102 · Suzanne D. Rutland
moving into the second generation. Many also come from cultures where
literacy rates for a long period were not high, due to the traditional Mus-
lim pattern of focusing on the oral tradition and rote learning rather than
reading, discussing, and explaining religious texts.^10
Muslims as Victims
Anti-Muslim feeling has developed significantly since 1990, largely be-
cause Muslims are seen as problematic and a threat to Australian society.
This attitude has been fed by a number of events. Already during the
1991 Gulf War there were significant attacks on Australian Muslims, with
women wearing the hijab being the major targets.^11 The arrival of ille-
gal boat people, especially asylum seekers from Iraq and Afghanistan,^12
was highlighted by the incident of the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa in
August 2001 when the Australian government refused to allow the 440
refugees who had been on board the capsized boat to land on Australian
shores. The events of September 11, 2001, “changed the life of most Mus-
lims in the West including Australia.”^13 The Bali bombings in 2002, when
88 Australians died with many more injured, were blamed on Islamic
extremists. Public opinion was further inflamed by incidents of gang rape
involving Muslim youths, which were highlighted by the media.
In the weeks after September 11, members of the Arabic community
suffered abuse, with significant increase of anti-Arab vilification and
hijab-wearing women and children again being a key target of abuse.^14
Muslim women, who were easily identifiable, were insulted and spat at,
and their veils were pulled off.^15 Arabic newspaper staffs received bomb
and death threats, and mosques were desecrated by arsonists. The worst
attacks occurred in Queensland, where one Brisbane mosque and another
Muslim institution were damaged by fire.^16 The viciousness of the anti-
Muslim feeling was expressed on talk back radio and in hate mail such as
“You are all Muslim fanatic terrorist criminals” and “You are all marked
for death.”^17 In 2003, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commis-
sion established the Isma (meaning “listen” in Arabic), to investigate the
victimization of Arab Muslims in Australia after September 11. Its find-
ings stressed the disturbingly high level of abuse and attacks on people
who were clearly identifiable by dress, language, name, or appearance
and asserted that the negative media portrayal of Arabs and Muslims
contributed to this situation.^18 An Australian Muslim scholar has argued