DAR AL HARB - AUSTRALIA: AUSTRALIA WAS REALLY DISCOVERED BY MOSLEMS SAYS "UNCOVERED MEAT" & "WHITE CONVICTS" IMAM HALILI

Sheik calls Alice Outback `Mecca'
By NIGEL ADLAM

THE Muslim leader who last week sneered at modern Australia for being founded by convicts once claimed Alice Springs was built by Afghan cameleers.

Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilali said the Outback town was designed to look like Mecca.

``I visited and found there a map under the name Mecca,'' he said.

``Alice Springs is surrounded by high black mountains, similar to the mountains of Mecca.''

He said palm and date trees were planted in Central Australia by Muslim Afghans.

Sheik al-Hilali said the Afghans and Aborigines had produced a mixed race of people in Alice.

He said when a muezzin called the faithful to prayer in the town, ``old people came out''.

``They looked different than the black Aborigines,'' he said.

``They were a mixture of Afghan and Aborigine, as a result of marriages of Afghan men and Aboriginal women.''

He said when the muezzin called ``Allahu akbar'' _ which means ``God is great'' in Arabic _ the mixed-race Centralians said: ``We have heard this song from our ancestors.''

``When they asked us, `What is this song you are singing?', we told them this was an announcement of prayer time,'' the mufti said during a tour of the Middle East in 2004.

``When we asked them their names, they answered John or Steve, but their names ended with Saraj al-Din, Abdallah or Muhammad.''

Sheik al-Hilali said Australia was discovered by Muslims long before Captain James Cook in 1770.

He said Islamic culture could be seen among Aboriginal people.

``They have customs such as circumcision, marriage ceremonies, respect for tribal elders and burial of the dead _ all customs that show they were connected to ancient Islamic culture before the Europeans set foot in Australia.

``Australia is an old-new continent. The Europeans issued a false birth certificate for it when Cook reached it. Islam had roots deep in the Australian soil _ people read the Koran and were called to prayer before the bells of the churches rang.

``The best evidence of this is the hundreds of mosques in the centre of Australia built by the Afghans. Some of them were destroyed and others were turned into Australian archeological museums.

``Still others remained unharmed. They bear a history that proves that Islam has roots and ancient connections to Australia.''

Sheik al-Hilali said Central Australia's Muslim community ``dissolved'' because of the lack of schools and connection to the rest of the Islamic world.



Pertinent Links:

1) Sheik calls Alice Outback `Mecca'