The biggest, the greatest, the most beautiful, the most organized, the amazing, the wonderful , the largest Mawlid celebration in Australia you ever seen attended by thousands of people Muslims and non Muslims united in peace and harmony it is the Multicultural Mawlid Concert.

After a buildup of expectation, the two days of festivity and commemoration finally arrived at the Sydney Eid Festival at Bankstown’s Paul Keating Park. Both Saturday the 16th and Sunday the 17th of July marked a celebratory time for hundreds of multicultural communities to rejoice with great devotional fervor and enthusiasm on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr.
It was this bubbly atmosphere and vibrant diversity that made it such a privilege for the Islamic Charity Projects Association to organize this breath-taking event, and to also be an active participant in the midst of such a magnificent festival.
The Muslim Community Radio with all its staff and volunteers were also delighted and proud to convey through its airwaves, the excitement and joy brought about by the rich presentations and sensational chanting performances by the ICPA chanting band.
The day fostered a climate of warmth, togetherness and openness as Muslims greeted each other with kindness, and extended their best wishes to each other, sentiments which reflected the general aura of the Sydney Eid festival, a promotion of culture, friendship, harmony and a showcase of participation of various communities in celebrating and valuing cultural diversity, tolerance and social cohesion.
Participants were also treated to thrilling rides, enriching live Islamic chanting performances, face painting, stage entertainment, abundant stalls of food, clothing, books and home wares.
Focus was also drawn to the kid’s show which was presented live at the grounds of Paul Keating Park Bankstown. The 2MFM kids show presenters gave exclusive opportunities to many children who participated and were rewarded for their efforts. 
The second day of the festival saw the attendance of a number of dignified Islamic leaders and imams, distinguished members of the state political domains, in addition to councilors and other community leaders.  
The formal program began with a recitation from the holy Qur’an, followed by speeches from a number of key community figures.
The first to speak was Mr Mohamad Chams, ICPA Sydney branch manager who underlined some of the objectives of the Islamic Charity Projects Association.
“The Islamic Charity Projects Association, is an Association that aspires and sets an example by uniting community members towards achieving good deeds”
In his speech, Shiekh Ibrahim El-Shafie, Deputy Chairman of Darulfatwa acknowledged the significance of propagating the true teachings of Islam.
“That’s what we are working hard to achieve, to spread the correct knowledge about Islam, because Islam is the religion of moderation, sympathy and mercy, contrary to what those minorities are doing from the acts that do not belong to Islam in any way and that Islam disowns in all cases”
Ms Tania Mihailuk, MP Member for Bankstown Shadow Minister for Family and Community Services, Shadow Minister for Social Housing, Shadow Minister for Mental Health, Shadow Minister for Medical Research, also reflected the honor to be invited to ICPA’s significant multicultural festival and is proud to have an association such as ICPA in her electoral area.

Mr Paul Lynch MP Member for Liverpool congratulated the ICPA and Darulfatwa for their momentous achievements over the last two decades
“The things that the ICPA and Darulfatwa have achieved over the last two decades have been quite extraordinary, their growth has been very significant, increased institutions, and expansion, is an extraordinary tribute, first to the people who run it, to those who are organizing it and to the community in general. It is a very significant achievement in this part of the world to have done what you’ve done”
 “It is a great honor as a member of Parliament to be able to share in any number of multicultural festivals, particularly the ones with great significance such as Eid”
In his speech, 2MFM Radio chairman Mr Rafic Hussein acknowledged that the role of the Muslim Community Radio, 2MFM, is paramount in helping to build diversity in Australia.
“Our work at 2MFM over the past decade has been an integral to bringing communities together and in promoting constructive community relations, collaboration and of course engagement”
“Our work together has helped project the true and moderate teachings of Islam, to steer young Muslims away from extremism and away from those radical ideologies that we have all witnessed and of course to unite and build confidence in our diverse community”
Mrs Faten El-dana, President of Muslim Womens Welfare Association also recognized the popularity of the Sydney Eid festival.
“The Eid-ul Adha festival which for many years has been annually organized mainly by the ICPA in collaboration with other local organizations, has succeeded in gaining popularity among the diverse Muslim community. It is a special atmosphere of peace, giving and receiving as well as sharing and caring”
She also placed emphasis on many of the issues facing women within ethnic communities including domestic violence.
“As an organization focused on addressing women’s issues, it is of great concern that we address the terrifying issue of physical violence that Australian women are facing every day”.
Finally, the last to speak was Mr Abdul Ghaniyy Ghannoum, President of the Australian Muslim Youth League, who conveyed the aims and ambitions of AMYL.
“We are working very hard in teaching the religion of Islam to the youth, the religion of moderation, steering them away from violent extremism”
Finally, The Islamic Charity Project association extends their deepest appreciation to those who contributed to the success of the event. We ask Allah to endow upon us goodness and blessings from this auspicious occasion.

Posted by: Jonathan D. Halevi
Shaykh Said Rageah (الشيخ سعيد راجح) was born in Somalia and in the late 80sn moved to North America. Rageah has a Bachelor’s in Islamic studies and a Masters in Shari’ah and he has had several posts over the years, including: founder of Masjid Huda in Montreal and Masjid Aya in Maryland, advisor for Muslim Youth magazine, and member in the Aqsa Association.
He is also the founder of both Muslim Magazine and Al Aqsa Association, and served as the Chaplain at both the University of Calgary and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT). He served as an Imam at the Abu Hurairah Mosque in Toronto, the Chairman for the Journey of Faith Conference and as an instructor for the AlMaghrib Institute.
In a sermon delivered at Abu Hurairah Centre in Toronto (the video was uploaded to YouTube on February 8, 2009), Imam Rageah called on Canadian Muslims to unite and translate their demography into a political and economic power that is necessary to make the government allow Muslims to implement the Islamic Law (Sharia) in their communities and to change the foreign policy.
Rageah spoke in favour of following the example of the Sikh neighbourhood in Edmonton, Alberta, by bringing the Muslim community to live together in one area in which the authorities will not be able to make any decision without the approval of the Muslims.
He urges Muslims to hire only Muslim workers, to buy products or services only from Muslim-owned businesses and to avoid advertising with media outlets owned by kafir, meaning unbeliever or infidel. In this way, he maintained, Canadian Muslims can strengthen themselves and live according to Islam.
The following is a transcript of segments from Rageah’s sermon:
“With four, five [hundred] thousand Muslims you can create the most powerful lobby in Canada… with that number of Muslims you can create one of the strongest Muslim business in Toronto…
“If you just put our resources, if we put our resources together, if we can work together as an Ummah [Muslim nation] we can change a lot…
“As Muslims, we are scattered all over the city. You have people living in Brampton, you have people living in Mississauga, you have people living in Whitby, you have people living in Richmond Hill. Imagine if we all get together in one area.
“In the City of Edmonton, the Sikh, Sikh, they live in one neighbourhood and nothing can be changed or done without their approval. We here we may as well benefit from the system that they have here.
“What can you do with unity? A lot. You can change a lot. You can change the foreign policy of this country. You can change how the Muslims think. You can even when need help, when you need help you call Muslim for your need you will help the Muslim community…
“Brothers in the masjid [Mosque] right now, they are coming up with the magazine or newspaper called Ummah Times. What Ummah Times is that? Ummah Times is advertising all your businesses all the Muslim businesses [are] Ummah.
“All you need to do – I will never advertise with a kafir [unbeliever, infidel], there you go.
“I hear some advertisements giving to 680 News $5,000. Before your Muslim brothers $50 and $80 or $100 we think twice before we do it.
“Unless we work together, the day we need a truck driver we know where to find truck drivers.
“The day that I need a cab I should have a number of a Muslim cab it’s ok, pick me up.
“When I wan to see a doctor, only Muslim doctor.
“When I want to hire someone only Muslim worker.
“Then we can strengthen ourselves. This is the way and this is the only way we can exist in the society, living according to Islam.
“When the Sharia [Islamic Law], when the government of Toronto, Ontario gave us a break and said: deal your internal affairs based on your Sharia [Islamic Law] we did not go and say: Those few people are Ismailis and Ahmadis, they are not even Muslims. Why would they speak on behalf of Muslims. But, we say no, we keep quiet and see and watch what happens, and then the result was that they said… we will never allow you to rule yourselves, your internal affairs based on the Shariah…
“My brothers in faith [اخوتي في الله], anything that happens in your Muslim community, in the City of Toronto, anything that can be done, five hundred thousand Muslims that is a great number, large number, you can do a lot, work together. Let’s be an Ummah [nation]…
“Take your children to Islamic schools.
“Take your vehicle to Muslim owned business.
“If you buy a vehicle make sure there is a Muslim business or car dealer that sells cars.
“If you want to do anything just ask if that individual is a Muslim or not. If he is not, then look for a Muslim, because I’m sure you’ll find a Muslim. I’m sure you’ll find a Muslim in that field…
“O Allah, Raise the standing of Islam and the Muslims [اللهم اعز الاسلام والمسلمين], and humiliate the infidels and the polytheists.” [اذل الكفرة والمشركين]
Rageah visiting Sweden: refugees should spread Islam in hosting country
In his recent visit to Sweden, Rageah met with Muslim youths apparently sons and daughters of refugees from the Middle East who resettled with their families in a small Swedish village.
Rageah explained to the Muslim youths the obligation upon them to follow the teachings of Islam and also the importance of playing a leading role in introducing Islam to the local society in order to spread Islam in their new community.
The following are excerpts of Rageah’s speech (posted on YouTube on December 8, 2015):
“Why do you think Allah brought you here? Why do you think Allah brought your parents and they brought you here?
“Do you think because there was a civil war back home and they had nowhere else to go, and now all of the sudden they came to Sweden to this small village that I cannot even pronounce its name? Do you think they came here accidentally?
“No. It was designed by Almighty Allah. It was designed that you perhaps can be born and raised here, so you can carry the message of Islam to your own community, to the Swedish community, because maybe your father when he is speaking Swedish he has an accent, maybe your mother when she is speaking she has an accent. Maybe they don’t understand the culture of the people.
“Perhaps Allah brought you here so you can adapt, understand, analyze, read and learn the culture of the people and then in return you come back and give them the light of Islam…
“Unfortunately a lot of young ladies and a lot of young boys, or young men, they think they were brought here so they can have fun, they can listen to music, they can shovel the snow that their father never have seen before, they can make a snow man in front of their houses, they can slide down the hill. This is not thereason.
“The reason that Allah brought you here is so you can can carry the message of Islam to the people. Why? Because each one of us, Almighty Allah [said] call to the way of your Lord (ادعوا الى سبيل ربك ). So your responsibility is to call people to Allah.”
Rageah: Stephen Harper is an “enemy of Islam”
Rageah, an Imam at the Abu Hurairah Mosque in Toronto and an instructor for the AlMaghrib Institute, sees Prime Minister Harper as an enemy of Islam. The following is an excerpt (25:20-26:59) of his speech at Assalam Mosque in Ottawa in 2012 (the video was uploaded to YouTube on September 12, 2012):
“If one of us was invited by the Prime Minister of this country [Stephen Harper] and he says: ‘I’ll give you a special invitation, exclusive invitation, come to my house, have dinner with me, chat with me, sit with me, talk to me, I’ll talk to you.’ I guarantee you, everyone of you will come out of that meeting raising his head with pride, so proud of himself, so pleased, you know, twitting every second: O I’m sitting with the Prime Minister [Stephen Harper], you know, you know, putting on Facebook: This is my picture with the Prime Minister [Stephen Harper], you know, and you’ll brag on that day and night. Every single moment when someone says: Peace be upon you, (السلام عليكم), O do you know I was just chatting with the Prime Minister [Stephen Harper]. When Someone says: ‘How are the children?’ ‘His house is excellent.’ Your life will be nothing but him, and he [Stephen Harper] is the enemy of Islam. He [Stephen Harper] is an enemy of Islam. I guarantee you, we go to him right now, and he is the man who said, you know, the threat of this country is Islamism. All of us would say: ‘Mister Prime Minister, can we take a picture with you?’ We are so proud of that, because it is the human nature, but Allah is telling you: ‘Stay with me every night.’ Seclusion (خلوة) with Allah we don’t care. We don’t care. The voluntary prayer during the night (قيام الليل) is a conversation (نجوة) between you and Allah, no one else.”
Rageah did not elaborate in his speech what is the Islamic ruling regarding an “enemy of Islam.” In previous speech (February 2012) at the University of Waterloo as part of the Islamic Awareness Weekorganized by the local Muslim Students Association (MSA) and partially funded by the university, Rageahimplicitly justified the death penalty for apostates and those who insult the prophets.
Imam Ahmed Qandeel, member of the supreme council of Quebec imams, explained in the weekly Friday (May 12, 2013) sermon at Alrawdah Mosque in Montreal, the Islamic ruling regarding Muslims who became enemies of Islam. The following is an excerpt of his sermon (originally in Arabic):
“The second case deals with a person who fights against Allah and His messenger and joined a vile group. His verdict will not be a regular execution. His verdict will be identical to the punishment for banditry. ‘Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides.’ [Quran 5:33]. This is the difference between them. The first will be asked to repent and the second will be killed immediately without repentance or asking him to repent…”

REUTERS: 

Samsul Said Muslim demonstrators chant slogans outside Malaysia''s Court of Appeal in Putrajaya, outside Kuala Lumpur, March 5. 4 hr ago By AFP Malaysia's highest court on Monday dismissed a bid by Christians for the right to use the word "Allah", ending a years-long legal battle that has caused religious tensions in the Muslim-majority country. 

The Catholic Church had been seeking to reverse a government ban on it referring to God by the Arabic word "Allah" in the local Malay-language edition of its Herald newspaper. But a seven-judge panel in the administrative capital Putrajaya ruled a lower court decision siding with the government stood. 

 "It (the Court of Appeal) applied the correct test, and it is not open for us to interfere," chief justice Arifin Zakaria said. "Hence, the application is dismissed." 

 S. Selvarajah, one of the church's lawyers, said the decision meant the end of the court case. 

 "It's a blanket ban. Non-Muslims cannot use the word," he told AFP. Outside the court, which was cordoned off, about a hundred Muslim activists shouted "Allahu Akbar" or "God is great", and held banners that read "Uniting to defend the name of Allah" ahead of the verdict. 

 The dispute first erupted in 2007 when the Home Ministry threatened to revoke the publishing permit of the Herald for using the Arabic word in its Malay-language edition. 

 The church launched a court case to challenge the directive, arguing "Allah" had been used for centuries in Malay-language Bibles and other literature to refer to "God" outside of Islam. But authorities say using "Allah" in non-Muslim literature could confuse Muslims and entice them to convert, a crime in Malaysia. 

 An appeals court last October reinstated the ban, overturning a lower court's 2009 ruling in favour of the church that had led to a spate of attacks on houses of worship.

Sydney Morning Herald  22.12.2012

Fatwa ... The head imam at Lakemba Mosque has told the congregation they should not participate in anything to do with Christmas.

THE Lakemba Mosque has issued a fatwa against Christmas, warning followers it is a ''sin'' to even wish people a Merry Christmas.

The religious ruling, which followed a similar lecture during Friday prayers at Australia's biggest mosque, was posted on its Facebook site on Saturday morning.

The head imam at Lakemba, Sheikh Yahya Safi, had told the congregation during prayers that they should not take part in anything to do with Christmas.

Samir Dandan, the president of the Lebanese Muslim Association, which oversees the mosque, could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

The fatwa, which has sparked widespread community debate and condemnation, warns that the "disbelievers are trying to draw Muslims away from the straight path".

It also says that Christmas Day and associated celebrations are among the "falsehoods that a Muslim should avoid ... and therefore, a Muslim is neither allowed to celebrate the Christmas Day nor is he allowed to congratulate them".

The posting of the fatwa has shocked many Muslim leaders. The Grand Mufti of Australia, Ibrahim Abu Mohammad, said the foundations of Islam were peace, co-operation, respect and holding others in esteem.

"Anyone who says otherwise is speaking irresponsibly," he said.

"There is difference between showing respect for someone's belief and sharing those beliefs," Dr Ibrahim said.

Dr Ibrahim said the views did not represent the majority of Muslims in Australia. "We are required to have good relations with all people, and to congratulate them on their joyous events is very important."

The fatwa quotes the teacher Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim as saying that congratulating disbelievers for their rituals is forbidden, and if a "Muslim who says this does not become a disbeliever himself, he at least commits a sin as this is the same as congratulating him for his belief in the trinity, which is a greater sin and much more disliked by Almighty Allaah than congratulating him for drinking alcohol or killing a soul or committing fornication or adultery”.

A community leader, Dr Jamal Rifi, said he did not agree with the school of thought behind the fatwa.

"We can share the festivities with friends and families and neighbours – I don't think there is any civil, religious or ethical reason not to," he said.

Dr Rifi and Sheikh Youssef Nabha, the imam of the Kingsgrove Mosque, are travelling to Nauru on Sunday night with priests from the Maronite and Melkite churches in Sydney to attend Christmas celebrations with the asylum seekers held there.

Dr Rifi said he and Sheikh Youssef would be distributing Christmas cards during the visit.

A community advocate and Muslim convert, Rebecca Kay, told Fairfax Media: "It's sad to see the Lebanese Muslim Association, which considers itself the peak body representing Australian Muslims, with comments like these. It goes to show how far they are from representing the community.

"The notion that Muslims wishing other people a merry Christmas will take them out of their faith is outright ridiculous, laughable and borders on the extreme."

Keysar Trad, a former official with the Lebanese Muslim Association, said in his time with the organisation they used to regularly greet people with merry Christmas. "I don't know what has changed," he said. "But now as a representative of Australia's peak Muslim body, the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, I would like to wish all your readers a merry Christmas and a happy new year."