Being Aboriginal connects me to this land, connects me to the people. Being Muslim grounds me spiritually and gives me that connection to God. - Sabah Rind
Sabah Rind is a Muslim Aboriginal woman from Western Australia with Badimaya Yamitji and Balochi Afghan ancestry.
She has a background in finance and recently graduated with a Master of Human Rights. She works with Aboriginal communities in WA in the fields of legal education and community engagement.
We discussed hate speech, culture and identity ahead of her participation in the “One of Us?” symposium reflecting on the recent anti-Muslim mass massacre in Christchurch; the Easter Sunday anti-Christian terror attacks in Sri-Lanka and the anti-Semitic attack in California (USA).
She says she can relate to these events, especially as a practising Muslim.
"If you can’t be safe in a Mosque, a Church or a Synagogue where else can you be safe?"
“Being a Muslim, and a practising Muslim, attending the Mosque is something quite close to the heart. Because you are in worship, it is a place of sanctity. It is sacred to every Muslim’s heart,” Sabah Rind Said.
“I could relate to the Christians who were attending the Church or a Jewish person attending the Synagogue in America just recently.”
“Those places of worship are places you go and reflect. It is a place of reflection and connecting yourself to God. So, you are disconnected from the outside world and when someone who is aggressive, coming from the outside world, comes in and attacks you in that safe space it is devastating."
"It is heartbreaking. If you can’t be safe there where else can you be safe?”
Besides the recent hate crimes our conversation also covered the way she navigates her unique and rich identity in a country where “Anglo-Saxon identity has been standardised as the norm.”
