Imam Mohammad Tawhidi, an Australian Shiite, said that some Islamic books, like The Bukhari compilation of the hadith, should be banned in Australia. “Every act of terrorism is taught from that book,” he said. Speaking at the Rotary Club of Adelaide, the Iranian-born Sheikh Tawhidi supported limiting the building of mosques, and said that his father had not come to Australia to see “burqas running around.” Video below.
Mohammad Tawhidi: “My father made the choice – and he was an imam himself and still is. He made the choice to come to Australia because it is a non-Muslim country.
“Now, if we knew that after 30 years, we were going to have burqas running around, mosques being erected in every corner, and people proposing shari’a law against democracy in this country, we would not have come.
“I believe that the entire religion needs a review. I believe that there are certain books that need to be banned from this country. There are books that are regarded the second book after the Quran. All mainstream Muslims believe in this book – The Bukhari, a very famous book. It’s present in, at least, the majority of Muslim homes, at least. It is everywhere. It is put on the shelf right beside the Quran. Every act of terrorism is taught from that book, yet that book is widely available, sold, and published in Australia.
“I don’t understand how Muslims believe – well, radical Muslims are the main issue here… how they believe that if you blow yourself up you go and have lunch with the Prophet Muhammad in Heaven. I didn’t know my prophet was running a restaurant up there. I honestly never knew. And then you have other very attractive statements that they state – that you go and you get 72 virgins – but what kind of a virgin is she that I would have to blow myself up for her?
“I also oppose the construction of mosques. We have a big problem. Changing this country is something I am against. You can have one mosque in Adelaide – which is the oldest mosque – and then you can have centers. You can have educational centers. You can rent out university theaters, community centers. There is no need to be building mosques that later on are led by radical Muslim leaders. Some of them don’t find success in radicalizing the youth that come to the mosque to worship God. So what do they do? They drive their cars with their boats, from Western Australia – as you may have heard – all the way to Queensland, because they wanted to join ISIS through Malaysia. And I have always called on ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organization) to check the bank accounts of Muslim imams and who is funding them. Do these people that fund them have expectations from them to brainwash these children? What is going on with genital mutilation and child brides? What is happening in this country?
“Now, I know that there are politicians, in recent times, who have stood up, and they are very against Islam. They want to tell people that Islam is a very dangerous religion. Why do they say that, now? I don’t oppose these politicians because I know exactly what filth is in my religion. I know exactly what is going on, which is why I don’t speak out against them. I’m against generalizing because there are good Muslims, but the main message behind it – I agree with.
“It’s about time the (Australian) female politicians stop dressing in headscarves when they go to Muslim countries. I know it is good to respect other people, but if you are the foreign minister, you are a foreign minister with your uniform and your badge, and if they don’t respect you as a woman, to come and dress in what you like to dress, then that’s a country whose embassy we don’t want. We don’t want anything to do with them if they don’t respect our foreign minister, regardless of what country that is.
“Look, this is Australia, this is what it is. You like it – like it. You don’t like it, we’ll give you one of our kangaroos and you can hop back to where you came from.
“The Grand Mufti, who is elected to be representing us, for 20 years, hasn’t come out and said in English: ‘I condemn terrorism.’ It is true that he endorses verdicts against ISIS, but the problem is that Australia needs a stand against ISIS. The Muslim community here needs a verdict against ISIS – not someone in America, and you are giving them the thumbs up: ‘Good on you.’ No. We need to take a stand against ISIS, because we are worthy of that. We deserve a Muslim community that takes a stand against terrorism, because that’s the fine line between hypocrisy and not. If you’re not a hypocrite, then speak out.
“How do you reform a current ideology? Number one, the government needs to realize that the books that are being taught in Muslim schools, and that are on the shelves of mosques, need to be taken out, opened up, see the publisher, and posted back to where they came from. Simple as that. We don’t need to burn anything. We don’t need to create tension. Just gather the books, and thank you very much. That’s number one. Secondly, secret services need to the monitor the movements of every religious leader. The lectures – if they are in Arabic – what are they saying? The examples they use… do they have private lessons? Money in their bank accounts… How many wives do they have? This is very important, and many people don’t realize this. Muslims have more than one wife in this country.
“We need to come to one common understanding: it is either we follow the law of the land or we don’t. If we do, then it is one wife. If we don’t, then go back to where you came from, and have as many wives as you like.
“In Australia, where there is freedom of speech and where there is democracy, many Muslims do not find it safe to speak out against extremism in their country at all. And when I say that they are afraid – they are not afraid of isolation, they are afraid of death. And I have been very close to that, and God saved me many times.”
Imam Tawhidi is a graduate of the Islamic seminary in Qom, Iran, and is the Imam of the Islamic Association of South Australia.
