The Sydney gang rapes were a series of gang rape attacks committed by a group of up to 14 youths led by Bilal Skaf against women and teenage girls as young as 14, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia across several days in 2000. The crimes, described as ethnically motivated hate crimes by officials and commentators, were covered extensively by the news media, and prompted the passing of new laws. In 2002, the nine men convicted of the gang rapes were sentenced to a total of more than 240 years in jail. According to court transcripts, Judge Michael Finnane described the rapes as events that "you hear about or read about only in the context of wartime atrocities".
David Matthew Hicks is an Australian who attended al-Qaeda's Al Farouq training camp in Afghanistan. Hicks traveled to Pakistan after converting to Islam to learn more about the faith, eventually leading to his time in the training camp. He alleges that he was unfamiliar with al-Qaeda and had no idea that they targeted civilians. Hicks met with Osama bin Laden in 2001.
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.
Geraldine Brooks is an Australian-American journalist and novelist whose 2005 novel March won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Islam is the second-largest religion in Australia. According to the 2021 Census in Australia, the combined number of people who self-identified as Australian Muslims, 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.
Peter Qasim was the longest-serving detainee in Australian immigration detention, having been detained there for over seven years. He had not been deported because he was stateless. He was detained at Baxter Immigration Reception and Processing Centre before being transferred to an Adelaide psychiatric facility.
Michelle Leslie, who previously worked under the name Michelle Lee, is an Australian interior designer and former model. Leslie gained prominence as a catwalk model in 2000, working for stores including David Jones. That same year, she was a finalist on the television series Search for a Supermodel and the runner-up for Miss World Australia.
Keysar Trad is the founder of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia and is the former president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.
The Lakemba Mosque, also known as the Masjid Ali Bin Abi Talib and officially the Imam Ali bin Abi Taleb Mosque, is Australia's largest mosque. It is located at 71-75 Wangee Road, Lakemba. Owned and managed by the Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA), Lakemba Mosque and the LMA offices are situated contiguously at the same address.
The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC), founded in 1964 as Australian Federation of Islamic Societies (AFIS) and also known as Muslims Australia, is a not-for-profit umbrella organisation to represent Sunni Muslims across Australia.
Waleed Aly is an Australian television presenter, journalist, academic, and lawyer.
Zannuba Ariffah Chafsoh, or more popularly known as Yenny Wahid is an Indonesian Islamic activist, journalist, and politician. She is currently the director of The Wahid Institute, an Islamic research center founded by her father, Abdurrahman Wahid.
Silma Ihram is an Australian promoter of Muslim education in Western Sydney, founder and former school Principal of the 'Noor Al Houda Islamic College' in Sydney, and a campaigner for racial tolerance.
Zachariah Matthews, a Sydney Muslim educator and community advocate, was born in Bosmont Johannesburg and attended Chris Jan Botha Senior Secondary School CJB, South Africa, where he studied Qur'an and Islamic studies as well as secular subjects. Matthews' secular education was in Pharmacy, in which he completed B.Pharm, BSc (Hon) and Pharm.D degrees in South Africa and the United States before migrating to Australia, where he now lives. He has also completed a Master of Islamic Studies in Australia.
On 15 September 2012, a protest against the anti-Islamic film Innocence of Muslims was held in Sydney, New South Wales. While the protest started peacefully, violent confrontations between police and protesters began when protesters reached the United States Consulate General. In resulting clashes, six police officers and 19 protesters were injured. The violence was condemned by Australian political leaders, including Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Police arrested nine protesters in connection with the violence.
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 but there is also a Shia minority. There is also a minority Ahmadiyya community.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international pan-Islamist and fundamentalist political organisation. The organisation is considered a "radical Islamic group" and has come under scrutiny from the Australian government.
OnePath Network is an Australian Islamic-themed original content video production studio and media outlet based in Sydney, Australia. It was established in 2014 as a not-for-profit organization and da‘wah media network. It publishes videos, articles, news, and interviews, and produced the short film Last Chance.
Zara Kay is an ex-Muslim atheist, secular activist and women's rights activist, based in London. She is the founder of Faithless Hijabi, an international non-profit organisation that seeks to support the rights of Muslim-raised women, especially those who are in the process of leaving or have left Islam.
