Saudis Cut Back Islamic Funding
The Australian
SAUDI Arabia is significantly winding back its direct funding of Australian Muslim groups to counter a backlash against claims that money from Riyadh was being used to sponsor followers of hardline Islam.
Despite ASIO giving the all-clear for the Saudi embassy to send money to 12 Islamic organisations in Australia, not one of the groups was subsequently funded.
Sources have told The Australian that the embassy is thought to have recast its spending patterns, because its religious contributions were increasingly subject to scrutiny and criticism from academics, the legal fraternity and sections of the Muslim community.
Members of the Muslim community who have missed out on Saudi funding confirmed the change.
“The Saudis are becoming quite concerned about the trashing of their reputation,” a source said.
“They used to splash around a lot more money in the past. But the embassy sends advice back to Riyadh, and the recent advice it’s giving is to hold back on the spending.”
The Saudi embassy is thought to have helped channel $120million into Australia’s Muslim community since the 1970s.
The Australian yesterday revealed that six Australian Muslim clerics - including former Howard government adviser Amin Hady - were officially on the Saudi payroll, receiving up to $2000 a month each.
It is understood the Saudi embassy told the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade early last year of the clerics it was paying. But Sheik Hady said there were as many as 14 others on the Saudi payroll.
The Saudis asked ASIO to clear 14 Australian Muslim organisations that have sought funding since 2004.
The series of investigations by the national security agency was initiated after the Saudi embassy in Canberra formally identified all funding applicants to DFAT.
Although ASIO advised against only one of the 14 applicants - Adelaide’s Park Holme mosque, following concerns about one of its imams - the Saudi embassy is understood to have only funded one: Werribee’s Al-Taqwa mosque in Melbourne’s southwest for $30,000.
DFAT refused to name the 14 applicants and reveal how much money they requested from the Saudi embassy.
The Australian revealed last month that the Saudi embassy gave Queensland’s Griffith University $100,000 after the institute offered to keep elements of the deal a secret.
The donation, which was an initial payment of Griffith’s $1.37 million request from the embassy, was approved by DFAT.
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Is anyone paying attention to this? If Saudi Arabia spends billions of dollars a year to propagate Islam world wide, that includes the propagation of Sharia law. That’s what was being taught at the disreputable Islamic Saudi Academy in Virginia: violence against non-Muslims, etc.
No wonder oil prices are going up. Not enough schools in the U.S. are teaching Sharia law.
June 23rd, 2008 at 5:16 pm