JEDDAH — “We never knew that Islam was such a peaceful religion and Muslims are embracive and inclusive.” This was the feedback that I had from many Australian citizens after attending the Australian Islamic Peace Conference (AIPC) held in March this year, says Waseem Razvi, founding President of the Islamic Research and Educational Academy (IREA), which organized the conference. Speaking to Saudi Gazette, the 32-year-old Melbourne-based vibrant visionary preacher, said that Australia is a fertile ground for Islam to grow and that should be possible only through creating an environment of infinite reciprocal cordial relations among followers of all faiths and achieving coherence among different nationalities. “I see that the strength of Australia lies in its inclusiveness and flexibility to adapt to migrants of all nationalities who come from different ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds,” he said. Born and brought up in Saudi Arabia by parents of Indian origin, Razvi embraced the rich values of Saudi Arabia and India and that helped him to make wonders in Dawah work. He was a student of International Indian School Jeddah (IISJ) up to 9th class. Then he left for Hyderabad where he completed higher secondary education and did bachelor's degree in electronics engineering from Osmania University. In 2004, he moved to Australia for higher studies. He obtained a Master's degree in information systems from the Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2007 and then joined Toyota Company where he served as an engineer until 2010. He then quit the job to engage fully in Dawah works. “My classmates and friends at IISJ were from different states of India and my childhood in the Kingdom was among members of a society comprising migrants belonging to various nationalities. When I moved to India, I found India's strength as the largest democracy in the world, which embraces most of the religions plus hundreds of cultures. This background gives me more strength and caliber to engage in Dawah work in a society with similar features in Australia,” he said. Razvi continued: As the largest multicultural country in the world, Australia accommodates people from around 200 nationalities. It is an open migrant country that embraces people of all cultures and religions with open hands and hearts. The aborigines embraced migrants, who in turn built the modern nation of Australia. Recently, there was a change in the migration policy mainly because of the incessant flow of illegal migrants, especially boat people, and an increase in cases of sinking of boats carrying refugees. In recent years, migration is mainly for educational purposes, besides in search of a better and safer place to live in, he noted. According to the young preacher, Australian society gives followers of different faiths every opportunity to propagate their religion peacefully. “I am delivering sermons in certain churches in which I try to present the true picture of Islam as well as to remove misgivings, with a focus on major similarities and commonalities of Islam and Christianity.” Going down memory lane on his experiment in Australia and the reason for quitting his profession for the sake of Dawah work, Razvi said: When I arrived in Australia, there were more incidents of attacks targeting foreign students, including those from India. My realization was that the people and authorities of Australia did not have proper understanding about Islam and Muslims. Rather, they have only misunderstanding and misgivings about the divine religion. So I decided to concentrate on presenting the true picture of Islam and clear misunderstanding. So I framed three goals — achieving unity among Muslims, build bridges of understanding between Muslims and Australian community, and open a door of communications for Muslims with the authorities. Organization of AIPC was a culmination of my endeavors to achieve these goals and it was a very successful one. We were able to bring together not only all sects of Muslims but also a large number of non-Muslims, including senior government officials. It was the first-ever largest Islamic peace conference in Australia. The three-day event held at the prestigious Melbourne Showgrounds was attended by around 10,000 Muslims and non-Muslims. “It was a major milestone in building bridges between Muslim community and non-Muslims through inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue, besides opening doors of communication between Muslim community and secular Australian authorities so as to eliminate any iota of Islamophobia. Imams and preachers from more than 30 mosques and Islamic Dawah centers across Australia came under one platform for the first time. The conference was also a resounding success in realizing its objectives of enhancing mutual understanding among various Muslim sects and narrowing differences and clearing misconceptions between Muslims and other communities. The authorities extended their full support and the Ministry of Immigration issued visas for all guests to attend the conference. Selfless and untiring endeavors of a team of 1000 Muslim and non-Muslim volunteers were behind the success of the event, he claimed. According to Razvi, the conference disseminated a message of religious tolerance by gathering together of leaders of all major faiths. The speakers included prominent Bishop John Bayton, Jewish leader Jenne Peristein, Reverend Helen Summers of the Interfaith Center of Melbourne, and Australian Federal Police senior officials, including superintendent Stephen Oberi. Renowned Islamic preachers and scholars from around the world also addressed the event. Apart from various sessions of the conference, there were several important features to attract the Australian community to the event as well as to create an Islamic environment of Edutainment. These included a uniquely designed Islamic Expo to introduce Islamic concepts, efforts to boost trade within the community through holding Muslim World Fair, Rides and Play Zone for kids, in addition to a fascinating Corner for non-Muslims. Displaying a facsimile of the oldest copy of Qur'an kept at Turkish Museum and display of 20 scientific models based on Qur'anic verses prepared by students of King Khaled School, were among the exhibits at the Expo. One of the models is about how ants communicate with each other as mentioned in Qur'an. Razvi also unveiled plans to make it an annual event. Even though an electronic engineer by profession, Razvi is now an exceptional presenter of Islam to non-Muslims. He comfortably quotes from Qur'an and Hadith as well as from scriptures of other religions. His role models are world renowned preachers, including the late Ahmad Deedat, Dr. Zakir Naik and Imran, who is also his mentor. Imran is the President of the Indian Islamic Research and Education Foundation. Razvi was instrumental in founding IREA in 2011 as a non-profit Dawah organization with the sole purpose of propagating Islam among non-Muslims and Muslims who are less aware of their religious principles, besides removing misgivings about Islam. Razvi has worked extensively within the Muslim community and the Australian society in order to build bridges among followers of different faiths. Since the inception of IREA, Razvi has delivered more than 200 lectures across Australia and participated in scores of seminars, conferences and interfaith programs. Some of the highlights of IREA's Dawah work include Street Dawah in the form of one to one interaction on busy streets, regular Table Talks with non-Muslims plus group discussions, lectures, debates, conferences and Ad campaigns. He is a regular preacher and speaker in Melbourne's various mosques and universities. Razvi leads IREA's ambitious Street Dawah campaign across the country based on different themes and subjects. A group of 80-100 trained IREA volunteers hold these campaign with theme-based postcards and banners spreading along the streets of Australia. The organization uses media and various means of Ad to present Islam, and giving an avenue for Muslims to engage with non-Muslims. There is also Dawah Awareness Tour, a project to undertake road trip across Australia passing through every metropolitan, cities and towns. IREA also holds quarterly Dawah courses based on current topics and Bi-Annual public lectures with 1,000-2,000 attendees, especially non-Muslims. Razvi sees no problem for Australian Muslims to protect their religious and cultural identity. Muslim women are free to wear all sorts of hijab. However, there is a section of media trying to create fear-mongering about Islam. There is a group called Q Society founded by some Christian and Jewish zealots. Their slogan is ‘Muslims should be kicked out of Australia.' “Our approach is to have an open dialogue with them. If that does not work out, we will educate the people about them by exposing them,” he said. Razvi says that Islam is the second fastest growing religion in Australia with a population of 20 million. Muslims constitute about 2.5 percent of the population with 500,000. Melbourne, with a Muslim population of 180,000, is the main center of Islamic activities. Lebanese and Turkish constitute the largest number of Muslim migrants. Al-Wasat monthly in English and Arabic is the leading Muslim publication. Razvi arrived in the Kingdom after a gap of more than one and a half decades. His dream project is an international Islamic school in Australia with state-of-the-art facilities to equip the next generations. There is also a plan to launch an Islamic TV channel, in addition to a project to enable Muslim writers and journalists to cope with the potential challenges in the modern world.
