then you get a judge without mercy (rahma) and gives you 65 years", were aimed at illustrating the need for harsh sanctions for rape. [18]
There was a significant backlash to Hilaly's comments.
In February 2009, a Sydney Morning Herald journalist was ejected from the Lakemba mosque and the newspaper later reported that Anwar al-Awlaki, a key organiser, recruiter and spiritual motivator for the Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda, spoke via phone link. A director of the mosque said that Shady Alsuleiman was in charge of organising evening youth events at the time of the sermon. [19]
In March 2015, adjunct professor Clive Williams at Macquarie University's Centre for Policing, Intelligence & Counter Terrorism wrote that Sunni Muslims did not welcome Shia Muslims at the mosque. [20]
In late 2012 Shaykh Safi told the congregation, during prayers, that they should not take part in anything to do with Christmas. A fatwa warned that, "disbelievers are trying to draw Muslims away from the straight path". The Grand Mufti of Australia, Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, said these views did not represent the majority of Muslims in Australia. [21] Keysar Trad, former director [22] and president [23] of the LMA, said they previously greeted people with Merry Christmas, "I don't know what has changed." [21]
Lakemba Mosque has a number of staff who assist in the running and maintenance of the mosque. Currently the mosque has three official Imams:
Due its influence and significance, the mosque regularly hosts and is a first stop for visiting Islamic scholars from overseas.
The mosque offers a number of religious classes, such as in prophetic biography, fiqh and aqidah. The mosque gives a platform to a number of local Shaykhs to speak and teach, such as Shaykh Wesam Charkawi. [25] [26] Since 2014, the mosque has served as the centre of the National Mosque Open Day event.
Several thousand worshippers normally attend weekly prayers on Fridays. [27] In 2015 around 30,000 worshippers attended Eid prayers at the mosque and in the road outside, making it one of Australia's largest Eid celebrations. [28] In 2016, an estimated 40,000-50,000 attended Eid prayers. [29] [30] [31] [32]
Eid al-Fitr is the earlier of the two official holidays celebrated within Islam. While the Qur'an does not mention the celebration of Eid, the religious holiday of Eid al-Fitr is celebrated by Muslims worldwide because it marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan. Some Muslims, however, do not view it as a sacred holiday. Eid al-Fitr falls on the first day of Shawwal in the Islamic calendar; this does not always fall on the same Gregorian day, as the start of any lunar Hijri month varies based on when the new moon is sighted by local religious authorities. The holiday is known under various other names in different languages and countries around the world. The day is also called Lesser Eid, or simply Eid.
Lakemba is a suburb south west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lakemba is located 12 kilometres south west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Canterbury-Bankstown.
Taj El-Din Hamid Hilaly was an Egyptian Australian imam of Lakemba Mosque in Sydney and a Sunni Muslim leader in Australia. The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils appointed him Mufti of Australia in 1988. He referred to himself as the Grand Mufti of Australia and New Zealand, although this title was not unanimously endorsed, and was also described by some Muslims as honorary, rather than substantial.
Islam in Australia is a minority religious affiliation. According to the 2021 Census in Australia, the combined number of people who self-identified as Muslims in Australia, from all forms of Islam, constituted 813,392 people, or 3.2% of the total Australian population. That total Muslim population makes Islam, in all its denominations and sects, the second largest religious grouping in Australia, after all denominations of Christianity.
Al-Ahbash, also known as the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects is a neo-traditionalist Sufi religious movement and, in Lebanon, political party, which was founded in the mid-1980s. The group follow the teachings of Ethiopian scholar Abdullah al-Harari. Due to the group's origins and activity in Lebanon, the Ahbash have been described as the "activist expression of Lebanese Sufism."
Keysar Trad is the founder of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia and is the former president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.
Abdul Rahman Ibn Abdul Aziz al-Sudais, better known as Al-Sudais, is one of the nine imams of the Grand Mosque, Masjid al-Haram in Makkah, Saudi Arabia; the president of the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques; a renowned Qāriʾ ; he was the Dubai International Holy Qur'an Award's "Islamic Personality Of the Year" in 2005.
Religion in Australia is diverse. In the 2021 national census, 43.9% of Australians identified with Christianity and 38.9% declared "no religion".
Feiz Mohammad is an Australian Muslim preacher.
The Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA) is an Australian non-profit welfare Sunni Muslim organisation based in Lakemba, a south-western suburb of Sydney. It is also variously cited as the Lebanese "Moslem", "Moslems" or "Muslims" Association.
Fehmi Naji El-Imam AM was the Grand Mufti of Australia from June 2007 to September 2011. Born in Lebanon, he arrived in Australia in 1951. He was elected to succeed Taj El-Din Hilaly on 10 June 2007, but by January 2011 Hilaly declared that Naji was no longer active, and that de facto he was functioning as mufti. Naji was succeeded on 18 September 2011 by Ibrahim Abu Mohamed.
The Preston Mosque, officially the Umar bin Al-Khattab Mosque, is a mosque located in Preston, a suburb of Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia.
Shady Alsuleiman is a Muslim imam and the president of the Australian National Imams Council and the United Muslims of Australia. He is from a Palestinian family who migrated to Australia in the late 1960s. He initially obtained an Ijazah (licence) with Sanad in complete and sound memorization of the Quran at Darul Uloom Al-Husainiah in Sindh, Pakistan.
The Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) was formed in 2006 during a meeting of more than 80 Sunni imams which had gathered to discuss the crisis created by comments made by Taj El-Din Hilaly. In 2011, they requested that the Darulfatwa-supported Muslim Community Radio Incorporated not have its licence renewed due to ties with Al-Ahbash and because of its promotion of "sectarian fringe views".
Islamic organisations in Australia include a wide range of groups and associations run and supported by the Islamic community in Australia. Organisations include major community councils, local organisations, mosques and schools. Most Australian Muslims are Sunni, with Shia then Sufi and Ahmadiyya as minorities.
The Muslim Community Reference Group (MCRG) was an advisory body to the Australian federal government, set up by the Howard government, from mid-2005 to mid-2006. The board served to provide the federal government with proposals on strategies and practices to help integrate the Muslim community and to foster greater understanding towards Muslims among the general society, public institutions and governmental bodies.
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The Albanian Mosque, also known as the Albanian Australian Islamic Society Mosque and Carlton Mosque, is a mosque located in Carlton North, a suburb of inner Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The building contains a minaret, and community facilities. Associated with the Albanian Australian community, the mosque is owned by and the centre of the Albanian Australian Islamic Society (AAIS) of Victoria, whose membership numbers some 1000 people. Built in the late 1960s, the mosque is the oldest in Melbourne and listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.