Pakistani speaking tour cut short
A Pakistani who was in Australia on a speaking tour has left the country ahead of schedule after a video had surfaced in which he made antisemitic remarks.
In the 2012 video ‘Jews are the enemies of Islam and real peace’ Muhammad Raza Saqib Mustafai said that “Muslims are not terrorists; they are the lovers of peace and preachers of peace,” and ‘Jews are the enemies of Islam and real peace’.
Mohammad Raza Saqib Mustafai Pic: YouTube
“When the Jews are wiped out, then the world would be purified.”
The organiser who had booked a speaking engagements in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth had requested the speaker leave Australia.
Mr Mustafai is the founder of a spiritual and intellectual movement in Pakistan that promotes Islamic teachings.
His huge following on social media prompted invitations for him to speak in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. But soon after his initial appearances, media inquiries pointed a Sydney organiser in the direction of the comments.
The organiser, who insisted he knew nothing about the video beforehand, told Mr Mustafai he was “not happy” with what he saw, and requested he leave the country.
Naela Chohan, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Australia told media that Mr Mustafai’s comments are causing damage to humanity. “Islamic traditions have so much in common with Jews that you cannot say anything as irresponsible as that,” she said.
Jeremy Jones
Jeremy Jones, from the Australian Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, condemned the video, but said it was “important and encouraging” that the Pakistani community took action.
“When you have somebody who’s promoting hatred and division, the people most affected are those seen to be close to him,” he said.
“It’s very good when people stand up and say the Muslim hearts and the Muslim minds we want to shape are about tolerance and inclusion and opposed to antisemitism and anti-racism.”
Mr Jones has called on the government to review its vetting process for scholars who wish to hold speaking tours in Australia.
“The Pakistani Australians who acted promptly and effectively to end the lecture tour by Muhammad Raza Saqib Mustafai deserve to be acknowledged and applauded”, Jeremy Jones, Director of Community Affairs for the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, told J-Wire.
“The forceful condemnation by Naela Chohan, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Australia, of the disinvited Mustafai’s comments, was also a welcome display of leadership, particularly as she specifically reminded Muslims to value positive relationships with Jews”, he added.
“The third positive was the overwhelming condemnation of Mustafai’s antisemitism from across Australian society – I personally received communication from dozens of Australians, including Muslim educators and community leaders”, he noted.
“Obviously, it is a concern that he was invited to come here, when a twenty-second internet search reveals his abhorrent views and actions, and questions must also be asked about the failures to restrict entry of any promoters of hate into this country”, Mr Jones concluded.
Peter Wertheim
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry executive director Peter Wertheim added: “Mr Mustafai’s presence in Australia was mercifully brief, but it raises many questions.
The number of religious preachers who visit Australia each year is relatively small and, given the current security environment, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection should at least carry out basic background checks on all of them. Had they done so in the case of Mr Mustafai they would have had little difficulty in establishing his record of advocating genocide against Jews, and he could have been refused a visa on character grounds.
The Federal Attorney General has made two announcements over the last twelve months that the government intends to introduce a new criminal offence of advocacy of genocide. This latest incident illustrates the urgent need for such legislation.
The Pakistan Association of Australia is to be commended for acting responsibly, and promptly cancelling the remainder of Mustafai’s speaking engagements in Australia when they became aware of his record.”
Fortunately those of us in the real world understand that the epidemic of anti semitism is so entrenched in the Muslim world a few paltry words from an insignificant Pakistani diplomat are meaningless and of course she will tell us what we want to hear.
Those of us in the real world and willing to accept reality and read that this anti -Semitic, intolerant racist bigot from Pakistan has over one million social media followers and there are hundreds or thousands of these type of so called religious leaders that just follow what is written in their holy book that includes Jew hatred.
With due respect JJ you can selectively pick out a few meaningless insignificant Muslims that may be not anti- Semitic but in the big picture makes no difference to Jewish lives . We are still erecting bomb prof walls to protect our Jewish institutions, hiring armed Guards to protect our Jewish kids , Jews all over the world live under siege from an elements within Muslim communities in the West .
Time to stop making excuses and face realiity , it is what it is .
This is textbook classic Islamic hatred of Jews.
Muhammad Raza Saqib Mustafai, who had already addressed two large meetings in Aust, is not some random Pakistani scholar – he is a highly popular Islamic preacher of enormous influence with Muslim youth worldwide. Some of his scholarly words include:
“…every Jew on earth to be killed…”
“It is the guarantee of world peace when the last Jew is slain”
“As long as there are Jews in this world, peace cannot be established in the whole world”
His premise that in order for there to be peace Jews must be killed is an established fundamental principle in Islam. The source is a primary hadith of Islam, Sahih Bukhari volume 4 book 52 number 177.