The Australian government has implemented many laws targeting Muslims and have made it harder to practice of Islam. Muslims are always on the defensive trying to justify and further state that Islam and terrorism cannot co-exist. In order to counter these policies and assist the Muslim community, Dr Anas Al-Tikriti says, “Muslims need to be engaged and address the policies and why they have been put in place, instead of being on the defense, we need to shift them (governments) to the source of the policies, as they are wrong… if it were to change to a different religion or faith no one will accept it.” When these policies are challenged, the mindset of the governments and the narrative that is created about Muslims and Islam in the west is also challenged. Muslims need to engage with some seriousness, if they want any possible change to happen in the west. When Muslims living in the west are exposed to the horrific scenes of war in Syria, Palestine, Burma, etc. there is a sense of compassion and the need to help. In order to help, engaging with the government to bring them back to the root cause of the issue is what is necessary. For example in Syria, ISIS is a main issue, however, it did not begin with them, it began with Assad’s brutal regime. Dr Al-Tikriti said, “In Syria we should look how the civil war began there and why it began… the Assad regime had been in power for 50 years standing on the shoulders of the people… with the involvement of Eastern and Western powers they have made it complicated.”To counter terrorism in the west, muslims need to be intellectually involved and talk about the problems not the side effects. The West do not understand Islam and the intrinsic role it plays in the Middle East, and the reason why secularism and Islam do not mix.Historically Islam and other religions have different backgrounds, while in Europe the church was a tyranny in of itself, in the Middle East the more religious the leader the better the welfare of the people and the people themselves were. “Whether it be in Egypt or any other country, when the people were given the free choice, they leaned towards a more Islamic leader,” said Dr Anas Al-Tikriti. Islam in the west is a topic which will forever be discussed as the two cannot co-exist correctly as they have to very different beliefs and ways of working.
