A comparison of the respective histories of Islam and the West shows a relative absence of racism in Islam. Various verses of the Quran and traditions of the Prophet Muhammad [s] have provided Muslims with an enlightened perspective of human diversity which inhibited the emergence of racist ideologies in the Islamic civilisation.

A comparison of the respective histories of Islam and the West shows a relative absence of racism in Islam. Islamic teachings have provided Muslims with an enlightened perspective of human diversity which inhibited the emergence of racist ideologies in Islamic civilisation. Consequently, Islam, unlike the West, is not scarred by incidents of annihilation of indigenous peoples, racist slave trades, holocausts nor any systems of apartheid. The Islamic perspective of human diversity provide constructive insights for a world still plagued by racism.

The holy month of Ramadan will be upon us, and the months preceding it — Rajab and Sha’baan – are great months in which to prepare for it, make up fasts, get into the right frame of mind, set our goals, to evaluate where we are now in our deen from last Ramadan and figure out where we want to be with this Ramadan and after.

In the name of 'counter-terrorism', the Abbott government has effectively undermined our democratic institutions by ushering in a neo-fascist state security apparatus, dismantled the rule of law, made a mockery of our civil liberties, pillaged state coffers in pursuing an undefinable war on terror at the behests of foreign states - all at the expense of the most vulnerable Australians, like our senior citizens and our childrens' educational institutions, and almost single-handedly, through an insidious and opportunistic policy of fear-mongering and sensationalism, radicalised mainstream Australian society by demonising and alienating an entire Australian faith community....and this is by no means an exhaustive list of the absurdities that have come to define the Abbott government.