Archive for August, 2014

  Spending time in Sydney was amazingly rewarding.  I had a chance of meeting star Rugby player and Muslim Sonny Bill Williams.  Sonny and I enjoyed laughs and conversation before I arrived at Masjid Abu-Bakr to engage with the Auburn youth community in Sydney Australia.  The night ended on an amazing note with a woman accepting Islam after my speech.  Alhamdulilah.

On a recent visit to Sydney, Australia, I visited an area in Redfern known as The Block, where  I stumbled upon a group of protesters.  After meeting with them and listening to them, I soon discovered this is an Aboriginal community whose story is important and worth sharing. The Aboriginal Housing Company was given control of The Block in the 1970's with the intention of developing affordable housing. The Block is now the subject of a dual phase re-development, the first phase includes retail and office spaces as well as student accommodation.  The second phase is to include housing for Aboriginals.  However, the community is afraid that the housing units will never eventuate, and they've set up a tent embassy in protest, to stop private developers from continuing. It was an honor to meet Auntie Jenny and her grandson Jason who are leading the protest, fighting for affordable housing and continued ownership of the land.      

I've been invited to give a lecture at Masjid Abu Bakar Al-Siddeeq, presented by IDCA on Friday 29 August. If you're in the Sydney, Australia area, please come along.