A Bit About Me

Today marks the two month anniversary of this blog. I know it's early for an anniversary, but I'm surprised I've lasted this long. So far it's contained light everyday reflections with poetry and some more serious observations. The next few months will contain the same. I'm working on a few academic style articles that should be ready next year. Anyway, two months in, I thought it would be nice for the visitors to this blog to learn a little more about its owner. Hence, this is a brief post about where I come from, my beliefs, and values. I'll add more after six months, should the blog still be running (in sha Allah - if God wills).

Early Years

I was born in Canberra, the capital city of Australia. I'm the first born of two boys. My brother is eleven years my junior. My parents, of Indian Muslim origin, come from the beautiful Fiji Islands. I've been there on three occasions, the last being in 1991, a trip I remember well. I live with my parents and brother in the outer Western suburbs of Sydney, in a suburb called Bonnyrigg Heights. It's a lower-middle class to working class area with a lot of people from Fiji along with many from South East Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos). There's a mosque run by the Fiji-Indian Muslim community in the neighbouring suburb of Green Valley. This mosque is where I learnt to recite the Qur'an at the age of about eight or nine. I remember my dad taking me there at the beginning, when I wouldn't let him go because the mosque felt like a strange place. However, a few months later I began to feel comfortable and made friends, a few whom I still see today. Lying only a few hundred metres from the mosque is Green Valley Primary School, which I attended as a child. Because of both places Green Valley has a very special place in my heart. 

As much as I love home, I also love to travel. I've visited or lived in eight countries: Canada, United States, Fiji, India, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and Australia. Traveling tends to bring out the best in me - the inner Aussie explorer takes over. However, like the saying goes: "there's no place like home," and for me home in this life will always be Australia.


Beliefs and Values

There are two main things that define my personality. First, the society in which I was born and grew up: Australia. Being Australian, to me, is to be the following things: straight-forward (or "fair dinkum" as Aussies call it), easy going, and a bit of a larrakin. It's to give all people, regardless of race and creed, a fair go. Second, the religion to which I was born and brought up in: Islam. Being Muslim (a believer in Islam), to me, is to be the following things: humble, a servant, a voice for what's right and against what's wrong, a helper of the oppressed. 

 








Being Australian and being Muslim are complementary, in my opinion. Indeed, when Islam started out in Mecca in the 7th century it was a sanctuary for the underdog. Coincidentally, Australians love to support an underdog. Logic would say that Australians would support the cause of Muslims in Palestine or Muslim refugees, as these people certainly are underdogs in today's world. Unfortunately, this isn't always the case.

One need not relinquish being Australian to be Muslim, and vice-versa. In fact, the best Muslims I've met are the most "Australian" ones. It is now up to the Muslims in Australia to be people about whom others say "the best Australians I've met are the Muslim ones." We must teach our children to be proud of being Australian and Muslim. We must inculcate in them a love of service, to both country and creed. In this way can our presence improve our society, in sha Allah.