Halal barbecue brings Islam to wider community

Updated

People of all faiths were brought together at a halal barbecue in Lismore where some of the Northern Rivers' estimated 100 Muslims shared their stories with Samantha Turnbull.

I experience discrimination every day, but I don't take it on board because I'm happy in myself and I think that maybe that person is unaware of the real Islam. Amber Rashidi

Amber Rashidi converted to Islam eight years ago after falling in love with a Muslim man.

"We started getting a bit more serious and I wanted to know what he believed in, and I wanted to find out what I believed in also," she said.

"I just fell in love with Islam and the beautifulness of it."

Ms Rashidi wears a niqab, abaya and long hijab when she goes out in public.

"I experience discrimination every day, but I don't take it on board because I'm happy in myself and I think that maybe that person is unaware of the real Islam," she said.

"I'm at the frontline of it because what I wear is very in-your-face.

"We choose very carefully where we go in Australia.

"We'll go to the botanical gardens and I think people who are smelling flowers are not interested in what I'm wearing.

"You go to a place where there's drinking and alcohol and people are probably going to say something to you, so you have to be aware of what you are wearing, the people around you and that I have children with me who can be affected."

Ms Rashidi said her mother, Vikki Crook, became a Christian around the same time she became a Muslim.

"I think the rest of my family just accepted that something Amber would do is completely out there, and it's just something Amber would do," she said.

"My mum is awesome and is very accepting.

"She found God, the same God but not from the same field, and I found God and we were addicted to talking about God."

Ms Crook said she had felt excited for her daughter when she converted to Islam.

"When she said she wanted to put the hijab on, I said, 'Go for it, do it'," she said.

"I respect her belief system. It's a beautiful religion and I'm really proud of who she is."

However, Ms Crook said had had initial concerns about how Ms Rashidi may be discriminated against.

"When the grandkids came along I didn't want them to get the looks and feedback off other people. That worried me," she said.

"But, really, it doesn't affect them.

"Amber's got this way of talking to people and they gather towards her and they see a different side to the religion when they talk to Amber."

I am completely against what is happening in the Middle East, innocent people are being killed every day, but that is not Islam. Abdul Aziz

Abdul Aziz is the president of the Northern Rivers Muslim Association.

He moved to Dubbo, in central western New South Wales, from Dubai in 2005.

Mr Aziz left the UAE after being offered a 457 visa and employment in Australia as an electronics engineer.

He now owns a business in Lismore.

"I love Lismore the best because of the diversity, the colours, and it's got a lot more acceptance than a lot of other communities," he said.

"Discrimination is going to be wherever you go. There was discrimination where I was born in Pakistan, in Dubai when I moved there, it's everywhere."

Mr Aziz said he hoped to educate the broader community about true Islam, which did not condone terrorism or murder.

"There are always black sheep in a community," he said.

"I want the media to tell the good side of the Muslim community.

"I am completely against what is happening in the Middle East, innocent people are being killed every day, but that is not Islam."

I found that Islam answered a lot of questions and gave me really clear guidelines about how to live every day. Abbey Hodson

Abbey Hodson became a Muslim four years ago after searching for meaning in her life.

"I used to really dislike religion and I found myself talking to Muslims and I felt this real inner resistance, like 'don't talk to me about devils and angels and different concepts of religion I was really uncomfortable with'," she said.

"And I heard myself and thought I'll never be able to connect with people really if I don't open up and challenge that in myself, and then it was a long, slow process.

"I think I was searching for meaning in my life and until then I hadn't found it.

"I found that Islam answered a lot of questions and gave me really clear guidelines about how to live every day."

Ms Hodson said she sometimes received a few strange looks as an Anglo-Saxon, Muslim woman.

"Mostly what I find is that people want to approach me and talk to me and ask questions, which I love," she said.

"Sometimes if I see someone looking at me badly, I imagine they think it's worse that I'm white ... I think people have preconceived ideas, but without a dialogue it's impossible to know what people are thinking."

Ms Hodson said she had been nervous about meeting Middle Eastern Muslims at first, but her fears proved unfounded.

"I was always frightened before I would meet Muslim people and I thought they were going to judge me or I won't know what to talk about, but I always found them to be so generous, no matter where they were from – Pakistan, Jordan, Australia – there was really this beautiful kind of attitude," she said.

"I know, now, when I see strangers in a park and they are obviously Muslim I know that they are going to be friendly, warm and welcoming."

I realised it was actually a faith that starts with the word 'salaam', which means peace, and it almost sounded quite alternative and hippie in some ways, 'may the force be with you' kind of thing. Geoff Lawton (Jamal Al Deen)

Geoff Lawton (Jamal Al Deen) married Jordanian-born Muslim woman Nadia Lawton in 2004. He converted to Islam in 2003.

He was a community aid worker in Iraq when he decided to convert.

"I decided I didn't know enough in-depth about the Islamic faith, and I'd never actually been inside a mosque, and I thought I'd better understand, as I was potentially risking my life by going into a war zone, more about the Islamic faith," he said.

"The more I asked, the more interesting, more passive and more beautiful it became and I realised it was actually a faith that starts with the word 'salaam', which means peace, and it almost sounded quite alternative and hippie in some ways, 'may the force be with you' kind of thing.

"I started to look more into it and I kind of free-fell into a situation where I realised there was a lot of misrepresentation and there was a lot of understanding that was being misinterpreted and I just felt more and more engaged in a sharia lifestyle."

Mr Lawton said he was surprised by the freedom allowed in Islam.

"You have choices and there are concessions even when you travel," he said.

"It's a very easy way of living that allows a lot of flexibility. There doesn't have to be this rigidity that's portrayed in the press. It's very different to that."

He said he felt privileged to have found Islam.

"I live my life more peacefully, with less conflict and a lot less complication," Mr Lawton said.

"It's a lot easier to live, what I consider, a decent life."

Ms Lawton said she had no problems settling into Australia.

"When I came to Australia I promised myself I would have no judgment, I would just open my heart and my mind and take everything in, and I did that," she said.

"I just absorbed everyone and made plenty of friends and now everybody knows me around Lismore.

"I love the Northern Rivers and I don't think I'll ever leave it."

Ms Lawton said she tried not to take in too much news from the Middle East because the media's portrayal of Islam was upsetting.

"The people on the news who say what they're doing in the Islamic name and under God's name, it's not right. They're giving a bad name to the whole of Islam," she said.

"Islam is not about killing yourself and killing innocent people. None of us agree with that."

Topics: religion-and-beliefs, islam, community-organisations, community-and-multicultural-festivals, lismore-2480

First posted