Stop the Conversion of the Alma Road Community House to a Place of Religious Worship

Port Phillip Council, in its role as elected representative of East St Kilda, have applied for a Planning Permit to change the use of the Community House at 200 Alma Road to a 'Place of Assembly' for a maximum of 100 people at any one time, in order to legitimize its current use as a place of prayer, with dispensation from car parking requirements.

If the permit is granted, it will enable the Islamic group which already meets there for Friday prayers to expand their activities. It will also facilitate further religious activity, which will attract people from outside the area, especially as the Islamic Society based at 8/198 Alma Road (a unit in a block of flats next door) advertises these Friday prayers online.

The prayer group which meets at the Alma Road Community Centre is listed (but now removed) under “Masajids (mosques) and Islamic Centres” on the website http://islamicdiversity.com/mosques.html , which is run by Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah, (ASWJ) an extremist organization, one of whose leaders is Mufti Afzal Hoosen Elias. The teachings of ASWJ supports sharia practices being introduced in Australia, including polygamy and cutting off hands for theft. This was recently dramatically highlighted by Siddiq- Conlon, a former student of ASWJ, calling for the implementation of sharia in Australia.

While Council deny that the change of use of the centre will transform it into a place of worship, the reality is that mandated ritual Friday prayers are indeed an act of worship. Thus the centre has already become a place of Islamic worship, which is problematic for the following reasons:

1. The desired ‘social-cohesion’ seems unlikely to be achieved by allowing Islamic ritual prayers to be recited. According to traditional Islamic text and as scholar Dr Mark Durie notes in his book, The Third Choice, p47, ‘it is remarkable that the daily prayers of every Muslim, part of the core of Islam, include a rejection of Christians and Jews as misguided and objects of Allah’s wrath’.

2.Islamic prayers mandate extensive ritual washing - head, face, inside ears, nose, up to elbows, feet etc - which besides making it very messy, requires access to and waste of large amounts of water. Existing facilities are not adequate for this procedure, which poses hygiene and occupational health and safety considerations. Surely the council does not endorse possible OHS breaches, not to mention water wastage!

3.The theological premise behind acquiring community spaces was spelt out in 1980 by the Islamic Council of Europe in their book, Muslim Communities in non-Muslim States. The implementation of this strategy to Islamise areas is evidenced throughout Europe today. Rather than integrating, the Islamic doctrine is to avoid assimilation and only make contact with non- Muslims for the purpose of proselytization. Dr Patrick Sookhdeo writes that Islam aims to take its place, not as an equal alongside the many other faith communities, but as the dominant player.

4. It is well documented that in many parts of the Islamic world, Friday prayers are noted for escalating violent outbursts towards non-Muslims. The gathering of a large group of Muslims in East St Kilda will likely strike terror into the hearts of local residents.

Permitting the expansion of Islamic assembly and prayers is in direct opposition to the council's brief, which is to ensure the facilities of the Community House are available for all residents, who in East St Kilda are predominantly Christian and Jewish. While other religious groups may use the House for casual activities, prayer groups are listed as “permanent activities”. Muslims are the only ones who hold regular ongoing prayers.

The permit for the centre currently allows for 40 people and parking is already problematic. To extend this to the proposed 100 would adversely affect local residents.