DAR AL HARB - AUSTRALIA: THE 'MUFTI OF AUSTRALIA' & THE AGONY AUSTRALIAN MOSLEMS SUFFER BECAUSE OF HIM

Muslims still agonise over future of sheik
Irfan Yusuf

Has Mufti Day finally come to an end? It's hard to tell at this stage. Notwithstanding the latest news reports, Muslim religious bodies are still agonising over the future of the controversial Taj el-Din al Hilaly.

The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils created the position of "Mufti of Australia" to provide Paul Keating, at the time the acting prime minister, with an excuse to grant Hilaly permanent residency. Hilaly was given no duty statement, no resources and no secretariat. His only assistant was the former Lebanese Muslims Association president Keysar Trad.

Trad, who incorporated his own Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, after being voted off the Lebanese Muslims Association executive, still defends Hilaly. The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president, Ikebal Patel, passed the issue to the new Australian National Imams Council, which has deferred a decision for three months.

The office of mufti in Muslim countries, traditionally, was to interpret the sacred law (sharia) to deal with novel situations. The mufti issues a fatwa, a non-binding yet influential legal opinion.
Yet in the Australian context, sharia limits its jurisdiction to purely religious and ceremonial matters. One novel question that has dogged Australian-Muslim communities is how to sight the new moon to determine the start and end of the fasting month of Ramadan. Do we use astronomical calculations? Or the naked eye? Or a combination of both?

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