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http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/fire-damages-whyalla-mosque/story-e6frea83-1226556987110
WHYALLA'S Muslim community has been praying outside in stifling temperatures above 40C after fires damaged their mosque.

The fires, which started about 4am on Thursday, are being treated as suspicious.

A spokesman for the community, Hasan Aziz, said he believes the attack was a "hate crime".

"The way it's been carried out tells us that it's a targeted crime, a hate crime," he said.

"In a town like Whyalla, of all the places, it's very unlikely for such an act to be carried out.



"There's been no problems in the past."

The blaze caused smoke damage inside the Morris Crescent mosque after fires were lit at the front and back door of the property.



"The front and the back doors have been burnt totally," Mr Aziz said. "They put petrol on both of them and they lit it on fire."

[Islamic Council of Victoria board member Nazeem Hussain said there was an underlying level of Islamophobia in society and Muslims had to do more to educate people about their religion and mosque proposals."People are clearly fearful of Muslims and Islam, and it's easy to create that fear and hysteria in some ways," Mr Hussain said.]

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/victorias-peak-muslim-body-lashes-out-at-hysterical-objections-to-mosques/story-fndo1svg-1226564605993
VICTORIA'S peak Muslim body has lashed out at "hysterical" objections whenever plans for mosques go before local councils.

Islamic Council of Victoria board member Nazeem Hussain said there was an underlying level of Islamophobia in society and Muslims had to do more to educate people about their religion and mosque proposals.

"People are clearly fearful of Muslims and Islam, and it's easy to create that fear and hysteria in some ways," Mr Hussain said.

Several applications are in the spotlight, including a bid by an Afghan community group to build a mosque and community centre in Doveton, on the city's south-east fringe.

Mr Hussain said Islamic community applications often were met with hysteria not faced by proposals by other religious groups.

"It speaks to an underlying level of Islamophobia in society and a fear of Muslims moving into neighbourhoods and disrupting locals," he said.

Mr Hussain accused Catch the Fire Ministries pastor Danny Nalliah of creating community divisions by spreading false information about Muslims and the Koran in his opposition to the Doveton mosque.

But Mr Nalliah, who had a long-running legal battle with the Islamic Council over a racial vilification matter, said he had no issue with individual Muslims but objected to violent passages in the Koran.

"I am concerned ... because of what is going to be taught in the mosque based on what is in the Koran," he said.

...But you're handy with the pendulum? Why metal detector?