DESPITE pleas for calm from the Queensland Premier and senior police, Muslims – particularly women – have been targeted in a series of hate attacks.

The Sunday Mail can reveal Muslim women are being singled out, including one victim who had coffee thrown in her face while she was stopped at traffic lights south of Brisbane.

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The woman said a man in a car pulled up beside her and callously doused her in coffee before driving off along Beenleigh Rd.

“I was terrified,’’ she said. “I feel unsafe. I feel like a stranger in my own country.”

Other Muslim women have been abused and threatened, with one told to take off her headscarf – or hijab – at West End by a man who wanted to burn it.

The women did not want to be identified, and all believe they are “collateral damage” from recent police anti-terrorism raids which have fuelled fear and suspicion across the nation.

Sarah, 30, said she’d been waiting outside a shop in Logan Rd at Underwood with a 12-year-old girl when insults were hurled at her by a man riding past on a pushbike.

“He yelled f--- jihad, f--- off, go back home you c--- and continued to verbally abuse us,’’ she said.

In the next 20 minutes she was abused twice by other men. “It’s quite frightening to hear such vile language and hatred. I was fearful,’’ she said.

media_camera Muslim women Sarah and Stacey have both been attacked in Queensland. Pic: Tara Croser

Stacey, 27, said she had copped offensive insults online.

“I’m a seventh generation Australian,’’ she said. “My family are as Australian as you can get and I’m scared.”

Brisbane Muslim community leader Ali Kadri said: “We need to ensure that these acts stop immediately.

“This is how extremism starts. It starts in the mind, it comes out the mouth and ends up in violence ... we must all sit down and come up with some solutions.’’

The Brisbane attacks come after a Mareeba mosque had the word “Evil” painted on it and the Logan and Holland Park mosques were targeted in anti-Islamic incidents.

Police Commissioner Ian Stewart urged victims to come forward.

“We need all parts of the community to work with us particularly those who are singled out and targeted and reinforce to them that police are there for them as well,’’ Mr Stewart said.

On Thursday night – just hours after homes were raided by police – Mr Stewart, Police Minister Jack Dempsey and Multicultural Affairs Minister Glen Elmes held talks with Brisbane’s Muslim community representatives to address their concerns about their safety and welfare.

media_camera Iman Uzair Akbar hosts an open session at the Holland Park mosque on Friday.

‘People need to see we are not extremists’

A BRISBANE imam has revealed how Australia’s oldest mosque is helping convert young Muslims with extreme views.

Holland Park mosque’s Imam Uzair Akbar said he worked with troubled young Muslims on a regular basis.

“We came to know that one of the problems we were facing in relation to the youth was that they were not affiliated with a mosque, they were affiliated with a centre,’’ Imam Akbar told about 100 people on Friday afternoon when the mosque was opened to the public for an hour. “And there is not a set of laws pertaining to centres and anyone can come and preach and educate and we came to know that the information they were receiving though these centres was not proper, it was not mainstream.

“So a couple of years ago, myself, Ali Kadri (mosque spokesman) and a few brothers decided we should make a centre in which the youth could come …

“We did that, and I believe many, many children who had extreme views became mainstream by the grace of God almighty, and with the assistance of the government.

“… the majority, 99.99 per cent of Muslims, including youth, are very wise and they are understanding …”

Imam Akbar said the mosque condemned all acts of atrocity. “We stand for justice for all. So if there’s any kind of barbaric act carried out anywhere out in the world, we should stand up united because we believe that justice is the reason why Australia is a beautiful country. Because God almighty said where justice is served, that country will prosper.’’

Ali Dean, 79, said: “People need to come and see that we are not all extremists.’’

Bid to take the Islam out of IS

EXPERTS have called on the Australian public to follow France’s lead and start referring to IS under a new name to avoid associating the Islamic religion with extremism.

France has already declared it will be using the name “Daesh” to reference the terrorist group. The term is a loose Arab acronym for al-Dawla al-Islamiya al-Iraq al-Sham – or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in English.

Council of Imam’s Queensland chairman Yusuf Peer appealed to the media and politicians to start referring to the terrorist group using the same or a similar name.

“Islam cannot be associated with terrorism,” Imam Peer said. “You cannot kill innocent people. You cannot destroy churches and temples. You cannot destroy trees. You cannot mutilate bodies like these people are doing. These are very wrong actions.”

QUT media and communications professor Axel Bruns said it was a good idea to avoid referencing the group as anything to do with an Islamic State. But he thought it would only be effective if the international community was able to come to a consensus on what to call the group.

“Names certainly matter to any organisation, but the real problem will be getting the global community to decide on what to call the group. “It’s going to be very difficult for one entity – like France – to effect change by themselves.”