Treatment has sheik wary of returning home
A dangerous divide is forcing Australian Muslims to abandon their homes, says Sydney cleric Feiz Mohamed in Lebanon, reports Middle East correspondent Martin Chulov
AUSTRALIA'S most influential firebrand cleric feels like an alien in his own country.
And Sheik Feiz Mohamed is not alone. He believes a rising anti-Islamic tide has made Muslims wary of their countrymen, forcing at least eight families to abandon their homeland for the Middle East.
From the foothills of his ancestral village in north Lebanon, the man with the most sway over the nation's Islamic youth says five years into the war on terror a dangerous divide exists here.
In a rare interview, Feiz, an Australian citizen, says he is apprehensive about returning home after spending more than 12 months in Lebanon caring for his ailing father.
"Imagine me going to the Opera House and taking photos," he says. "I can't walk through the airport without hundreds of eyes on me. They are like foxes trying to eat sheep.
"Before I left I was at a restaurant in Sutherland (in southern Sydney) with my wife, eating spaghetti, and we were like aliens from Mars. I said, 'Let's get out of here'.
"We are just human beings. I am not saying Australia is negative or not good, I am saying it has changed.
"There are about seven or eight families who have left in the last few months and many more who are planning to go."
Feiz left for Lebanon just before two events that profoundly influenced some Australians' views of Islam - the mass counter-terrorism raids that netted 23 people in Sydney and Melbourne in November 2005 and the ugly race riots at Cronulla, in Sydney's south, one month later.
The former horsebreaker-cum-preacher calls two of the accused terrorists close friends and knew all of the Sydney men arrested. However, he strongly denies claims circling among Sydney's Islamic community that he was urged to leave town by ASIO.
Feiz has continuing links to almost every notable member of Australia's Islamic community and continues to direct his Global Islamic Youth Centre from Lebanon. GIYC is the nerve centre of Islamic youth in Sydney, setting the tone for 4000 youths, their families and fraternities in the city's southwest.
He counts as friends Rabiah Hutchison, whose two sons have been deported from Yemen; Saleh Jamal, who faces trial for attempted murder; and Bilal Khazal, accused of compiling a Jihadi handbook naming Australian officials as assassination targets.
He has been a central figure in most moments of discord, rapprochement and high drama in the Australian Islamic landscape since the September 11 attacks in the US, but the past 12 months has troubled him more than any point during the past five years.
He remains staggered and sceptical of the terrorism charges his friends face and worries about the impact the arrests have made on the Australian psyche.
"Until they have been convicted you cannot say they would (have carried out an attack)," he says. "And, besides them, I do not know anyone in Australia who has the most minute evil intent against Australia, or Australians.
"Islam teaches us you can't detriment the body or limb of Muslims, or non-Muslims.
"If it means you are going to harm someone orally, or physically, it is against Islam and killing one innocent soul is like the killing of all humanity."
He says he and the nation's two other fundamental clerics - Sheik Mohammed Omran in Melbourne and Sydney's Sheik Abdul Salem Mohammed Zoud - offered a guarantee to safeguard their homeland from radicalism and the anger of Muslim youth that simmers over "the evil ways of the American regime".
And he says Australian counter-terrorism agencies are trying hard to build bridges.
"In Australia (the Muslim community is) very moderate, very understanding," Feiz says. "And that goes back to the sheiks themselves. There are no sheiks preaching chaos there. No one is telling people to raise arms against the Australian community. I honestly believe you have nothing to fear.
"You live in a very, very safe place. I think the Australian Government has become a bit over-zealous and that results in a fear within the Australian community, especially among non-Muslims. I have said the same to some of our security agencies and said that this could cause things to get much worse."
The relationship is workable and getting better, despite ongoing issues about cultural sensitivities, Feiz says.
"When your job is to gather intelligence and you have one negative statement from someone who does not hold any position of responsibility within the community, it should not be held up as a benchmark for what is really going on."
Admitting to a strong relationship with security officials, Feiz says: "I believe ASIO and the feds and the (NSW) counter-terrorism team question the wrong people. This has created a misconception for the rest of the community and this is not acceptable."
In his absence, Feiz receives regular phone calls in Lebanon from an ASIO officer in Sydney.
He says his time in the Middle East, especially war-torn Lebanon, has changed many of his perspectives, especially about how the West is perceived and the role it plays in the world's most unstable frontier.
"I think a lot of people worldwide are very oppressed by the American regime," he says.
"We (Muslims) are always looking behind our back and over our shoulder.
"They have created an over-zealous branch of extremism out there. They have to wake up to their evil ways. There have been so many hypocritical deeds done.
"Where is the democracy they claim to uphold? They are talking about the war on terror when they themselves have terrorised the world."
Asked to explain why some Muslims around the world espoused a state of almost perpetual warfare against non-believers, he says they have moved from defensive to offensive roles. "And that is unacceptable to Islam. They may believe that the time for combat has come and that those people are actually fighting us. They are unlearned people, ignorant to the ways of the religion."
The Australian Mufti, Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, is not considered a pillar of the radical fraternity, but Feiz offers him qualified support in the wake of his comments late last year in which he described lightly clad women as "meat".
"Taj did not learn from my mistake," he says, referring to his own experience two years ago when he linked a woman's dress sense to her risk of being raped.
"His statement was wrong, but I know what he meant. I don't blame him for what he said, just the way he said it.
"We are trying to prevent women from being harassed and provoked, but we have to be very careful about what we say and the sensitivities of the community.
"Being the Mufti of Australia, he has a big role to play. The sheiks in Australia have done nothing ... but propagate the correct picture of Islam. Maybe from time to time they may have said things they regret, but their intentions have been pure."
He outlines three run-ins with armed police that have raised the hackles of Sydney's Muslim community, the first dating back to the post-September 11 security raids in which weapons were pointed at uncovered women.
More recently, he says Muslim youth have fumed over the treatment of a man caught up in the mass terror raids in November 2005 and the recriminations that followed.
"They held a pistol on his head in Westfield (in central NSW) with his wife beside him and they took him away in front of thousands of people. They let him go that afternoon. That is how extreme things can be.
"Then after that three guys from the GIYC went on a hunting trip near Broken Hill (in far western NSW). They ran out of petrol near a small refinery and asked the guy there if they could have some.
"Within half an hour they were being held to the ground at gunpoint. Raids like this are extremely detrimental to the minds of fair-minded Muslims.
"We understand their jobs and we believe that there is the potential for a problem, but we say to them - be careful how you tackle the issues. At the end of the day, I think that Australia is a very, very safe country.
"There is no panic needed. No one desires any atrocities. I think the over-zealousness of the past couple of years has led to this, but I honestly believe there is nothing there to be afraid of."
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, this interview was printed on January 6, 2007 before the sheik's JIHADIST DVD's came to light and his announcement that JEWS ARE PIGS...
What a liar ! ! ! ! ! ! Ohh but that is OK in islam, taqiyya & kitman as much as you need in order to get the job done...
Pertinent Links:
1) Treatment has sheik wary of returning home
2) Taqiyya & Kitman
Previous Links:
1) Australian Muslim cleric sparks religious row
2) AFP looking into sheik DVDs
3) Jews are pigs, says Muslim cleric
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