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Haset Sali
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Islamic schools at a crossroads
THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 25, 2016 12:00AM
Last year The Australian reported that almost 30,000 students were attending Australia's 39 Islamic schools, an 82 per cent enrolment increase across five years. In contrast, student numbers in all Australian schools grew 6 per cent in the same period, to 3.7 million.
As a small but growing arm of the nation's education system, Islamic schools receive their fair share of taxpayers' support — at last count $300 million a year in recurrent funding and tens of millions more in capital funding.
After five years of investigative reporting by Leo Shanahan for The Australian, Education Minister Simon Birmingham has cut commonwealth funding to the nation's largest Islamic school after a Deloitte audit report revealed financial mismanagement by the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils. Malek Fahd Islamic School at Greenacre in Sydney's southwest, with 2400 students, could close in April. After serious problems were uncovered at schools in Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, the minister had no choice but to put them on notice that their funding also would be cut if they didn't show cause why they should remain open.
As with Christian, Jewish and other non-government schools that are well run and accountable, Muslim leaders and communities need to put their educational house in order or they are likely to lose their schools, which receive 80 per cent to 90 per cent of their funding from the public purse because most students are from disadvantaged and non-English speaking backgrounds. While there is no Muslim equivalent of the Catholic education system, for example, the AFIC has caused the Islamic schools' problems and is not fit for a responsible oversight role.
The fact hundreds of Malek Fahd parents, students and alumni stood up to their leaders last week, forcing the former board to stand down, was a good sign. The community understands what its leaders fail to grasp — that schools must be transparent and professional in handling taxpayers' money. Other Muslim communities also must be proactive if their schools are to survive.
Coast man on peak Islamic body
23rd May 2008 12:00 AM
A Sunshine Coast commercial lawyer elected to head the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils hopes to encourage greater integration of Muslims into the broader community.
Haset Sali, who practises at Alexandra Headland, was elected interim president of Australia's peak Muslim body after a coup ousted the old leadership at the weekend.
Mr Sali, the organisation's honorary adviser for many years, will head an executive that has been given 180 days before fresh elections to ensure genuine members are properly enfranchised.
"If we hadn't stood up we could have lost the assets (estimated at $50 million) indefinitely,'' he said.
Read Caroline Hutchinson's blog about Haset Sali here
http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/coast-man-peak-body/339757/
http://www.thedaily.com.au/blogs/is-it-just-me/2008/may/23/religion-unity/
Slaughter in Iraq sickens peace-loving Muslims
sundstrom | 12th Aug 2014 7:41 AM Updated: 7:53 AM
THE former head of Australia's peak Muslim body has spoken against the "lunacy" raging in Iraq, saying Islam is a peaceful, moderate religion.
Haset Sali, a Sunshine Coast lawyer and the former head of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, condemned the "insanity prevailing in northern Iraq".
Sickening pictures of young children allegedly embroiled in the mass genocide of Christians by ISIS - the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria - have been circulating on social media.
They follow reports of how the Islamic terrorists are preparing children for a long anti-West war.
Mr Sali, the author of the Holy Quran Simply, argued aligning Muslims to ISIS was like aligning "Christians to Hitler".
"What we're witnessing at this very moment is fascism at its worst, in the name of Islam," he said.
"It sickens me to see these people described as Islamic extremist. It is like saying Hitler was a Christian extremist
"It sickening to the decent peace-loving, law-abiding Muslim here.
"They are not (what Muslims are about) and everything they represent we hold in contempt."
He said the "vast majority of Muslims want to have peace, look after their family and make a contribution to the nation".
Muslim Organisation Sunshine Coast member Riaz Janif said there were about "300 to 400" Muslims living on the Sunshine Coast.
He was "unaware" of the crisis in northern Iraq, but said this kind of treatment was "inhumane".
"It is inhumane to kill somebody for doing nothing wrong. Jews getting killed, Christians getting killed is not acceptable," he said.
The organisation is raising funds to build a mosque in Maroochydore, which Mr Janif hopes to see within "two to five years".
"We have a lot of university students (converting to Islam) and also a lot of helicopter pilots from Saudi Arabia looking for a place to worship," he said.
Mr Janif and Mr Sali condemned the continued violence in the Gaza strip.
Mr Sali has also started a petition on Change.Org calling for Australian's intervention in this crisis.
He has petitioned Foreign Affairs Minister, Julie Bishop for Australia to "sponsor a motion to call on the United Nations to send a peacekeeping force into Palestine territories".
http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/its-fascism-not-islam/2348583/
Mosque 'is just like a church'
sundstrom | 20th Sep 2014 6:00 AM
AN ISLAMIC expert has explained when a mosque is not a mosque - and the answer is not what you might think.
Sunshine Coast lawyer and author of the Holy Quran Simply, Haset Sali, said a mosque was a "place of worship".
"The first mosque was very basic, very humble, it was just four walls," Mr Sali said.
"To ask 'when is a mosque not a mosque' is like asking when is a 'church not a church'.
"Once a people adopt a premise as a place of worship, that's their church or their mosque."
The issue has been raised as the Muslim Organisation of the Sunshine Coast (MoSC) faces huge protest over its purchase of a property in Church St, Maroochydore.
One of the leaders explained in a radio interview yesterday the group had "no plans to build any mosque, or not at this stage" on the site.
However the MoSC website uses quotes from the Koran to support the building of a mosque.
"Whoever builds for Allah a mosque, seeking by it Allah's grace, Allah will build for him a house in paradise," it reads.
"This is where you Brother and Sister reading this come in. More than $11,000 has been pledged by MoSC members to build a mosque on the Sunshine Coast.
"We will establish a mosque in a central area accessible to all local Muslims but if we do not act now, these areas will be fully developed."
President Ohran Dilbaz also explained to the Daily why the local community wanted a mosque
"The mosque is needed on the Coast. It is like a church, people go there to worship," he said.
http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/mosque-is-just-like-a-church/2393824/
MP calls for crackdown on burqa
Kathy Sundstrom | 9th Nov 2011 5:40 PM
to be able to remove burquas - Getty Images
POLICE lack power to demand someone to remove a burqa or a veil that is covering their face when they're trying to identify them under Queensland's laws.
But Member for Nicklin, Peter Wellington, is determined to see this changed.
Mr Wellington has introduced a Private Member's Bill in parliament calling for a change in the legislation which will allow police, Justice of the Peace, Commissioners of Oaths and court security staff to instruct someone to remove their head gear, even if it is worn for religious purposes.
Mr Wellington said he was "appalled" with New South Wales case where a judge overturned the jail sentence of a woman because he believed her identity couldn't be verified as she was wearing a burqa.
The former policeman and solicitor decided to investigate Queensland's laws after the New South Wales laws were amended and discovered we could find ourselves facing a similar situation.
"It became very clear to me when our Queensland officers talk about identifying someone, they talk about producing a driver's licence or an address," he said.
"If a person has a veil covering their face, the situation may arise that a police officer may not be able to prove the identity of the person.
JPs and Commissioners of Oaths should also be able to identify a person, security officers which guard our courts should also have the power to require someone from removing anything that covers their face."
He explained his decision to introduce the Bill to parliament two session ago had "nothing to do with religion and religious beliefs, it was purely based on respect".
"This particular case had, in my opinion, made mockery of our legal system," he said.
"If my face is covered you cannot prove who I am, therefore you cannot convict me.
"I believe if a person is wearing a motorbike helmet he or she should remove it when asked to do so by a police officer. The same with a hood that covers the face, or for that matter, anything that covers the face."
He didn't believe however, that it was necessary for the Bill to extend to a turban and the wording was limited to facial cover.
"The turban does not inhibit the ability to identify the wearer, so in my Bill the face was clearly described as the area between the forehead and the chin and from ear to ear," he said.
"I am not calling for a ban on the burqa, just respect for our laws."
His Bill has been welcomed by Sunshine Coast lawyer and Muslim leader Haset Sali.
Mr Sali, a former president for the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, said the wearing of the burqa had nothing to with Islam.
"Get rid of them (burqas and veils), they're primitive and have nothing to do with Islam," he said.
"If you read the Koran it very clear both women and men shall dress modestly and women shall cover their breasts," Mr Sali said.
"Three cheers for Peter Wellington for introducing the new Bill."
Mr Sali said the burqa was introduced from "countries where Bedouins carry a fair amount of influence".
http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/mp-calls-crackdown-burqua/1166843/
