Fed: Muslims unhappy with peak Islamic body, survey shows

AAP General News (Australia)
04-18-2006
Fed: Muslims unhappy with peak Islamic body, survey shows

SYDNEY, April 18 AAP - Muslims believe Australia's peak Islamic body is an "old boys'
club" that is sexist, secretive and irrelevant.

A survey of Muslims by the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) found strong dissatisfaction
towards the religion's umbrella body, the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC),
The Australian newspaper reported today.

The survey comes ahead of elections for important AFIC positions next week.

"The ICV executive committee found the most pressing concern the Muslims of Victoria
have about AFIC is its transparency and representativeness," ICV said in a report to members.

"The community feels very strongly that AFIC is a closed, unrepresentative and therefore
irrelevant organisations."

The ICV survey showed Victorian Muslims believed AFIC was an "old boys' club" which
displayed sexist behaviour and neglected women and youth, the newspaper reported.

Outgoing AFIC president Ameer Ali rejected the criticisms.

"AFIC does not represent 100 per cent of the Muslims but there is no other parallel
organisation which represents more Muslims than the AFIC," Dr Ali said.

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KEYWORD: MUSLIMS

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