I am honoured to be here for the first time visiting Australia - my first time in Melbourne. I would like to thank FAMSY and the organizers, brothers and sisters, many people known to you and not known to me to make this event possible. I would like to say jazakumAllahukhair, thank you very much; you are planting the seed of Islamic activism and the future of Islam in Australia.

The issue is "who is shaping the image of Islam?" I would like to have a serious and frank discussion about this. None of the speakers should be here for entertainment, so just for people to just listen and think about it without taking any action. I will divide the presentation in few parts. Firstly, we will talk about the image of Islam, it is no secret or no news to you because you know and feel it. I don’t know if you’re doing anything about it and how much, but I would like to learn. Secondly, who is shaping and how is the image shaped? Thirdly, what should be done about the image of Islam, since this is the subject of this discussion? And what can Muslims in Australia do about it? Muslims in Australia, not the hundreds and thousands that did not come, but the very people who are here downstairs and upstairs. Those who have decided to come and attend the conference.

I would like to start by giving the historical perspective on Islam. Do you think that the image, the impression, the perceptions that people have and even some Muslims have started to incorporate and indoctrinate themselves with - the abundance of images that art on the airways, TV newspaper radio, literature - just happened by accident? Or do they have any historic roots? And most importantly, because we are always reminded by the hadith of the Prophet (s), about the Quran and the sunnah, does the image of Islam get addressed in the Quran? Is it in the sunnah? Or is it just part of the current affairs, and political maneuvering in the world? Is this important issue preoccupying people around the world, more than 5 billion, Muslims and non-Muslims alike? Some people are making that image, some people are suffering from it, while others are watching it. Has it been addressed in the Quran and sunnah?

Looking at the Quran and reading the seerah, you will see that the Quran itself is a multimedia presentation. The Quran talks about the history of nations, prophets, and you will see that how opponents of the dawah, of the message, have tried to manipulate the public opinion over time, and they tried to construct certain images, and deconstruct certain images.

I will just take one episode from the Quran and you can always incorporate political understanding in that process. The story of Moses and Pharaoh, Moses was a rising power in the territory of Pharaoh. Moses was a nightmare for Pharaoh. He tried to kill Moses before he was born and that’s why he used to kill every male boy to the Israelites, but Moses escaped. When his mother gave birth to him she followed the commands of Allah when he was put in the box into the river. And that was one of the strong signs of tawakulalAllah. Then where did he grow up? Not outside the territory or the country of Pharaoh, but in his palace.

Later on Moses started to challenge the authority of Pharaoh. Moses was dark-skinned man. Pharaoh asked him to show one of his signs that he was a prophet. And he was commanded to take his hand out of his pocket and show it to Pharaoh. His hand was white! No man could do that, no magician. Pharaoh felt that the general public would be taken away from his authority, so he called the local media, his magicians. Moses too realised that he had certain deficiencies - he was not an eloquent speaker. That is why he asked Allah (swt) to help him with Haroon. Haroon was more fluent than Moses.

Pharaoh called for a public debate, and he brought the magicians. Now we have to think about the media, Hollywood, the news television, newspaper, radio, these are means that can impact on the public and the perception of people. Moses came and he was asked and negotiated who should start first, he or the magicians. Now remember that the two competing forces were Moses and Pharaoh - a public servant and the authority, while the general public was a neutral audience that needed to be convinced of either Pharaoh’s or Moses’ argument. Moses asked him to go first and the magicians put on a false show. They threw their ropes do the ground, which appeared to the people to be snakes. Allah (swt) states in the Quran that they bewitched people’s eyes and struck terror in their hearts.

One news story can shake or break your morale. The people were afraid including Moses himself. Allah (swt) asked Moses to cast down his staff, and Moses with the confidence of a believer cast down his staff, which ate up their false snake images. The magicians themselves now felt intimidated. Why? Because they saw the power of Allah (swt) and prostrated themselves to it. The media, the magicians, not became of benefit to Moses and his message. The neutral audience immediately knew that this was a messenger from Allah (swt), and Pharaoh lost the public debate.

That’s the beauty in the Quran that we should reflect on.

Well then no surprise that Islam may be attacked and Muslims called names. The Prophet (s) himself was called a magician, a poet and so on, so don’t expect to be a Muslim and Islam will just to take a free ride. In fact, no faith community on the face of the earth was forewarned like Muslims. Allah (swt) says in the Quran: "So you have been warned way, way in advance that the ignorant people, the adversaries, will try to put out the light of Allah with their mouths." "Their mouths" today means communication, literature, movies, news, etc. The way they report things to create an impression and false image and to try to defame the religion.

So this is no news to Muslims, they should not be surprised, they should not be shaking, they should not be distracted. And the other part of the equation is the assurance that Muslims have to heed. Allah (swt) says in the Quran: "Allah is completing his light, no matter that the disbelievers may dislike it." So be assured that Islam is in good hands. You don’t have to worry about Islam, you have to worry about one thing, about yourself. Worry about your behaviour, worry about your reaction. What do you do? What do you say, how you behave? Because this defamation of Islam may take place in your lifetime. So don’t act surprised that they are ignorant and defaming Islam. You knew this 1400 years ago.

Muslims have to be a little bit more sophisticated, they have to be ready, and they have to anticipate things, and they have to prepare arguments. You cannot just say, "they’re ignorant, they hate us, we are poor, we are colonised and we are the victims" and therefore just accept the role of the victim. This doesn’t help resolve the issue. It happened in your time and you have to do something about it.

Now, what to do about it? You have to understand the culture of the media, today, which has been used as a medium. The reason you hear me clearly today is because I’m in front of you - I’m visible and using this microphone. Muslims, about 1.2 billion, around the world have not used the microphone, and that’s why people have not heard them. They have not been visible. They have not understood the culture of the media and how to make images and impact on people’s minds. We have to be equipped in the art and means of communication - this is not news to us.

I think like the time of Moses we don’t have to worry about Pharaoh himself but we have to worry about the audience. There are very few people around the world who make the image. They impact at least 5 billion people around the world.

Historically, to justify sometimes aggression, as Dr Zachariah Matthews mentioned earlier about the Crusades. That campaign was preceded by propagating certain false images about Islam and Muslims to justify taking an aggressive action, not only against Muslims in Jerusalem but against Christians who did not agree with them, and Jews alike.

Throughout the western history due to lack of exchange and the lack of having access to accurate information about Islam and Muslims, they have developed certain perceptions about Islam and Muslims. The current image of Islam and Muslims is not just the making of a few years or Hollywood, there is literature written about Islam and Muslims a long time ago. Orientalists have tried to depict Islam in a certain way and paint a picture of Muslims as backward, as womanisers, those who do not appreciate others and that Islam was spread by the sword and there is no freedom of thought in Islam and so on. All these images had been written in western literature over time and have dominated the thoughts of many people in the west.

Hollywood over more than 80 years have produced over 700 movies. None of them depict Islam and Muslims in any positive role except two movies that were made mainly by Muslims, "Lion of the Desert" and "The Message." We cannot underestimate the impact of these negative images on the attitudes of average people, students, who later on become policy makers and politicians. These images even have a negative impact on Muslims themselves. It creates a crisis of identity for Muslims, and September 11 was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. Exploitation of that tragedy by many politicians and the media has emphasized and reinforced certain negative stereotypes about Muslims.

Three days ago there was a newspaper that surveyed through university, the opinions of Australians of Muslims in certain areas. And I was saddened to discover that over 50% of those who were surveyed, about 5000 people, said that they would be concerned if one of their relatives were to marry a Muslim in Australia. I think that had that survey been done before September 11, there would be no such concern.

In the past one year you could tell that Muslims are paying the price. But we have to take some of the blame. Firstly, our silence, if you’re not a participant in making that image then it is made in your absence - silence is a sign of your approval. Secondly, Muslims are not in the media business, because they consider it like pork and alcohol - haraam. They consider it is haraam to do political work, while their Muslim brothers and sisters around the world are dying to get the freedom that they have in the west.

Who is shaping your image? You are part of those people who are shaping your image. Your very disinterest and indifference to participate, to be public, is image-making, a negative one at that. Then we complain that this and that controls the media, but we have not made any serious attempt to participate in making our own image.

Let me ask whether you have any Muslim reporters in Australia? None, one or two perhaps. Don’t take it negatively, i am just trying to be practical, and would like to instill in you the desire to shape your own image. Do we have students who are studying journalism today in Australian universities? Do we have Muslims who are studying political science? Do we have Muslims who are studying law? Alhumdullilah we have many Muslims studying computer science? Yes, because that makes money. But working with the media and studying journalism and law does not pay a lot of money. I will ask some of you to seriously think about switching majors - study journalism, political science, or law. I switched my interest. I was in engineering, and now I am in public work like media, and political science. And this is the way I think we have to devote some people. From 1.2 billion people around the world and at least 100 million Muslims in the west, we have to devote some people to study journalism, law and political science.

We would like to see Muslims who are experts in economics, security and terrorism, who can analyse current affairs and give the public their outlook and their point of view.

Brothers and sisters, when you look on television today, you see that you are absent, and those who are experts are usually non-Muslims, and they can talk about Islam and Muslims while they have no clue who we are.

In the Battle of Uhud, the Prophet Muhammad (s) appointed a few people on the mountain and told them not to come down even if the battle was over. Why? Because the Muslims were vulnerable from that spot. When these archers were tempted with collecting the spoils of the war they came down. The enemy then came from behind the mountain and started attacking the Muslims. If we can borrow from that example, then some Muslims have to go to the mountain and guard the image of Islam. They have to write and speak eloquently, and help participate in promoting a better image of Islam and Muslims.

In the United States we called on the Muslim community to encourage their children to study these areas. Today I can report to you that alhamdulillah we have at least 200 to 300 Muslim lawyers in the United States. We have dozens of Muslim reporters who work in key mainstream media, and we see many Muslims now coming out to explain events to the general public. We see Muslim experts in economics, on Wall Street, talking about the stock market.

We have to serve the public. Allah (swt) described the Prophet (s) as a public servant to mankind: "We have not sent you except as a mercy to mankind." It is a strategic obligation on Muslims in the West to prove that they are a mercy and blessing to Australia, to America, to Europe because you are there and you have to touch people’s hearts through your service. We say in the West "if you would like to be a leader, you have to be a servant" because leadership is service. We cannot just ask people to be sympathizers and understanding of Islam if we ourselves do not live Islam and touch people’s hearts as a neighbour, as a classmate, as a co-worker, as friends around us.

Brothers and sisters, making the public image is also being a participant in the society, and you have to be involved in the elections. One of the pleasant surprises I have seen here in Australia is that if you are eligible to vote and registered to vote and if you don’t vote you get fined. Let me tell you that you are ahead of the United States in that, because in America people beg each other to register to vote and vote. You have to be a participant in making the decisions and laws that affect you, your children and affect your presence in this society. You cannot just be subject to unjust laws and be absent. Today you have to organize yourselves politically. You have to know who represents you in which district in which city and you have to have contact and meetings with these people and make sure that these laws are just not only for you but for everybody, and when they are applied they are applied across the board.

Political participation is no longer a choice, it is a must on Muslims in the West and I was really saddened to know that there have been attempts to make elections and voting haram here. We are shooting ourselves in the foot by allowing ourselves to be marginalized and victimized then we complain that we are victims of injustice. We are participants in making this injustice on ourselves because we chose to be victims and we are treated as such.

The Prophet (s) displayed political sophistication not only in Madina but also during Mecca. The Prophet (s), because of his reputation as an honest, public servant was chosen to lead, to reconcile, and solve a problem when the leaders of the Quraish were about to kill each other over who would place the black stone in the ka’abah.

Don’t be fooled by these so-called opinions against political participation. They are not based on reason, or authentic argument in Islam. The Prophet (s) described Islam as an interaction, you cannot just be isolated from the society and claim leadership in the world. The sahaba left Mecca and traveled to Kazakstan, Afghanistan, Syria, and Spain. They did not just take comfort in being in Mecca and Madina, they left with no technology or transportation as we have today. They walked, they rode camels, and some of them died on the way because they were on a mission to help save the world. They did not say "this is a kaafir system and kaafir society, let them go to hell". That was not the Muslim attitude, they were going there to save the people from the hellfire.

Brothers and sisters, the real making of the image is not just in a movie, it is practice. When people see you as Muhammad and Abdullah and Khadija, as participants, full participants in society and they see the beauty of Islam, and see the beauty of honesty and the care and compassion, then they will take you seriously and they will not believe the false images they see in the theatres and they will not believe the news because they will always come and check with you and when you are in crisis they will come and defend you.

There are many things that you can do. Allah (swt) has blessed us in America, (although we have been challenged a lot), through the work of the Council of American Islamic Relations – CAIR – we have tried to reach out to the public, we organized Muslims over the internet, and I’m sure many of you have been receiving our emails, and seen our news releases, and seen how we try to project a positive image about Islam.

Let me conclude by saying many people think that it is difficult to be a Muslim today. Let me just reverse this; today is the best time to be a Muslim. This is the best time to go out and show Islam to people. This is the best time to answer questions that people have about Islam. This is the best time to project the best image of Islam, and this is the best time to go out and not hide. If you don’t do it, no one else will do it for you.