Daniel Andrews, the Premier of Victoria, Australia, has announced grants of $8 million of taxpayers’ money to Muslim groups. Some of the money will go to fight “Islamophobia.” And $500,000 will go to educate everyone in Victoria about the inspiring life of the Prophet Muhammad, Peace-Be-Upon-Him. As Andrews insisted, “it’s very important that his teachings, his life, his journey, is understood by so many people.” That money will go to the Islamic Museum to develop, with other Muslim groups, a program “to educate, to share those teachings, that wisdom. This is a part of a comprehensive plan to do what matters.”
That must come as deeply heartening news to Muslims everywhere: an Infidel, and a politically important one at that, helping to proselytize for Islam.
This cautionary tale, of sorts, from way Down Under, is reported on here: “Divisive Victoria: promotes Islam, shuns Christianity,” by Mark Durie, Spectator Australia, December 16, 2022:
In the lead-up to the recent Victoria, Australia, election, Premier Daniel Andrews announced grants of more than $8 million to the Victoria Islamic community. A social media video posted by his office celebrated this news in a way that can only be described as joyful. In the video, Andrews stated that $3 million will fund education to tackle Islamophobia. He also declared that Victoria will be funding Muslims to spread the word of Islam:
We think it is important, as part of an education process, that everyone across our state knows about the works of the Prophet Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him. It’s very important that his teachings, his life, his journey, is understood by so many people. That’s why we will provide a $500,000 grant to the Islamic Museum in partnership with the Board of Imams and also the Islamic Council of Victoria to develop a program to educate, to share those teachings, that wisdom. This is part of a comprehensive plan to do what matters.
This sounds awfully like state-funded proselytism.
Of course it is important that people know about Muhammad’s deeds, teachings, and life. However, we can expect that the information made available to Victorians through this largess will be more promotional than informative. It will urge Victorians not only to respect but also to believe in the message and mission of Muhammad.
Muhammad’s works and words stand behind the many strict restrictions and punishments applied by Islamic legal codes. The Afghan Taliban has forbidden car drivers, restaurants, and public media from playing music, based on Muhammad.
The figure of Muhammad is complex, contradictory, and controversial. At times, he advocated for what today would be recognised as justice – for example, caring for widows and orphans. At the same time, Muhammad’s works and words stand behind the many strict restrictions and punishments applied by Islamic legal codes. The Afghan Taliban has forbidden car drivers, restaurants, and public media from playing music, based on Muhammad. Qatar banned alcohol from the FIFA World Cup and bans homosexual acts, based on Muhammad. Saudi Arabia applies the penalties of amputation for theft and cross-amputation for moharebeh, based on Muhammad. Indonesia has recently banned sex outside marriage, reflecting religious beliefs based on Muhammad. Similar bans are in place in other Muslim-majority nations, including Pakistan, Qatar, Iran, Somalia, and Sudan.
Andrews’ enthusiastic praise for Muhammad, and his glowing praise of the Muslim community – including a declaration that he will always ‘stand’ with them – contrast starkly with his recent vilification of conservative Melbourne Anglicans for their views on abortion and same-sex marriage. He called their views ‘intolerance’, ‘hatred’, ‘bigotry’, and ‘absolutely appalling’. Ironically, Andrews was castigating Victorian Christians for holding views that very many Victorian Muslims also hold.
Our culture manifests two opposite, extreme approaches to religion, both flawed. One is to treat religion as something that is merely a part of culture, perhaps at times rather odd, but essentially of secondary importance. In a sense, this is what Andrews has done with Muhammad, for his glowing praise is vacuous and treats with dismissive contempt the actual content of Muhammad’s words and deeds. It is as if the profound impact of Muhammad on millions of men’s, women’s, and children’s lives is irrelevant and deserves no critical reflection.
In our religiously diverse society, the worst thing to do with religious differences is to manipulate extreme simplifications and stereotypes for crude political gain.
Will the voters in Victoria remember this folly, at the next election, of their terminally foolish Premier, who thinks nothing of using public money to spread the glad news of the greatness of the Prophet, and to lavish praise, too, on the religion of Islam, in direct defiance of the separation of church and state? And will anyone point out how, in contradistinction to his extreme enthusiasm for Islam, he has heaped calumny on conservative Christians, who oppose abortion and same-sex marriage, describing their views as “intolerance,” “hatred,” “bigotry,” and “absolutely appalling”?
Do you think Daniel Andrews, Premier of Victoria, Australia, will ever bother to read the Qur’an or a hundred-odd of the “most authentic” Hadith? If he did, what would he think of all those verses calling for violence against the Infidels, such as 2:191-193, 4:89, 8:12, 8:60, 9:5, 9:29, 47:4? What would he make, do you think, of the Qur’anic description of Muslims as “the best of peoples” (3:110) and of non-Muslims as “the most vile of created beings” (98:6)? And what would Daniel Andrews say about the Prophet Muhammad, when he learns that Muhammad was betrothed to little Aisha and consummated his marriage to her when she was nine years old? Or who asked aloud who would rid him of those who had mocked him, and dutifully, one after the other, those followers killed Asma bint Marwan, Afu ‘Afak, and Ka’b bin al-Ashraf? And what would Daniel Andrews, Premier of Victoria, make of the Prophet Muhammad’s statements, in the hadith, that “War is deceit” and “I have been made victorious through terror”?
Anything? Nothing?
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Question for Tim Gallagher or Keith O or anyone from Oz here: which state is the wokest state in your country? Is it Victoria or Queensland or some other state?
tim gallagher says
Infidel, you nearly always hear out here in Australia that Victoria is the most left wing state in Australia. This appalling creature, Daniel Andrews, and his corrupt Labor government,(there have been quite a few fairly corrupt actions by this government) have just been returned to power. However, in Australia, at the moment, we have a Labor governemt in power in the Federal sphere and all Australian states except New South Wales also have Labor governments, and Labor are expected to win the election in NSW in March 2023. So Australians are a pretty left wing bunch of wankers these days in my opinion. THe march of the left wing through the educational institutions has apparently done its job and brainwashed lots of the younger clowns. Andrews seems to be a typical left wing moron when it comes to islam and seems to know absolutely nothing about it, but, of course, seems to have an antagonism towards Christianity (part of hating western civilisation and the white man’s legacy, etc, no doubt).
Keith O says
Pretty much spot on Tim, Qld, is labour and we have to deal with the corrupt Anastasia Palletofchookshit, but we are not as “woke” as Victorians, which is understandable as Qld is gods country and the rest of the country is jealous of us.
Being total Pizda (look up Russian translation) is part of being in Victorian or NSW governments and is not influenced by how far left they are twisted.
tim gallagher says
I do hear that quite a lot of people are leaving Victoria and heading for Queensland, Keith O. I think I will always stay in New South Wales, got to stay where your family is especially when old, but I like Queensland and its warm weather. Good version of your Premier’s name. I can spell fairly well, but can’t handle Polish names (all those czcsz type letter combinations), but I honestly can’t believe the pretentious way your Premier’s name is pronounced. Palla-shay?!! Surely it should be Palla-chook or Palla-shook or something like that. Extraordinarily pretentious crap. Your version sums her up well though. I keep hearing that she has clocked off as a serious politician and just wants to appear on the red carpet at various functions these days. Likes the celebrity life or some such thing but can’t be bothered with the hard work these days..
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Tim & Keith
Thanks for all the details. Sorry to hear that NSW will be flipping to Labor. Hope your conservative party – whatever it is – resolves its issues and manages to come back to power. Right now, I’ve read that Australia is looking at negotiations w/ China. That pretty much leaves Japan and India alone among the alliance members confronting China
tim gallagher says
No worries, Infidel. In Australia, the main conservative party is the Liberal party, though not all that conservative these days. I’m pretty sure that the LIberal name goes back to the political philosophy of liberalism in England, John Stuart Mill i vaguely recall was one of its main champions. All about free enterprise and small government and personal freedom and government not butting into people’s lives very much. On Australia and China, China sort of owns Australia anyway, due to our complete dependence on trade with China to maintain our wealth. We are trying to get the alliance with the USA, Japan, India, etc, stronger, but at the same time, at this time, our economy depends to a massive extent on China. Australia is a midget compared to China, 26 million people compared to the billion plus of China, so I personally think, off in the future, Australia faces a bleak future. We have all the resources China wants, iron ore, coal, uranium, clean agricultural produce and I suspect that someday China will maybe just take over Australia. With their war machine it would take a couple of weeks. I may be wrong, and I hope I’m wrong, but that is the way i see it, and I think quite a few other Australians have that feeling as well.
Oliver says
If they used Robert Spenser’s “The Truth About Muhammad” as their textbook it would actually be.a good thing.
Mark Spahn says
“what would he [Daniel Andrews, Premier of Victoria, Australia ] think of all those verses calling for violence against the Infidels, such as 2:191-193”
If he just looked at Quran 2:191, he would find: “And kill them wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they have expelled you, and fitnah is worse than killing.”
He would be as mystified as I am about the referents of the pronouns. Who is speaking? Who is the “you” being spoken to? Who is the “they” who are to be killed? And what is this “fitnah”, which is worse than killing? These verses are not at all clear (in part because they lack context).
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Mark
Get ‘The Critical Quran’. One of the reasons RS gave for writing that book is that the current English translations are there in 17th century English, which we don’t speak anywhere. So get that book and then read whichever verses you wanna read
DHZ says
Somebody should ask him if he knows what a kaffir is.
David M says
This is the same idiot who kowtowed to China via their Belt & Road scheme, & the federal government had to step in & stop it. Anyone against him calls him “Chairman Dan.” The same idiot who botched the covid quarantine security & over 800 people died because of it. The same idiot who put Victoria into the world’s longest lockdown, told the citizens not to look at the sunset & don’t talk to your neighbour. People were not allowed more than 5km from home, there was a kurfew & the borders closed. He has lied over & over again, & is corrupt as they come. Children’s playgrounds were closed. A pregnant lady was arrested in her home for protesting on Facebook, rubber bullets were fires at peaceful protesters in the street.
Despite all of this the Stockholm Syndrome Victorian people just voted him back in, so as the saying goes, you get the politicians you deserve. Victorians are more stupid than I thought.
tim gallagher says
Perfect summary of the situation with Andrews and the moronic Victorians, david M. If ever there was a case that illustrated the fact that, in a democracy, you get the government that you deserve, then it is the Victorains and the idiotic way they keep re-electing this Andrews and his hopeless government back into power.