RIYADH: Sheikh Mohammed Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League and chair of the Organization of Muslim Scholars, gave a speech at an event in Sydney on Wednesday hosted by the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils during which he addressed issues of religious, ethnic and cultural diversity, and praised the Australian model for its promotion of the peaceful coexistence of faiths.
He also met several Australian MPs and local and federal ministers during the event. Other speakers included Shady Alsuleiman, president of the Australian National Imams Council, and Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, the country’s grand mufti.
Al-Issa said the league’s global programs, rooted in its Islamic and humanitarian mission, focus on initiatives that promote friendship between nations through the values of peace and societal harmony.
Its collaborations with other international organizations, including the UN, help support efforts to combat ideas and speech that foster conflict, civilizational clashes, racism and hatred, he added.
Minorities are particularly vulnerable to such exclusionary theories, Al-Issa said, which undermine citizenship and equal rights, as well as the constitution, and he praised the Australian model for its efforts to maintain cohesion within a diverse society.
A 2021 study by the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that 43.9 percent of the country’s 27.2 million citizens described themselves as Christian, 38.9 percent (more than 10 million people) said they had no religion, 3.2 percent identified as Muslim, 2.7 percent as Hindu, and 2.4 percent as Buddhist.
