Shady Alsuleiman

Shady Alsuleiman (born 1978 in Sydney, Australia) is a Muslim imam and the president of the Australian National Imams Council and the United Muslims of Australia. He is from a Palestinian family who migrated to Australia in the late 1960s. He initially obtained an Ijazah (licence) with Sanad (complete chain back to Muhammad) in complete and sound memorization of the Quran at Darul Uloom Al-Husainiah in Sindh, Pakistan.^{[citation needed]}

Alsuleiman has been recognized as one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world.^[1]

Background

Alsuleiman is the founder of one of Australia's largest youth centres known as the UMA in Sydney, as well as Sydney Islamic College, which delivers Islamic studies to adults. He also held the position of the secretary of the Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) from 2006 to 2015.^[2][3] He was re-elected as the president in 2019.

Alsuleiman has been described as "controversial" by Fairfax newspaper WAtoday.^[4] However, he has also been described as "moderate" by the Sydney Morning Herald, another Fairfax newspaper.^[5] He has been verbally attacked by British extremist Abu Haleema for some of his fatwas.^[5]

Alsuleiman established the organisation, United Muslims of Australia^[6] and in 2016 was elected as the president of Australian National Imams Council (ANIC).^[7]

In April 2018, Alsuleiman was banned from entering the Kingdom of Denmark to stop him from spreading his views there. He was the 14th addition to a list of foreign religious preachers which are barred from entering by the Ministry of Immigration and Integration.^[8][9][10]

Views

In 2013, Alsuleiman spoke of what he called the "evil of homosexuality", making broad statements regarding HIV and AIDS disease.”^[4][11]

Alsuleiman filed defamation charges against Newscorp in 2017 regarding claims he preached homophobia and hatred towards women and minorities. ^{[12] [13]} In 2018, it was reported that Alsuleiman had won the case; Newscorp were ordered to pay costs and remove the articles which made the defamatory claims.^[14]

Alsuleiman has signed a Muslim community letter condemning “all forms of intimidation and abuse targeting women”.^[15] He has been featured in online videos both supporting Sharia Law and respecting woman. ^[4][16]

Controversies

In February 2009, a Fairfax journalist was ejected from the Lakemba Mosque during an event, during which, Fairfax later reported that Anwar al-Awlaki spoke via phone link. The director of the mosque told Fairfax journalists that Alsuleiman was in charge of organising evening youth events at the time of the sermon.^[17][18][19]

In 2014 Alsuleiman spoke at Park View Academy, a Birmingham UK secondary school claimed to be at the centre of Operation Trojan Horse. Alsuleiman told the pupils, "Give victory to Muslims in Afghanistan… Give victory to all the Mujahideen all over the world. Oh Allah, prepare us for the jihad".^[20][21] A subsequent Department for Education, Education Funding Agency (EFA) report said that there was a breach of standards at the school which had allowed, "Sheikh Shady Al-Suleiman, known to extol extremist views (e.g. stoning of adulterers), to address the students".^[22] A newspaper report said Asuleiman had only talked about "time management".^[23]

In June 2016, Alsuleiman participated in an Iftar dinner at Kirribilli House hosted by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister said he would not have invited Alsuleiman had he known of his position regarding homosexuals. Alsuleiman said he did not hold radical anti-gay views.^[24] Australia's Grand Mufti, Ibrahim Abu Mohamed has repudiated Malcolm Turnbull's position on this issue, saying Islam has a, "longstanding" position on homosexuality" which "no person can ever change". He said that any attempt to call out its teachings could lead to radicalisation.^[25]

See also

• Australian National Imams Council
• Homosexuality in Islam
• Islam in Australia
• Islamic organisations in Australia
• Marriage in Islam
• Women in Islam

References

1. "Shady Alsuleiman".
2. "Imam body to bridge culture gulf". Retrieved 15 April 2017.
3. "Muslim body yielding to 'extremist views'". Retrieved 15 April 2017.
4. Andrew MacNiven (20 Nov 2014). "Controversial speakers at Perth Islamic convention". WAtoday. Archived from the original on 5 June 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
5. Rachel Olding (21 January 2016). "British extremist Abu Haleema turns to Australia". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 25 April 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
6. Smith, Rowan (17 February 2016). "So-called radical aiming to speak at Australian Muslim conference declares: 'I'm a peaceful hippie'". News Ltd. Archived from the original on 17 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
7. "Australian National Imams Council, Executive committee". Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
8. "Fordømmer homoseksuelle: Forkynder nægtes indrejse" (in Danish). 2018-04-10. Archived from the original on 2018-04-22. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
9. "Ny i Danmark". www.nyidanmark.dk (in Danish). Archived from the original on 22 April 2018. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
10. "Hadprædikantlisten udvides endnu en gang — Udlændinge- og Integrationsministeriet". uim.dk (in Danish). Archived from the original on 2018-04-22. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
11. Campbell, James (16 June 2016). "Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull dines with hate preacher". The Advertiser. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
12. "Imams council president files defamation charges against News Corp". the Guardian. 2017-06-17. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
13. "Sheikh Shady sues News for defamation". SBS News. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
14. "Sheikh Shady wins defamation case". AMUST. 2018-06-26. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
15. Morton, Rick (15 April 2017). "Muslim men have right to demand sex from wives: sheik". The Australian. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
16. Morton, Rick (8 June 2016). "Federal election 2016: Seek and you will find real sheik Shady". The Australian. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
17. "Al-Qaeda at city mosque". 14 April 2010. Archived from the original on 2016-08-24. Retrieved 2016-07-01.
18. "Shady Sheik speaks at Islam Awareness Week - News - Critic.co.nz". Archived from the original on 2016-08-09. Retrieved 2016-07-01.
19. "Student Rights - Shady Al-Suleiman to speak at FOSIS Conference". Archived from the original on 2016-08-15. Retrieved 2016-07-01.
20. The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP (9 June 2014). "Birmingham schools: Secretary of State for Education's statement". UK Parliament. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
21. McKinney, Emma (22 October 2015). "Preacher who called on god to destroy the enemies of Islam 'spoke at Trojan Horse school'". Mirror. Archived from the original on 19 September 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
22. "Review of Park View Educational Trust" (PDF). Department for Education. May 2014. p. 16. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 July 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
23. Adams , Richard (7 June 2014). "Trojan horse school damned in Ofsted report". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 20 April 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
24. Keany, Francis (17 June 2016). "Malcolm Turnbull regrets hosting homophobic Islamic cleric Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman at Kirribilli". ABC News. Archived from the original on 20 June 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
25. Morton, Rick (1 July 2016). "Mufti defies Malcolm Turnbull on anti-gay speech". The Australian. Retrieved 1 July 2016.