Extremist students take over mosque / Cleric Tax Fraud Probe
Richard Kerbaj
news.com.au
March 20, 2007
HARDLINE international students have wrested control of a major NSW mosque, ousting the local cleric amid accusations the group is rapidly converting followers to extremist Islam.
Up to 150 university students from Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Egypt who follow the fundamentalist Wahabbism ideology were central to the overthrow at the weekend of the executive board of the Newcastle Muslim Association.
Deposed association president Yunus Kara yesterday accused the students of pushing for new leadership of the port city's mosque in order to advance their own extremist agenda and continue "brainwashing" local Muslims.
"The international students have used their puppets to come forward and dictate," Mr Kara told The Australian.
"They're driving them to whatever ideology that (suits them). Their ideology is extremism ... but they teach under the banner of Islam."
But the association's newly elected treasurer, Michael Cawley, denied the claims of the ousted leadership, accusing them of labelling opponents Wahabbis.
Mr Cawley, a convert, said the international students were merely visitors to the mosque and had no control over the new leadership.
"Basically, what happened is anyone who didn't agree with the (former) president's point of view were labelled Wahabbi," said Mr Cawley. "It's unfair."
Newcastle Mosque's deposed imam, Bilal Kanj, who was also voted out on the weekend, said while the students openly denied their Wahabbi beliefs and radical Koranic interpretations, they were converting people during prayer group meetings and other religious gatherings.
"If you were to ask them, they will deny they're Wahabbi," said the Australian-born cleric, who moved to Newcastle three months ago to work as a full-time spiritual leader.
"They play it very discreetly. We've been studying them all of our life and we know how to spot them very easily."
March 20, 2007
HARDLINE international students have wrested control of a major NSW mosque, ousting the local cleric amid accusations the group is rapidly converting followers to extremist Islam.
Up to 150 university students from Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Egypt who follow the fundamentalist Wahabbism ideology were central to the overthrow at the weekend of the executive board of the Newcastle Muslim Association.
Deposed association president Yunus Kara yesterday accused the students of pushing for new leadership of the port city's mosque in order to advance their own extremist agenda and continue "brainwashing" local Muslims.
"The international students have used their puppets to come forward and dictate," Mr Kara told The Australian.
"They're driving them to whatever ideology that (suits them). Their ideology is extremism ... but they teach under the banner of Islam."
But the association's newly elected treasurer, Michael Cawley, denied the claims of the ousted leadership, accusing them of labelling opponents Wahabbis.
Mr Cawley, a convert, said the international students were merely visitors to the mosque and had no control over the new leadership.
"Basically, what happened is anyone who didn't agree with the (former) president's point of view were labelled Wahabbi," said Mr Cawley. "It's unfair."
Newcastle Mosque's deposed imam, Bilal Kanj, who was also voted out on the weekend, said while the students openly denied their Wahabbi beliefs and radical Koranic interpretations, they were converting people during prayer group meetings and other religious gatherings.
"If you were to ask them, they will deny they're Wahabbi," said the Australian-born cleric, who moved to Newcastle three months ago to work as a full-time spiritual leader.
"They play it very discreetly. We've been studying them all of our life and we know how to spot them very easily."
**
Taxation office to probe Muslim cleric on Saudi cash
By Richard Kerbaj
By Richard Kerbaj
news.com.au
March 19, 2007 01:00am
A SENIOR Muslim cleric working for the tax office in Canberra is being investigated over accusations he failed to pay income tax on thousands of dollars he allegedly received from the Saudi embassy.
An ACT Islamic organisation has also accused the Palestinian-born imam Mohammad Swaiti of being "radical", anti-Western in his religious teachings, and failing to declare payments he received from officiating at wedding ceremonies.
Documents obtained by The Australian reveal an Australian Tax Office investigation into Sheik Swaiti over allegations by senior Muslim community leaders that he failed to declare his clerical allowances of up to $US30,000 ($37,700) a year, which were paid to him by the Saudi Government.
The tax office sent Islamic Society of ACT president Sabrija Poskovic a letter in reply to written allegations made by him and his community regarding Sheik Swaiti.
"I refer to your letter relating to the imam of your mosque, Mohammad Swaiti, who also happens to be a tax office employee," the ATO's letter to Mr Poskovic says.
"I have passed your concerns to the relevant area of the tax office and I expect to be able to respond to you by 6 February 2007."
Documents provided to the tax office, which accuse Sheik Swaiti of being "very fanatic and radical person in his Islamic views", follow factional divisions within Canberra's Muslim community over issues including Canberra's only mosque.
The claims come after The Australian last week revealed that hardline Islamic clerics were encouraging their followers not to pay income tax because they considered it contrary to sharia law.
March 19, 2007 01:00am
A SENIOR Muslim cleric working for the tax office in Canberra is being investigated over accusations he failed to pay income tax on thousands of dollars he allegedly received from the Saudi embassy.
An ACT Islamic organisation has also accused the Palestinian-born imam Mohammad Swaiti of being "radical", anti-Western in his religious teachings, and failing to declare payments he received from officiating at wedding ceremonies.
Documents obtained by The Australian reveal an Australian Tax Office investigation into Sheik Swaiti over allegations by senior Muslim community leaders that he failed to declare his clerical allowances of up to $US30,000 ($37,700) a year, which were paid to him by the Saudi Government.
The tax office sent Islamic Society of ACT president Sabrija Poskovic a letter in reply to written allegations made by him and his community regarding Sheik Swaiti.
"I refer to your letter relating to the imam of your mosque, Mohammad Swaiti, who also happens to be a tax office employee," the ATO's letter to Mr Poskovic says.
"I have passed your concerns to the relevant area of the tax office and I expect to be able to respond to you by 6 February 2007."
Documents provided to the tax office, which accuse Sheik Swaiti of being "very fanatic and radical person in his Islamic views", follow factional divisions within Canberra's Muslim community over issues including Canberra's only mosque.
The claims come after The Australian last week revealed that hardline Islamic clerics were encouraging their followers not to pay income tax because they considered it contrary to sharia law.
posted by jillosophy at 3/20/2007 03:30:00 PM
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