WHEN the development application to upgrade their mosque was rejected earlier this year, the Bosnian Muslims of Penshurst knew they had a public relations problem.
They believed it wasn't just the lack of parking that made Hurstville Council reject their plans but petitions coming from a community with a growing fear of Muslims.
The fact that the problems in Iraq and Syria surfaced not long after did not help. Hence the open day this Sunday (November 23).
"We can't explain what is happening in the world but we can explain who we are and what we are about," Imam Salih Mujala said.
"We are law-abiding citizens, mothers and fathers, taxpayers — we are Australian Muslims from a Bosnian background and our children are Aussies.
"We believe we can contribute to our multicultural society if we are given a fair go."
While Bosnia is a European country — largely unrelated to Middle East politics — Imam Mujala said that they could not separate themselves from the world's two billion Muslims.
"But we can separate ourselves from the 20,000 troublemakers; we can separate ourselves from the bad people because what they are doing is not Islam," he said.
Imam Mujala said he had not heard of any Bosnian Muslims from Australia who had gone to fight with Islamic State, although some back home in Bosnia had enlisted to get away from poverty and unemployment.
He described them as mercenaries who treated IS as a well-paid job.
Like most religions, Islam allowed three reasons to fight others: self-defence, defence of homeland, and defence of family and personal wealth.
He said radicalisation could be avoided with good education which would teach vulnerable 15- and 16-year-olds the finer points of Islam and to "try always to be good to your neighbours and your colleagues, and don't look at what religion they have but at their character".
"It is not about colour and religion, it's about being human," Imam Mujala said.
"God asks us to be good people, and everyone knows themselves better than anyone else could know them."
Good education was the reason they produced doctors, lawyers and accountants — and politicians like Chifley MP Ed Husic, who used to be a regular at the mosque when a child — rather than radicals.
"That's why we need a mosque, where kids can be educated so they don't hang around back sheds and dark corners," Imam Mujala said.
The open day on Sunday will begin at 11am with a mosque tour and history walk. There will be food, refreshments, VIP lunch, question-and-answer session, and a seminar on the meaning of jihad.
Is this a good way to dispel fear and bigotry?
