Australian Muslim Groups Slam PM Islamophobic Speech

Several Australian Muslim groups have slammed Prime Minister Scott Morrison over his speech on the knife attack that took place on 9 November on Bourke Street in Melbourne.

Following a terror attack that claimed the life of one person and left two more injured, the Australian prime minister criticised radical religious teachings, specifically radical Islam and urged religious leaders to be proactive in preventing their flocks from being affected by such teachings.

Several Australian Muslim groups have slammed Prime Minister Scott Morrison over his speech on the knife attack that took place on 9 November on Bourke Street in Melbourne.

 The Australian National Imams Council said it was ‘outraged’ by the prime minister’s statements and accused him of “politicising the incident and using it for political gain”.

The Forum On Australia’s Islamic Relations (FAIR) claimed the perpetrator, who committed the attack had little to do with Islam and was a “mentally ill person suffering from a psychotic episode”. The Forum urged the prime minister not to make whole Muslim community a ‘scapegoat’ for a single man’s actions.

“We demand the withdrawal of his comments and an apology to the Muslim community,” a FAIR spokesperson said.

Muslim Friendship Association spokesperson, Keysar Trad, branded Morrison’s speech as ‘very divisive,’ claiming that it “plays into the hands of the Islamophobic crowd” since it doesn’t differentiate between extremist and normal Islam.

“Even though he’s trying to isolate his message to those with an extremist interpretation of the religion, many in the general public view that as an indictment of the entire Muslim community,” Trad said.

The criticism from Muslim organizations comes following PM Scott Morrison’s speech in the wake of the knife attack in Melbourne that claimed the life of a person and left two more seriously injured. Morrison slammed all radical teachings, but noted that “radical and dangerous ideology of extremist Islam” poses the greatest threat to Australian society.

source: sbs