One of Australia’s largest mosques is facing what it says is the most “alarming situation” since the Cronulla race riots, with security bolstered for Ramadan celebrations.
New South Wales police are investigating after Sydney’s Lakemba mosque on Wednesday received its third threatening letter in a matter of weeks, ahead of the first night of prayers in Islam’s holiest month.
Gamel Kheir, the secretary of the Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA) which operates Lakemba mosque, says the mosque is increasing security during Ramadan and has been assured police will have a visible presence at the site.
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“This is the most alarming situation we’ve ever had since Cronulla,” Kheir says. “Since Cronulla, we’ve never had to get security guards to guard the mosque day and night but now we have to.”
During Lakemba mosque’s public iftar next month, thousands of people are expected to gather in the closed-off street outside the mosque to break the fast. They will be among Australia’s more than 800,000 Muslims, according to the 2021 census, who are preparing for Ramadan to begin on Wednesday evening.
For some Muslims, the rise in Islamophobia after the Bondi beach antisemitic terror attack in December when 15 people attending a Hanukah celebration were murdered, the political aftermath and increasing political rhetoric about immigration loom large.
Sheikh Yahya Safi, the imam of Lakemba, describes the nights of Ramadan as “something exceptional”. He says during the evenings people spill outside between prayers.
Worshippers gather to hear excerpts of the Qur’an recited. Together, they will share lamb, beef, bread and dates as they break the day’s fast.
“This is why people feel something different in Ramadan, because of these nights,” Safi says.
Imam Shadi Alsuleiman, the president of the Australian National Imams Council – the peak body for Muslim religious leaders – said there were some “mixed emotions” leading up to Ramadan due to the heaviness of global events and local tensions.
“Many families are looking to Ramadan as a source of strength, healing and unity,” he said in a statement.
The Sydney-based lawyer Ramia Abdo Sultan, who sits on the board of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, says approaching Ramadan was a reminder relatives in Gaza will have to experience the month without food and aid.
“You enter with a severe sense of guilt knowing that we are in that preparation phase at the moment,” she says.
“Not only spiritually … but even in terms of preparing our meals and our gatherings and invitations to have family and friends come and break their fast.”
Alsuleiman said some mosques were reviewing and increasing security measures.
NSW police last month charged a man with allegedly sending a threatening letter to the mosque before 26 January. Police are also investigating a second letter, and confirmed on Wednesday they are investigating the third letter received by Lakemba mosque – which has been seized by detectives and will undergo forensic examination.
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Kheir says the close proximity of the threats to Ramadan has not occurred before.
“We’ve never had these threats and the volume of vitriol directed at the LMA and Lakemba mosque,” he says.
The NSW police minister, Yasmin Catley, said community safety was the highest priority for police and the state government.
“A police operation – overseen by Operation Shelter – will run throughout the duration of Ramadan where officers will monitor and patrol events to reassure the community,” she said in a statement.
A NSW police spokesperson said additional resources, including Operation Shelter, would be deployed to religious and community sites and events based on “community needs and risks”.
“NSW police has supported the observance of Ramadan and provided a police presence at community events for many years,” the spokesperson said.
In Victoria, one the state’s largest mosques, the Melbourne Grand Mosque, has also bolstered security before Ramadan. Last month the mosque launched a hotline for its worshippers to report Islamophobic incidents.
Imran Khan Mohammed, the mosque’s secretary, says Islamophobic incidents, including anti-Muslim graffiti sprayed on the mosque in December, make this year’s Ramadan “challenging”.
The Muslim community faced increased incidents of Islamophobia because of misinformation, stereotyping and prejudice, Mohammed said.
Kheir says events in NSW will not detract from the “blessing” of Ramadan for the state’s Muslim community. But he says NSW police’s conduct at a Sydney protest against the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, during his visit to Australia last week is “raw” for the community, with footage showing officers dragging Muslims who were praying.
Kheir says the timing of Ramadan – just over a week after the Sydney protest – is “a mercy”.
“It takes us away from all the pressures that are on this community at the moment and really concentrate on what we believe is the most important thing … that spiritual connection you have with your creator.”
Alaa Elzokm, imam of the Elsedeaq mosque in Melbourne, says he encourages its 800-strong congregation to invite a friend or neighbour to share an iftar at the mosque during Ramadan, particularly at a time when there are “misconceptions around the Muslim community”.
“We take advantage of the month of Ramadan to bring everyone together,” he says.
“We invite people to know about the issues from the Muslims, not about them, not hearing about them, but directly from them.”
