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0:00Well, please take your seats everybody.
0:022 secondsWe are going to get started and I'm Leslie Singh. I've been a member of the Royal Historical Society for
0:1111 secondsquite a while and at one stage I was serving on council which was a really great privilege and I had a book launch
0:1919 secondshere last October. So I'm haven't seen a lot of the commissarat building this year due to outside engagements but uh
0:2828 secondsit is lovely to be back here and I'm sure all of you feel the same because I I can see a lot of familiar faces in the
0:3535 secondsaudience. So, I'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we are telling our stories today
0:4343 secondswith the awareness that many stories have been told here over the millennia.
0:4747 secondsAnd we're part of um an amazing uh series of storytelling. And today's a little bit different. We're going to
0:5555 secondshave a speaker telling us about Islam and Islam uh communities in Southeast Queensland. So, that's a real treat. Our
1:041 minute, 4 secondsspeaker is Zarin Afza and she's from Bangladesh. I'll tell you
1:111 minute, 11 secondsa little bit about her in a moment. But um before I get into her bio, I'd like
1:181 minute, 18 secondsto just ask uh if anyone here can remember their first experience, if they've had one, of um hearing an
1:261 minute, 26 secondsIslamic call to worship because I remember very clearly I was in Malaysia and Thailand when I was about 22.
1:361 minute, 36 secondsI saved up after teaching for a year and in Malaysia I heard this uh very powerful call and it was uh the natural
1:441 minute, 44 secondshuman voice. It wasn't on loudspeakers which is happening all over the world now. A lot of the calls in Hindi uh and
1:521 minute, 52 secondsuh in uh Islamic religions are all in um broadcast over very very loud speakers
1:591 minute, 59 secondsheard from now on. But in those days it was just a man uh going up uh to the top of the the mosque and calling out. And I
2:082 minutes, 8 secondsremember an extraordinary feeling of thinking, wow, so this is a different way of worshiping. This is a different
2:142 minutes, 14 secondsway of calling people to worship because I was just uh a Queensland girl used to um the Methodist church as it happened
2:232 minutes, 23 secondsand uh a Christian religion. So it was my first encounter with a different religion. So, anybody remember their first uh Yeah, it's very memorable,
2:322 minutes, 32 secondsisn't it? So, yeah. So, we there's a few of us who've certainly traveled and have come across Islamic culture outside of our our shores, but uh I'll just talk
2:412 minutes, 41 secondsabout what um Zarin is going to talk about today. So, she's a PhD student at the University of Queensland, has been
2:492 minutes, 49 secondshere for four years with her husband, who's also a researcher uh in in the social sciences.
2:572 minutes, 57 secondsum and they join us from Bangladesh.
3:003 minutesThey have been widely traveled and enjoyed traveling in Australia. They have a daughter of nine years old who's going to a Queensland school. And her
3:093 minutes, 9 secondstopic today is how Muslim communities in Southeast Queensland uh transmit religious knowledge and practice across
3:183 minutes, 18 secondsgenerations knowing that they are in a minority context. So that sounds very interesting. How does identity,
3:273 minutes, 27 secondsreligiosity and a sense of belonging get transferred from one generation to another? And uh it's also within the
3:363 minutes, 36 secondscontext of the Muslim uh diaspora and global Islam. And of course uh those of us who've traveled for example India we
3:443 minutes, 44 secondsknow there's a um very sizable Muslim population in India and we've probably encountered it in every part of the
3:533 minutes, 53 secondsworld now because there is a diaspora in every part of the world. So uh welcome please come up and uh we're going to
4:014 minutes, 1 secondenjoy your presentation. At the end, I'll be uh passing around the microphone for questions and I'll also be mentioning uh further events for the Royal Historical Society. Welcome.
4:124 minutes, 12 secondsThank you.
4:184 minutes, 18 secondsUh thank you Leslie and welcome everyone to my presentation. I would also like to thank the historical Royal Historical Society Queensland for this opportunity.
4:274 minutes, 27 secondsWonderful opportunity. I'm actually privileged I must say. uh before going to my presentation again I would like to
4:364 minutes, 36 secondsgive a little background of myself so that you understand why I choose this topic why Islam why Islam in Queensland
4:444 minutes, 44 secondsso as Leslie has mentioned I'm from Bangladesh and Bangladesh is a Muslim majority country where almost 95% people
4:524 minutes, 52 secondsare Muslim so when I came here I came here with different tag so tag number one I'm a migrant tag number two I'm
5:015 minutes, 1 secondcoming from a Muslim majority country and I myself uh also practicing Muslim.
5:075 minutes, 7 secondsI'm coming here with my family. So the family dynamics also later helped me a lot. That's why I need to mention it.
5:145 minutes, 14 secondsAnd also uh I'm a women. My gender also impacted my stay here and my study. So
5:235 minutes, 23 secondswhen I came here in 2022, the condition of my scholarship was that I need to do something with Islam. doesn't matter
5:315 minutes, 31 secondswhat kind of investigation topic I will choose but I must do something with Islam or the Muslim community. So at the
5:405 minutes, 40 secondssame time I was settling down I was settling down uh finding out a house was really difficult in 2022
5:485 minutes, 48 secondsuh we didn't get any house in St. Lushi area. So we moved into Slax Creek and Underwood area and then I particularly
5:585 minutes, 58 secondsdidn't know that is the area where majority of the Muslim population lives in. So without knowingly I settled down
6:066 minutes, 6 secondsin an area where majority of the Muslim community lives in uh and there there are there are multiple mosques around
6:136 minutes, 13 secondsthat area but as I have mentioned like I didn't know this is the area base area for the Muslims. So what we did as a
6:216 minutes, 21 secondsfamily we started to go to the local mosque to find out who else are living here and also from my study perspective
6:296 minutes, 29 secondsI do not wanted to limit my study within the Bangladeshi community but I wanted to see and learn about the wider Muslim
6:376 minutes, 37 secondscommunity. That is another reason why I started to go to the mosque the local mosque. So again you will understand why
6:466 minutes, 46 secondsI have mentioned the background of myself. Coming from a Muslim majority country the experience of mosque was
6:536 minutes, 53 secondsquite different here for me. Uh in back home though it was a it is a Muslim majority country. We as a women do not
7:027 minutes, 2 secondsfrequently go to the mosque in Bangladesh but here anyone can go to the mosque any time of the day. And also I
7:107 minutes, 10 secondshave observed during my visit to the slack mosque the initial days visit the mosque is not only a place for the
7:177 minutes, 17 secondsworship or only the religious purposes but it is a place for social gathering.
7:227 minutes, 22 secondsIt is a place for networking. It is a place for even sometimes economic opportunities also. So I have observed
7:317 minutes, 31 secondspeople go to the mosque when they are happy. People go to the mosque when they are sad. People go to the mosque when they need anything. People go to the
7:397 minutes, 39 secondsmosque if they want to celebrate something like the community event, get together or anything. Even sometimes I have noticed the parents took their
7:487 minutes, 48 secondschildren into the mosque so that the children can interact with other Muslim kids.
7:547 minutes, 54 secondsSo whenever I was you know observing all these things, I was curious to know why mosque because in my head mosque is
8:018 minutes, 1 secondsomething very sacred space. You only go there to pray but not for these kind of interactions
8:088 minutes, 8 secondsand at the same time how the family dynamics work for me as a mother. I was looking for some spaces where I can give
8:188 minutes, 18 secondsmy daughter to learn about Islam because she came here um at her age of around
8:268 minutes, 26 secondssix but uh like yeah she was five plus not completely six. So that is the time when we start teaching about the
8:338 minutes, 33 secondsreligion at home. But I was not that expert to teach her by myself. So I was
8:418 minutes, 41 secondslooking for some spaces where she can go and learn about Islam, the sacred book, uh the principles of prayer, all these
8:498 minutes, 49 secondsthings. So suddenly it came into my mind why not I do something where I will be able to trace down how these people who
8:588 minutes, 58 secondsare living here for a long time still practicing Islam, still know how to read the Quran, still know how to pray, still
9:089 minutes, 8 secondsuh maintain the gender segregation of Islam and the clothing principle of Islam in a Muslim minority context most
9:169 minutes, 16 secondsimportantly in a western setting. So that is why the family dynamic is important for me and also maybe for many
9:259 minutes, 25 secondsof you it will be interesting to know in a mosque uh normally it is not the norm
9:319 minutes, 31 secondsthat uh women talk with the men. So there is separate sections for the men women prayer. Yes, I can go to the prayer section and talk with any women.
9:439 minutes, 43 secondsBut if it is not urgent or it is not emergency, I am not supposed to talk or go to the men's section.
9:519 minutes, 51 secondsSo this section of the mosque was explored by my husband. So he used to
9:589 minutes, 58 secondstalk into the men's section and I used to talk into the women's section and ask the same question. Why mosque? Why not some park? Why not some other places?
10:0910 minutes, 9 secondsWhy you always come to celebrate or you know meet people into the mosque? So
10:1610 minutes, 16 secondsfrom that point of view I started to realize yes I need to know about all the pockets all the spaces where Muslims
10:2410 minutes, 24 secondsgoes to learn about their religion and what are the spaces they have created in this country where they are minority.
10:3310 minutes, 33 secondsSo this is the beginning and I will say this is a like troublesome beginning for
10:4010 minutes, 40 secondsme. I realized later because when I was exploring all the pockets then I realized I have to do it in a generational wise otherwise I will miss
10:4910 minutes, 49 secondsout the pattern or the ways how the first generation of Muslim migrant used to practice their religion Islam here.
10:5810 minutes, 58 secondsSo this is a little bit of the background or why I choose this topic.
11:0311 minutes, 3 secondsAnd this image u whenever I was googling Islam or Muslim community in Queensland, this is the image used to pop up into my
11:1211 minutes, 12 secondslaptop screen. Even before coming here, I was curious to know how the Muslim community looks like uh who they are,
11:2011 minutes, 20 secondswhere they are from. And this is the image. So this image also gave me before coming here a sort of um perspective
11:2911 minutes, 29 secondsabout what is the Muslim life here. You can see the struggle, you can see the hardship but at the same time you can
11:3811 minutes, 38 secondsidentify him uh with some particular features the beard the cap with all the
11:4511 minutes, 45 secondsthings. So these are the features and these are the things where in my mind like okay Muslims in Queensland they have this this this is sort of thing and
11:5411 minutes, 54 secondsthey are the chameleers only the camelers and who are the camelers if you uh little bit uh do research you will
12:0212 minutes, 2 secondsfind only the Afghan people or the people from Afghanistan they are the camelers. So with this image I came here
12:1012 minutes, 10 secondsand then things started to change particularly when I see the wider community then things started to change
12:1812 minutes, 18 secondsbut before that uh I will like to say why from the Queensland I choose only
12:2512 minutes, 25 secondssoutheast Queensland because uh covering the whole Queensland it is quite impossible by a four year of study where
12:3412 minutes, 34 secondsyou get only two years to do the field work. So eventually I took the Southeast Queensland and Southeast Queensland is
12:4312 minutes, 43 secondskind of the hub for the Muslim community. When I started this work, there was almost 15 mosques into the
12:5112 minutes, 51 secondssoutheast Queensland area. But in this two years, I'm sure now there is 20 plus mosque and also the almost every mosque
13:0013 minutesthey have their own Arabic Sunday school or like after school classes. So with the mosque number the Arabic learning um
13:1013 minutes, 10 secondsschools are similar and then the southeast Queensland they have Islamic schools two Islamic schools with four
13:1713 minutes, 17 secondscampuses and into this area uh Muslim organizations like Muslim women association human appeal all these
13:2613 minutes, 26 secondsoperated within the southeast Queensland border and also the imam council which is the highest body uh of the Muslim
13:3413 minutes, 34 secondscommunity of Queensland is located into the southeast Queensland and the Muslim graveyard which is into the Mount Rabbit
13:4213 minutes, 42 secondscemetery. The largest section of the Muslim graveyard is also located within the southeast Queensland. So I choose
13:5113 minutes, 51 secondsthe southeast Queensland from the whole Queensland. But in general uh from the
13:5813 minutes, 58 secondslast ABS census uh almost 60,000 people affiliated themselves with Islam in Queensland overall Queensland and
14:0714 minutes, 7 secondsQueensland is home of uh some prominent Muslim families which have now fifth or sixth generation of Muslim Australian.
14:1814 minutes, 18 secondsSo this family is important into the study or into the in terms of if anyone wants to know about Islam they should
14:2614 minutes, 26 secondsknow about these families also because these are the families who first migrated here and they spreaded out
14:3314 minutes, 33 secondsthroughout the Queensland and Australia and now they have like fifth sixth generation. I would say some of the
14:4014 minutes, 40 secondsfamilies they have seventh generation even and still they are practicing Islam and they facilitate different kind of
14:4914 minutes, 49 secondsinitiatives which promote Islam here in Queensland and two of the policies white Australian policy and the multi multicultural
14:5814 minutes, 58 secondspolicy they have shaped the pattern of practice Islam in Queensland. So these
15:0515 minutes, 5 secondsare the reason why Queensland, why Islam and why southeast Queensland and southeast Queensland is um kind of the
15:1415 minutes, 14 secondsplace from where Islam is spreaded out throughout the Queensland. So this is kind of as I have mentioned the hull and
15:2215 minutes, 22 secondsin my work I have outlined my work as I have said I choose to do it in a generational
15:3015 minutes, 30 secondsuh basis. So I have uh early stage, middle stage and late stage. In all stages I wanted to see how they started
15:4015 minutes, 40 secondsto practice Islam here, how they started to establish the mosque here and why.
15:4615 minutes, 46 secondsAnd in throughout all these stages I have also tried to understand how they accommodated their Australian identity
15:5315 minutes, 53 secondshere. Because uh if you ask uh very young people born and brought up here in
16:0116 minutes, 1 secondAustralia but coming from a Muslim background, ask him or her what is your nationality or how do you identify yourself? When I was doing my interview,
16:0916 minutes, 9 secondsI have noticed this. They will definitely answer um like I'm a Muslim Australian or I'm a Australian Muslim.
16:1816 minutes, 18 secondsSo they never separate their two identities. They do not say like I'm Muslim only or I'm Australian. But
16:2616 minutes, 26 secondsmajority of my respondent they said I'm a Australian Muslim or I'm first Muslim and then Australian. So
16:3416 minutes, 34 secondsthroughout these phases, different phases, they actually nurtured the Australian identity and they tried to
16:4216 minutes, 42 secondsadopt it because there was different policies which was sometimes difficult for them to uh practice their religion
16:5016 minutes, 50 secondsor to establish the mosque or the Islamic societies here. But still they have tried to mitigate all these
16:5716 minutes, 57 secondschallenges and try to ad identities Islam Muslim and Australia.
17:0517 minutes, 5 secondsSo if now I little bit uh speak about the early stage which actually started from the 1800 uh from the 1950.
17:1617 minutes, 16 secondsSo this is the first mosque.
17:1817 minutes, 18 secondsUnfortunately, I forgot to um bring the present look of the mosque. But this is the mosque which was first established
17:2717 minutes, 27 secondshere by the first generation of Muslim migrant in 1900 8. They established this mosque. This
17:3517 minutes, 35 secondsmosque now if you Google Holland Park mosque, this is the mosque. But when they established the mosque, the mosque name was this is interesting Muhammad
17:4417 minutes, 44 secondsmosque. So as previously I have mentioned most of the Muslim people they were labeled at Afghans without
17:5217 minutes, 52 secondsrecognizing their different ethnic background like Muslim people came here from India from Pakistan from Bal
18:0018 minutesBaluchistan from all over the South Asia but they were only labeled as Afghans.
18:0718 minutes, 7 secondsJust like that in the early stage, Muslims were only known by Muhammadin because Muhammad is the prophet in Islam
18:1618 minutes, 16 secondsand the European and white people they used to know uh Muslims as a Muhammadin
18:2318 minutes, 23 secondsuh sect not even a religion but Muhammad is the tag. So when they established this mosque, this is an interesting
18:3218 minutes, 32 secondsthing. They were all Muslims but they were uh reluctant to give the name of
18:3818 minutes, 38 secondsthe mosque as a mosque or masjid. Masjid is the Arabic word. The English is mosque. But they put Muhammadin in front
18:4818 minutes, 48 secondsof the mosque. They did it because they thought then people will identify themsel separately otherwise it is not
18:5718 minutes, 57 secondspossible by the people to recognize them as a separate religion or separate group of people. So they put the muhammadin in
19:0619 minutes, 6 secondsfront of the mosque just to identify themselves as a separate group. And it is also interesting um the relationship
19:1419 minutes, 14 secondsbetween United Kingdom and Australia is quite close. And when the newspaper articles um choose the term Muhammadin
19:2319 minutes, 23 secondsto identify the Muslims they actually took this term from the newspapers of United Kingdom because by then in UK a
19:3119 minutes, 31 secondslot of Muslim migrants also settled down there and into the UK's newspaper and official documents Muslims were labeled
19:3919 minutes, 39 secondsas Muhammad not as Muslim. So the Australian community, white community, European community and Australian
19:4819 minutes, 48 secondscommunity, they also took that term Muhammad and Muslims were as a first generation Muslims who travel here as a
19:5619 minutes, 56 secondslabor who were uh helping with the construction we who were helping with the telegraph line establishment. They
20:0420 minutes, 4 secondsdidn't know how to establish their own identity as a Muslim. Even some of the family members I have interviewed uh
20:1320 minutes, 13 secondsthey just took the name which was given by the immigration officer even not their main family name they have. So one
20:2320 minutes, 23 secondsof the family member who were identified as a Arian back home in India and in Pakistan but when they came here uh they
20:3220 minutes, 32 secondswere not able to give the spelling of their name Arian because they were not educated. So the immigration officer
20:4020 minutes, 40 secondssaid okay I'm writing you rain from Arian they become rain A.
20:4820 minutes, 48 secondsSo still now the family they carry on that title given by the immigration officer.
20:5320 minutes, 53 secondsMhm. not by the family members also the din family they were known as some din
21:0321 minutes, 3 secondsis a very common title in India and south south Asia in fact din is a very common title but when they came here
21:1121 minutes, 11 secondsmost of the people they didn't know they have to have separate last name and first name so
21:1821 minutes, 18 secondsthey just said like okay my name is um Ali Then the immigration officer asked Ali what?
21:2821 minutes, 28 secondsThen again another one came my name is Yu. Then immigration officer asked Yu what? So that they didn't know how to
21:3521 minutes, 35 secondssay it or what to say. So the immigration officer put din to everyone almost.
21:4321 minutes, 43 secondsYeah. So into the community you will see the prominent families Muslim families
21:5021 minutes, 50 secondsthey have only few titles. Vin, rain, houseen and go
21:5821 minutes, 58 secondsand also that time the early stage it was difficult for them to get any job
22:0422 minutes, 4 secondswith their own name like Yu. So they used to change their name from Yu they
22:1122 minutes, 11 secondsbecome Yahoo. Yakub or Jacob from um like one name I remember Ethan he was
22:1922 minutes, 19 secondscalled something else but to get the job they used to take the European name with the immigration officer's given title.
22:2822 minutes, 28 secondsSo it's like Tommy Dean but maybe he was something else. and all the documented all the papers
22:3622 minutes, 36 secondsare in the name of Tommy Dean. So this was the first generation uh Muslim migrant stories. So eventually they
22:4522 minutes, 45 secondsthought we need to practice our religion because some of the group they were settling down here into the Holland
22:5322 minutes, 53 secondsarea. So they thought we need to have some space where we can gather at least we can pray and uh as a Muslim there is
23:0123 minutes, 1 seconda certain type of food requirement which is called halal or the food needs to be slaughtered particularly if it is animal
23:0923 minutes, 9 secondsmeat it needs to be slaughtered in a way which is permissible in Islam. So from that need they thought well when we are
23:1623 minutes, 16 secondssettling down here we have bought the houses and we have our occupation here um why not we have our own space for
23:2623 minutes, 26 secondspray. So they established this Muhammadin mosque and also in this stage due to the white Australian policy most
23:3323 minutes, 33 secondsof these first generation people they were not supposed to bring their spouses from back home. Maybe this is a very
23:4123 minutes, 41 secondscommon history of migration in Australia. Uh it was same for them also.
23:4723 minutes, 47 secondsBut the difference was this group of people they were very keen to practice their religion particularly the five
23:5523 minutes, 55 secondstimes of prayer and the food the halal food intake. So many of them uh when they came here without spouses or any
24:0424 minutes, 4 secondsfemale family member from back home they get married here with the non-Muslim white women. So what happened they used
24:1224 minutes, 12 secondsto stay outside the male family members for the livelihood for a long time. uh and the kids who are born here they
24:2124 minutes, 21 secondsbecame kind of uh in the mix of or in the you know two world perspective they used to get white world perspective and
24:2924 minutes, 29 secondsthe Muslim world's perspective they only get the religious vibe when the fathers were at home but when the fathers were
24:3724 minutes, 37 secondsoutside for a long time for months for the livelihood purpose there was no religion. So the parents thought the
24:4524 minutes, 45 secondsfathers thought we should have a mosque where at least kids can go. Uh but the struggle was during these early stages
24:5424 minutes, 54 secondsthe world war happens. So during the world war there was high surveillance particularly to the groups migrant
25:0225 minutes, 2 secondsgroups particularly Muskers because some of them were the uh were coming from countries where they have affiliation
25:0925 minutes, 9 secondswith the Ottoman Empire who were the enemy into the world wars. So the surveillance was very high during this
25:1825 minutes, 18 secondsearly stage. So many families they were not able to practice their religion and also many families they were not able to
25:2625 minutes, 26 secondsgo to the mosque because of the high surveillance. So what happened uh I did interview from the family members of the
25:3425 minutes, 34 secondsfirst generation migrant. So one of the family, one of the son actually from the first uh imam of the Hollandberg mosque
25:4325 minutes, 43 secondsor the religious leader of the Hollandberg mosque he was saying me we only knew Islam as an Indian religion.
25:5125 minutes, 51 secondsYou do not know that Islam is a separate religion. Then I asked like why Indian religion? Why like this? Then he
25:5925 minutes, 59 secondsanswered because my father is from India and only we get to know about this religion when he is around the home. So
26:0726 minutes, 7 secondsfor me it was for me and for my friends it was uh Indian religion and he also mentioned because he had a
26:1726 minutes, 17 secondsuh German mother. He also mentioned for this kind of mixed marriages Islam was
26:2426 minutes, 24 secondsalmost lost here by uh 1940. Islam was almost lost here. We only go to the
26:3226 minutes, 32 secondsmosque when fathers are here. We only prayed when fathers used to home. That's
26:3826 minutes, 38 secondsit. Islam was almost lost. So the early stage even you can see from the newspaper clipping it says uh Queensland
26:4726 minutes, 47 secondsMuhammad. So they spelled it differently. So there was no specific spelling for them. But the term they
26:5426 minutes, 54 secondsused to uh tag Muslims or identify Muslim was Muhammad because of the prophet which is not the name of the
27:0327 minutes, 3 secondsreligion itself. So this was the thing happening into the early stage at the
27:1027 minutes, 10 secondsinitial early stage but later from the 1950s things started to change a little
27:1627 minutes, 16 secondsbit. things started to change because of different policies and also because of the um new migrants arrival particularly
27:2627 minutes, 26 secondsfrom the European Muslims they started to arrive. So the person here Isad Immoi
27:3327 minutes, 33 secondshe's a Bosnian Muslim he came here in 1949 he was a very and also sorry I I forgot
27:4227 minutes, 42 secondsto mention uh before him before Isad Iik most of the people who came here they
27:4827 minutes, 48 secondswere not trained up religiously to become you know imam I imam is the Muslim Arabic term which means religious
27:5727 minutes, 57 secondsleader so there was no Islamic scholar here. There was no one who is trained up as an imam who can lead the prayer or
28:0628 minutes, 6 secondswho can teach the Arabic. But when he came here, he was educated. He was a
28:1328 minutes, 13 secondsuniversity graduate and he was a judge uh back in Bosnia. But he came here because of the war and everything. So
28:2228 minutes, 22 secondswhen he came here, he started to add a new dynamic into this community. He
28:2928 minutes, 29 secondsstarted to put his knowledge here. He started to teach them no this is the proper way how you should pray. This is
28:3828 minutes, 38 secondsthe proper way how you should pronunciate one Arabic word. So he was kind of a change agent here in this
28:4628 minutes, 46 secondscommunity. So he started to came and he also wrote a book I will show later on.
28:5328 minutes, 53 secondsUm but the changes started to happen with the European Muslims arrival in
29:0029 minutesthis um community, Southeast Muslim community which happened started to happen
29:0629 minutes, 6 secondsafter 1940 and also what happened uh when the second world war was over the Dean family which is still now one of
29:1429 minutes, 14 secondsthe richest family here um Dean family they had already established a very good relationship with the government. So
29:2229 minutes, 22 secondsthey negotiate with the government and they bring some of their female family members and Nas Bidin she is the first
29:3229 minutes, 32 secondswomen from the din family who came here in southeast Queensland and the informal
29:3829 minutes, 38 secondseducation for the girl children here started with her. So she used to teach
29:4529 minutes, 45 secondsthe little Muslim kids particularly the girls in her home. So she taught them
29:5229 minutes, 52 secondshow to read the ta. This is the basic book you need to read before you reach to the Quran. I will show one of the
30:0030 minutesbook which they used to use here in the uh initial days. So she also taught the girls how to pray and also the ladies
30:0830 minutes, 8 secondsnon-Muslim um Australian ladies who were married with the first generation of migrants. So she taught them how to
30:1630 minutes, 16 secondspray, how to do the proper clothing in according with Islam, what you do when you go to the mosque, what you do when
30:2330 minutes, 23 secondsyou stay at home, this sort of thing. So these two people I will say they are the change agent here and they brought new
30:3330 minutes, 33 secondsperspective and with them uh the formal education of knowledge transmission also
30:3930 minutes, 39 secondsstarted and both of them uh were very much keen to know about the Australian
30:4630 minutes, 46 secondssociety because they participated almost all local programs. if you read their
30:5330 minutes, 53 secondsbiography and how they uh teach those children like what they need to do. So
31:0031 minutesin um sorry I will I'm jumping on so I will show Isakimovik's book later on and then
31:0831 minutes, 8 secondsin this early stage again uh Isak Imamovi played a very crucial role to train up the first imam or the first
31:1831 minutes, 18 secondsreligious leader of Southeast Queensland. His name was Ring.
31:2331 minutes, 23 secondsAgain the name given by the immigration officer Ring. Uh he was born here.
31:3031 minutes, 30 secondsHis father came here as a first generation of uh migrant Muslim migrant and then uh he was born here with a
31:3931 minutes, 39 secondsGerman mother and then he was taught by Isach Imob to read the Quran and to trained up to become a religious leader.
31:5031 minutes, 50 secondsSo he actually became the unpaid unpaid imam for the Holland Mos in uh 1950
32:0032 minutesand from 1950 to 1985 he was totally unpaid and he served the community. He
32:0732 minutes, 7 secondswas he started so many thing here. He started the first Islamic Sunday school where kids can go and read the uh book.
32:1732 minutes, 17 secondsHe started the first adult Arabic class where the adult can go and read and
32:2332 minutes, 23 secondslearn about Islam. And he in the first early in the early stage he is the first
32:3032 minutes, 30 secondsperson who could like read English who can speak English uh fluently because he
32:3832 minutes, 38 secondswas born here. Before him uh most of the people they even though they born here they were not interested but somehow he
32:4732 minutes, 47 secondsbecause of his father and grandfather he was keen to know and particularly when Isak Immoi came here and became his
32:5532 minutes, 55 secondsmentor he actually um you know grow that interest to become the religious leader and serve the community for a long long time.
33:0533 minutes, 5 secondsAnd these are the some images um one of the oldest family basically the Isak
33:1233 minutes, 12 secondsImmob's daughter she gave me and the reason why I put here in this stage of
33:2033 minutes, 20 secondsthe presentation and in this early stage because if you look into the images you can see the adaptation of Australianness
33:2933 minutes, 29 secondsand the Muslim identity because the image is taken inside the Muhammad moss.
33:3533 minutes, 35 secondsSo it was the marriage ceremony and the bride was and the groom was all dressed up like Australian not as a Muslim uh
33:4433 minutes, 44 secondsbride and groom. And also the mosque was when the Isakim came the imam reign was
33:5333 minutes, 53 secondstrained up as imam and after 1950s the trend of the mosque quite changed. So
34:0134 minutes, 1 secondmosque again started to become a gathering space like now until 1950s mosque was a occasional place to go only
34:1034 minutes, 10 secondsthe when the fathers were around. But slowly when the European Muslims started to started to came here and they started
34:1934 minutes, 19 secondsto train up people they they tell them like this is the place where you should spend most of your time if you want to
34:2634 minutes, 26 secondsstay uh within your religion if you want to learn or if you want to give this religion to your kids. So as a part of
34:3534 minutes, 35 secondsthe this thing thinking uh the Muslim marriages started to happen into the
34:4134 minutes, 41 secondsmosque. But one thing we should remember and back then none of the imams or
34:4834 minutes, 48 secondsreligious leaders were the Muslim uh marriage celebrant registered. None of them were registered. So what happened?
34:5734 minutes, 57 secondsThey used to get married into the mosque in a religious way and then go to the court or celebrate office to register
35:0535 minutes, 5 secondsthe mosque officially. But what happened into this time after 1950s mosque become
35:1135 minutes, 11 secondsa place for everyone. Mosque started to become a gathering space. All these images are from the mosque. One of the
35:2035 minutes, 20 secondsimage I really like the first image from that right hand side. So there was no restriction of the dress code also in the mosque.
35:3135 minutes, 31 secondsFamilies can go with their go into the mosque with the Australian dresses or western not Australian western dresses.
35:3835 minutes, 38 secondsSo there was no restriction. Mosque became that free and I luckily I was
35:4535 minutes, 45 secondsable to interview uh one of the daughter um of Isach Imobik. So I asked her, she actually gave me all these images and
35:5435 minutes, 54 secondsthis is her wedding photograph. So I asked her like your father was the mentor of the first imam. So why didn't
36:0236 minutes, 2 secondsshe he tell people like particularly the women to dress up properly to come into the mosque and the response was
36:1036 minutes, 10 secondswonderful. She told me look my father wanted to make the place feel like home first and then later everything would
36:1936 minutes, 19 secondswill be settled down. He thought so he never encouraged anyone to come most
36:2636 minutes, 26 secondswhatever way they are. So people used to go there, people used to interact, people used to talk, they used to have
36:3336 minutes, 33 secondsfeast there and the weddings. Still now in the mosque the wedding happens. But you will not see uh in this way. You
36:4036 minutes, 40 secondswill see um the men and women will stay in the same room but the sitting arrangement will be separated. But at
36:4836 minutes, 48 secondsthe beginning there was no such restriction. People can talk, people can walk, there was uh gender segregation
36:5536 minutes, 55 secondsbut not that much. And those were all part of this adaptation process. And
37:0237 minutes, 2 secondsalso uh if you want to survive in this uh minority context back then with all
37:0937 minutes, 9 secondsthese restricted policies you have to uh be careful or you have to adapt in a way where you do not challenge the majority
37:1837 minutes, 18 secondscommunity. So these these were the part of these things. So eventually what happened when all these people they
37:2737 minutes, 27 secondsstarted to realize and they started to identify themselves like no I am not Muhammad
37:3537 minutes, 35 secondssect rather my religion is Islam. So what happened in 19 uh 50s or late 50s they changed the
37:4437 minutes, 44 secondsmosque name. So if you see now the mosque name is Muslim mosque. So Muslim means Muslim.
37:5237 minutes, 52 secondsSo who are following Islam they are Muslim. So from the Muhammadin let me go back from the Muhammadin mosque in the
38:0138 minutes, 1 secondlate 50s they have changed the name. So you can see a shift of the identity
38:0938 minutes, 9 secondsalso. They they wanted to have their own identity. They wanted to have the recognition.
38:1638 minutes, 16 secondsSo they wanted to establish um themsel as a Muslim not as something else.
38:2238 minutes, 22 secondsMuhammad is the prophet but not the religion.
38:2638 minutes, 26 secondsSo the mosque name was changed. The mosque name was changed because the community was educated. They were given
38:3538 minutes, 35 secondsthe understanding that no this is not the religion. You are a Muslim. You should be identified as a Muslim not as
38:4338 minutes, 43 secondsa Muhammad sect. So from that stage when the middle stage started so a lot of
38:5138 minutes, 51 secondsliterature scholarly work happened here and those were the main purpose were to bring the community together to make
39:0039 minutesthem understand what is Islam is. So the book outline of Islamic doctrine was written by Isak Immog and this book is a
39:1039 minutes, 10 secondscombination of what a Muslim should do in a minority context as a Muslim and as a citizen of that country. So it's a
39:1939 minutes, 19 secondsvery interesting book and the book was I was like it's a this much thick book and
39:2639 minutes, 26 secondshe did all the research sitting here in Queensland in a time when there was no internet when there was maybe the later
39:3539 minutes, 35 secondssystem the telegraph system was also limited. I I wonder how he did all this research here sitting here. uh but that
39:4339 minutes, 43 secondsbook was very popular and this book was read by the small groups into the mosque
39:5039 minutes, 50 secondsjust to understand the duty of a citizen Australian citizen who is a Muslim also.
39:5739 minutes, 57 secondsSo you can and this book is available into the Bosnian mosque here now. They have a library. uh but this is a very I
40:0640 minutes, 6 secondswill say um scholarly work in a time when most of the people they were
40:1240 minutes, 12 secondsconfused with themsel the Muslim people because even though they started to realize okay my religion is Islam my
40:2140 minutes, 21 secondsplace is mosque to pray and I have this these principles but they were confused with how to deal with this society
40:3040 minutes, 30 secondshow to how to um make presence of themsel as a Muslim in a minority context because till then because of the
40:3840 minutes, 38 secondsdiscrimination and those policies they have their English name besides their Muslim names. But this book give them uh
40:4740 minutes, 47 secondsthose kind of thoughts like as a Muslim you should respect the laws of the country you are staying in. You should give the vote, you should pay the tax.
40:5840 minutes, 58 secondsAll these things are written in this book. and he kind of bring examples from the Quran
41:0441 minutes, 4 secondsor the separate book of Islam um to make sure these are the duties of a Muslim doesn't matter the Muslim is living in a
41:1241 minutes, 12 secondsmajority context or in a minority context.
41:1641 minutes, 16 secondsSo after this book um these are the newsletters Muslim newsletters you can find out this newsletter into the state
41:2341 minutes, 23 secondslibrary uh the crescent this is a very interesting blog book I would say if you
41:3041 minutes, 30 secondsgo through this uh series of magazine newsletter actually not magazine you can see how many people came in and how many
41:3941 minutes, 39 secondspeople passed away in a year what they used to do uh what sort of engage ment they they arranged by the mosque
41:4841 minutes, 48 secondseverything documented in this newspaper and it was a it was again there was no
41:5541 minutes, 55 secondsprinting machine sort of thing so the imam rain used to type it with few other
42:0242 minutes, 2 secondspeople they used to typewr it making make used to make multiple copies and send out throughout the queens by post
42:1042 minutes, 10 secondsand this is the um newsletter where they can learn about the Islam also in this
42:1742 minutes, 17 secondsnewsletter they used to um publish articles the importance of fasting the importance of praying the importance of
42:2642 minutes, 26 secondsbeing a women in Islam all this sort of thing. So these are again uh the knowledge transmission ways but in a
42:3542 minutes, 35 secondsdifferent way than only going to the mosque or into only going to the Sunday madrasas. these sort of things started
42:4342 minutes, 43 secondsto happen and that also helped the Muslim community to access and learn about their religion.
42:5142 minutes, 51 secondsThese are the few uh which we call ka or the basic uh books. So we need to these
42:5942 minutes, 59 secondsare the alphabet Arabic alphabets. We need to learn this alphabet before we start reading the Quran which is the
43:0743 minutes, 7 secondssecret book. And interestingly again I will say how they adopted the context.
43:1543 minutes, 15 secondsThis is the interesting part of these books. If you look into the images the images are western images
43:2343 minutes, 23 secondsand if you look any um standard tida now you will not find any images like this
43:3143 minutes, 31 secondsbecause in Islam we do not put images into the sacred books. But look into
43:3843 minutes, 38 secondsthese images, the swimming suit wearing women, the horse thing because then horse was a very common ride here and
43:4743 minutes, 47 secondsalso the in front of the books there is boys and girls playing around together.
43:5243 minutes, 52 secondsThese are the things which kind of uh like the book was uh the book was taught
43:5943 minutes, 59 secondsby Faker Bayad, one of the international student. So he's in his 90s now. I asked him like
44:0744 minutes, 7 secondswhy the images are like this. And his respond was look I need to bring the kids into the classroom. I need to teach
44:1544 minutes, 15 secondsthem the words the alphabet and I have to put these images. These books were customized by the way. He used to print
44:2444 minutes, 24 secondsit and take it from bring it from Pakistan. But the images he used to tell them which images they need to put just
44:3344 minutes, 33 secondsto make it context real realistic because this is Australia children from Australia they will they can relate the
44:4144 minutes, 41 secondsimages with the alphabets when they know the images otherwise not. So this is the
44:4844 minutes, 48 secondsinteresting part and activities started um in this phase like youth campaign those these are the new
44:5644 minutes, 56 secondsactivities they started and this midstage uh halal movie night again the term halal because in Islam you are not
45:0645 minutes, 6 secondssupposed to see the commercial movies but halal movies are something there is uh no singing there is no that kind of
45:1545 minutes, 15 secondsinteraction between men and women those are the halal movies. So the mosque, this is also interesting, the mosque, the Holland Park mosque used to organize
45:2345 minutes, 23 secondsthis kind of movie screening to attract the kids into the mosque. So the people can go to the mosque, they can just
45:3145 minutes, 31 secondsspend time into the mosque. And also this is uh another interesting thing I found uh they started to sell house
45:4145 minutes, 41 secondsnearby the mosque so that people live nearby the uh worship place. they can go to the mosque they they stay connected with their religion.
45:5245 minutes, 52 secondsSo this was a project uh introduced by the mosque committee the Holland park mosque committee and these are the
45:5845 minutes, 58 secondscommon things I think uh for any religion religious group the picnic arranged by the mosque interfaith dialogue and the ABC they started to
46:0846 minutes, 8 secondsbroadcast the Eid prayer. Eid is the main festival for the Muslims. Eid prayer and different uh activities of
46:1646 minutes, 16 secondsthe mosque in this midphase particularly uh after 1960s. But the main three thing
46:2446 minutes, 24 secondswhich was striking when I did the interviews these three things came again and again the youth camps because uh
46:3146 minutes, 31 secondscamping was something uh as a Australianborn people they would love to do but they were not allowed to do. So the camping was arranged by the mosque.
46:4146 minutes, 41 secondsThe parents feel that safe. Yes, they can go into these camps because it will be uh gender segregated. The activities
46:4946 minutes, 49 secondswill be um balanced for both male and female girls um both male and female. So
46:5646 minutes, 56 secondsfrom that perspective the youth used to wait for this camping annual campings when the mosque will announce the
47:0447 minutes, 4 secondscamping time and they not only used to do the camping in Queensland but there was a national level camping. So Muslims
47:1347 minutes, 13 secondsfrom around the Australia different state of the Australia they used to do camping together so that they know each other different communities different
47:2247 minutes, 22 secondsstate peoples. the halal movie and housing housing project. These three things were the main uh striking phase uh striking activities from this phase.
47:3547 minutes, 35 secondsSo now I'm in the last um phase and also I can relate myself more with this phase
47:4447 minutes, 44 secondsbecause I when I did the field work I can see uh how people still remember
47:5147 minutes, 51 secondsthese times and I I was able to interview more people from this timeline. So when the last phase or for
48:0048 minutesme I started the last phase from 1982 onward. So there was already technology
48:0848 minutes, 8 secondsbut not like now. So you will find out this kind of um we call it cassette. I
48:1448 minutes, 14 secondsdon't know what you call it. Uh so the cassettes this cassette is about different prophets uh stories and the
48:2348 minutes, 23 secondsrecitation of Quran. These these are the things the religious leaders Yes I will finish. uh the religious
48:3248 minutes, 32 secondsleaders they used to bring here and distribute because there was no YouTube back then. So people who struggle or
48:4048 minutes, 40 secondsthey who could not read uh in other language than English they used to listen these records the steps the steps
48:4648 minutes, 46 secondswere all in English and all the um all the verses from the Quran they were translated in English
48:5548 minutes, 55 secondsas I do not have time I will jump on now. So um these kind of events now happened and again if you look into the
49:0449 minutes, 4 secondsposter the flyer you will see how they have accommodated the Australianness.
49:0949 minutes, 9 secondsYou can spot the kangaroo over there just before the din down under. But these are the events which are uh kind
49:1949 minutes, 19 secondsof completely different than the events used to happen in the early stage or in the midphase. So those two phases were
49:2749 minutes, 27 secondsmostly informal not structured religious knowledge transmission. They knew it but
49:3449 minutes, 34 secondsthey do not had the proper channel. And now there are diversified ways to do it.
49:4049 minutes, 40 secondsAnd particularly for my own work I have um I did field work with two three groups grassroot groups. One is soul
49:4849 minutes, 48 secondsseat faith circle and uh Islamic da'wah and practice. They did like throughout
49:5649 minutes, 56 secondsthe year they do lots of events and those events are targeted for the young Muslim people particularly and these
50:0550 minutes, 5 secondsnonformal spaces for Islamic education now became most uh attractive space
50:1250 minutes, 12 secondsspaces to go apart from the mosque. So you do not have to go to the mosque to learn about Islam but you can join these
50:1950 minutes, 19 secondsevents and you can learn the uh learn about Islam. Again how the adaptation thing going on. You can see uh in
50:2850 minutes, 28 secondsAustralia you must do the surfing and also at the same time you practice your religion. So you must play the football
50:3650 minutes, 36 secondsand you practice your religion. So a group of boys who were playing football during the time of prayer, evening prayer, they all sat together to pray
50:4650 minutes, 46 secondsand you versus you. If you look into the flyer and the how they fix the title, those are the things the young people
50:5550 minutes, 55 secondsfeel attracted because now the challenge for the young people is little bit different. I will finish.
51:0251 minutes, 2 secondsNow the challenge is little bit different. Now they understand their Muslim identity but they struggle to
51:0851 minutes, 8 secondsnavigate it particularly uh when any situation happened regarding Islamophobic sort of thing because back
51:1851 minutes, 18 secondsthen there was policies there was laws but there was no technology no social media so the events happened around the
51:2751 minutes, 27 secondsworld the wave came Australia very slowly but now whatever happening around
51:3451 minutes, 34 secondsthe world. Immediately it also strike the Muslim life of uh Australia. So U
51:4051 minutes, 40 secondsversus U is kind of a workshop for the young people so that they can
51:4851 minutes, 48 secondsmake themselves understand and fight those events and establish and navigate their Muslim identity into this context into this western context.
51:5951 minutes, 59 secondsAnd also these are the images from the Islamic schools. The schools are different but um they the their main aim
52:0752 minutes, 7 secondsis to teach young people Islam and the basic five pillars of Islams but in operation they are different and if you
52:1552 minutes, 15 secondshave any further interest about the Islamic schools you can go uh to the SDS
52:2252 minutes, 22 secondsand see this series uh the swap. So the few of the Islamic school students they change school with the Catholic student
52:2952 minutes, 29 secondsand with the public school student and they try to understand what is Islam and what is going on in an Islamic school.
52:3852 minutes, 38 secondsSo this sort of thing and these are all academic like knowledge transmission thing and as I have mentioned um not
52:4652 minutes, 46 secondsonly Afghan came here and not only the Sunni sect of Muslim people came here but the Shia community also came here.
52:5452 minutes, 54 secondsOne of the uh main uh tradition of Shia community is the blood donation or they
53:0153 minutes, 1 secondthe first image this one. So this is the image I grew up with. So during the time
53:0753 minutes, 7 secondsof muharam uh during the time of um the carbala the event happened in Islam. So
53:1553 minutes, 15 secondsto remember that event the Shia community people they tend to bleed themselves and hurt themselves
53:2353 minutes, 23 secondsbecause during that time uh the grandson of prophet Muhammad they died. So to remember that event the Shia community
53:3253 minutes, 32 secondsaround the world even if you look into the YouTube you will see see this image the first one like the people are bleeding and hurting themselves. So the
53:4053 minutes, 40 secondsShia community people when came here the adaptation thing again happened. So in Australia you actually cannot do any
53:4853 minutes, 48 secondspublic procession like this. You cannot publicly hurt yourself or bleed yourself. So they still want to bleed
53:5653 minutes, 56 secondsbut in a positive way. So they started this blood donation activity on the day of Moharam. So this kind of adaptation
54:0554 minutes, 5 secondscontinuously happening and this kind of Australianness in terms of navigating the religion, rituals, traditions are
54:1454 minutes, 14 secondsevery day happening. Even in my last two years of fieldwork I have seen many changes and the women role that is also very
54:2354 minutes, 23 secondsinteresting. Uh from the first news clip you can see people were not happy because women went into the mosque. I
54:3154 minutes, 31 secondswill leave the women. We just have to have time for questions.
54:3654 minutes, 36 secondsYeah, sure. The um mosque was not happy because women enter into the mosque. But now if you look into the last three
54:4454 minutes, 44 secondsimages, the women led madrasa or the Sunday school is very popular here and women are also lighting books uh where
54:5354 minutes, 53 secondsthey are transmitting the religious knowledge like Hana's 100 hijab. So this is we call hijab. So to encourage the
55:0055 minutesyoung people to maintain this principle, Muslim women from this community, southeast community, they're writing books and they're also using their
55:0955 minutes, 9 secondsknowledge of religious knowledge um into the political sphere. Uh I don't know how many of you have heard the Muslim
55:1655 minutes, 16 secondsvote matters. So Muslim vote matters is a brainchild of how Islam is very much
55:2455 minutes, 24 secondsconnected with political activities also. So they this platform and very recently with the Palestine and Gaza
55:3255 minutes, 32 secondsthing, the Muslim community of Southeast Queensland they tend to make people understand as a Muslim this is your
55:3955 minutes, 39 secondsright also for to become politically active. So I will finish now. This is one image last image from the Eid
55:4855 minutes, 48 secondsfestival. So the Muslim community here is this much vibrant. They are not like the chameleia chameleia I have seen in
55:5855 minutes, 58 secondsmy laptop screen back home. So the life is here very vibrant and every day they
56:0556 minutes, 5 secondsadopt they try and they navigate themsel as a Muslim here because of this
56:1356 minutes, 13 secondsknowledge transmission. Thank you so much.
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