Formation | November 14, 2006 |
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Registration no. | (ABN) 66 122 669 318 [1] |
Purpose | To unite the Imams of Australia under one umbrella body |
Headquarters | Lakemba, New South Wales |
Coordinates | 33°55′21″S151°04′43″E / 33.922514°S 151.078617°E |
Area served | Australia |
Products | ANIC Halal Authority [2] |
Membership | 200 Imams |
President | Shady Alsuleiman |
Affiliations | Sunni based |
Website | www |
Part of a series on Sunni Islam |
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Islamportal |
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. [3] [4] 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". [5]
The Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) is a Muslim body that represents imams and Muslims in Australia, with over 200 member imams from all states and territories and major Australian cities.
The ANIC is one of two Australian Muslim organisations that appoint a Grand Mufti of Australia. The current Grand Mufti appointed by ANIC is Dr. Ibrahim Abu Mohamed. [6] [7] [8] The current Grand Mufti of Australia appointed by AFIC is Abdul Quddoos Al-Azhari. There has been controversy about the appointment of two Muftis in Australia, and despite the mostly symbolic and ceremonial nature of the position, ANIC has fought hard to prevent anyone from claiming to represent Australian Muslims as a Mufti. [9] [10] [11] [12]
In 2014, the ANIC expressed concerns regarding a bill in the Australian parliament that would broaden the offence of advocating terrorism. [13] ANIC argued that the legislation would have chilling effects on free speech. [13] It also said that any religious community referring to violent passages in the Qur'an or Bible could face sanction under this law. [14] Other Australian Muslim groups, including the Islamic Council of Victoria and Muslim Legal Network, also expressed concerns regarding the legislation. [13]
In February 2015 the Grand Mufti said the Australian Government should not ban Hizb ut-Tahrir, saying the group is "actually pro-freedom of speech". [15] The Prime Minister responded by saying the comments were "unhelpful". [16]
In 2016, Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman was elected president of ANIC.[ citation needed ] and then re-elected for a second term in 2019.
ANIC executive committee consists of 20 imams elected from different states.
The Al-Azhar University is a public university in Cairo, Egypt. Associated with Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in Islamic Cairo, it is Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and is known as one of the most prestigious universities for Islamic learning. In addition to higher education, Al-Azhar oversees a national network of schools with approximately two million students. As of 1996, over 4,000 teaching institutes in Egypt were affiliated with the university.
The Grand Mufti is the head of regional muftis, Islamic jurisconsults, of a state. The office originated in the early modern era in the Ottoman Empire and has been later adopted in a number of modern countries.
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.
The Barelvi movement, also known as Ahl al-Sunnah wa'l-Jamaah is a Sunni revivalist movement that generally adheres to the Hanafi and Shafi'i schools of jurisprudence, and Maturidi and Ash'ari schools of theology with hundreds of millions of followers, and it encompasses a variety of Sufi orders, including the Chistis, Qadiris, Suhrawardis and Naqshbandis as well as many other orders of Sufism. They consider themselves to be the continuation of Sunni Islamic orthodoxy before the rise of Salafism and Deobandi movement.
Islam is the second largest religion in Australia. 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.
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.
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.
Murat Iusuf is a Romanian Muslim cleric of Tatar origins, currently the Mufti of the Muslim Community in Romania.
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.
Al-Sadiq Abd al-Rahman Ali al-Ghariani has been the Grand Mufti of Libya since 2012. He is a Muslim imam of the Maliki school of thought. Academically he is a seated professor in the College of Sharia in the University of Tripoli since 1969 and distinguished contributor the Maliki school of thought with his numerous publications.
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.
Ibrahim Abu Mohamed is an Egyptian-born and educated Sunni Islamic scholar and Grand Mufti of Australia from September 2011 to March 2018. He became Grand Mufti again after Afifi's death.
The Grand Mufti of Australia is a Sunni Muslim cleric, or Grand Mufti, chosen to represent and answer questions from the growing Muslim population. Nominated by the Australian National Imams Council (ANIC), the current Grand Mufti of Australia since 2018 is Ibrahim Abu Mohammed. Mohammed previously held the position from 2011–2018, and became Grand Mufti again after his successor, Abdel Aziem Al-Afifi died in office after a four-month tenure.
Allama Syed Badiuddin Soharwardy is a scholar, a shaykh of the Suhrawardi Sufi order, chairman of the Al-Madinah Calgary Islamic Assembly, and is the founder and current president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada. In January 1998, he founded the group Muslims Against Terrorism.
Mohammad Tawhidi, also known as the Imam of Peace, is an Australian Shia Muslim influencer and "Imam".