By Victoria Stone-Meadows
In the wake of a billboard featuring two women wearing hijab advertising an Australia Day festival causing a backlash online, a Muslim group is working for an inclusive Australia Day closer home.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Association has held exhibitions in Narre Warren and Hampton Park recently and is continuing to dispel myths surrounding their religion with a national Australia Day Campaign.
From 14 to 26 January, homes in the Casey region will be receiving leaflets in the mail from the group that explain how the local Muslim community embraces the ethos of Australia Day.
The community will also participate in Australian flag hoisting ceremonies, Australia Day Dinners and Australia Day barbecues in mosques in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide on 26 January.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Association’s secretary for Interfaith Harmony Tahir Mahmood said Australia Day was for everyone and all people could celebrate side by side.
“Our hope with this campaign is that everyone can celebrate Australia Day together and everyone will join with us in embracing and understanding one another,” he said.
This is the second year The Ahmadiyya Muslim Association has run an awareness raising campaign about the Islamic faith around Australia Day.
“We are raising awareness that Muslims are loyal to their homeland and our homeland is here,” Ahmadiyya Muslim Soofi Aziz said.
“The leaflets have quotes from the Quran and the prophet saying loyalty to country is a part of our faith.”
Mr Aziz said the idea of the campaign was to reach out to both Muslim and non-Muslim members of the community to dispel the myths surrounding the religion.
“We understand that the climate we are in at the moment there is a lot of misinformation that Islam is a religion that does not promote loyalty for country,” he said.
“We are trying to reach out to the broader community; non-Muslims and Muslims alike.”
