Creating a good image for Muslims in difficult time

Education Director from Islamic Museum of Australia, Sherene Hassan shared her insights into Muslims and Islam being stereotype and how does her center create a good image for Muslim communities.

Education Director or Islamic Museum of Australia, Sherene Hassan is teaching student about Muslims and Islam Source: Courtesy of Sherene Hassan

These are the quotes from Education Director from Islamic Museum of Australia, Sherene Hassan:

“Australian values are the same as the values of most groups of people, they are basically universal values."

“Muslims have contributed to the world’s civilization through arts, culture, architecture, science and medicine for centuries. Also a lot of  people in the wider Australian community  don’t know about the contributions Muslims made to Australia in the 1800s. They created much of the infrastructure; telegraph lines, railway tracks etc. So it is important to recognise and know what Australian Muslims have contributed to Australia and it is very important for Muslims themselves to know that they have a connection to Australia as part of their identity.  We should recognise and celebrate these contributions."

“I think that it is important that we continue to create opportunities for people to come and learn or study about Islam and see what the true teachings of Islam is really about and it is important that we continue to promote the museum, to have mosque open days, and festivals like SalamFest.”

Holy Quran-Tariq786-CC0 Creative Commons-Pixabay Source: Pixabay

“It’s only roughly 5% of the population that  have strong anti-Muslim views that will not attend a Mosque Open day or go to the Islamic museum.  We don’t focus on those people, we are dealing with the majority who don’t have such entrenched views who tend to be more  easy going and believe in  a fair go."

“Most individuals, if they have misgiving towards Muslims or Islam it is quite superficial so it doesn’t take much to break the barriers. Those who have extreme views toward Muslims, that is their choice and we welcome and open the door to anyone. Even those who have strong anti-Muslims views I have noticed that those views have softened somewhat if not dramatically.” “Professor Kevin Dunn has surveyed thousands of Australians and he found out that those who have met Muslims are far more likely to have very favorable attitude towards Muslims. And those individuals who have never met Muslims before are more likely to have an intolerant view towards Muslims.“

“I always show patience towards them and I actually feel pity  that they are so consumed with negativity and hatred. To be honest I don't feel anger towards them. I will always act as my religion encourages me, and show patience. In the Quran it says:  there will be people who will insult you about your religion, but you must patiently persevere and do not transgress. The Quran also says: Repel evil with good and you can turn an enemy into a friend. I don’t like to engage in arguments with them but  will continue to reach out to them.”

“Prophet Mohammad said "Speak good words or remain silent.". He also said 'no one has faith unless you love for others what you love for yourself.' " “I believe that it is due to ignorance, due to misunderstanding, if people understood the true teachings of Islam and if people got to know Islam better, then this misunderstanding or this idea that Muslims don’t embrace Australian values wouldn’t exist.”

House of Allah-Abdullah Shakoor-CCO Creative Commons-Pixabay Source: Pixabay

“Obviously Muslim communities are not perfect, no community is perfect, there are good and bad people in every race and religions, but we want to show the wider community that we are doing  our best, and our religion has beautiful teachings and practicing my faith, I believe enriches my life and make me a better person. For me personally, my faith provides constant motivation to make me the best person I can be.”

“I think that a lot of the activities Muslims are doing is not so much to try to  change what people think about Muslims.  We simply are  trying to be better people.  e.g: We are involved in 'Clean up Australia day' because our religion teaches us to respect the environment like other religions teach people to be the best they can be.”

“I suppose in these challenging times we can choose the path of fear, or we can choose the path of understanding, we can choose the path of love or we can choose the path of intolerance, it's our decision how we respond." "For those individuals that have misgivings about Islam, I would like to ask, have you ever met a Muslims before? Have you ever had a conversation with a Muslim before? Have you learnt Islam from a reputable source, or from some dodgy websites or some Facebook pages with incorrect information? I would urge anyone who has misgiving about Islam or Muslims, take the opportunity to visit a mosque on a mosque open day or attend activities, you know pop by the museum, or actually speak to a Muslim and you will find that the views you have are really unfounded."

“I have spent 15 ten years volunteering to promote harmony between Muslims and people of  other faiths and having celebrities like Sonya Kruger  make such divisive comments about Islam, I ask myself, my goodness Sherene, all of this work I have done and many others like me have done, are we achieving anything?  You know, I feel like I have been taking one step forward and taking ten steps backward especially with the re-election of Pauline Hanson. “

“The problem is that we tend to focus more on the loudest minority, the very vocal minority, but from my experience there are really wonderful people out there reaching out to the Muslim community. So my job is not to fixate on the nay sayers but to reach out to the good people out there and to spread that goodwill.” “The Islamic museum aims to promote a positive Muslim identity. We should be careful about the divisive comments from the media or individuals that state that Muslims do not belong and that they should return to where they came from.”

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