Australian Islamist Monitor

...he had been fascinated by Islam since he was a 17-year-old student of Afro-Asian studies.  He continued his studies in the British cities of Glasgow and Birmingham, where he met more Muslims whose contented attitude to life impressed him.

He believes the solution to the growth of extremism in his adopted religion  lies in education... young Muslims should be encouraged towards the kind of liberal education that encourages critical thought. "I don't think there has ever been a suicide bomber who came from a liberal education background. I know I am going to get into trouble saying it, but Osama bin Laden started his career as an engineer."

"Many Muslims learn the Koran like a parrot but don't understand it, and I think that is part of the problem with extremism. The book was revealed 1400 years ago, at a time when people were used to stories of allegory and symbolism. These days people who are not well educated are tempted to take such stories literally."

Lentini said a program begun by a judge in Yemen had been successful in diverting jailed extremists from their destructive ways. "What they did was take senior Islamic scholars to debate these guys in prison over whether extremism and terrorism was the correct direction of Islam. So far the scholars have won 365 to nothing."

Koran 47.4: “Therefore, when ye meet the unbelievers, smite at their necks and when you have caused a bloodbath among them, bind a bond firmly on them.”

As a scholar in Russian studies ... Lentini makes no claim to scholarship on Islam.

But his work on global terrorism, leading to a book that he jointly edited with Monash colleagues Marika Vicziany and David Wright- Neville, had sharpened the sensitivities of the political scientist to the emerging role of religion in the shaping of public policy, in particular Islam.
Now Lentini is embarking on his post-doctoral project, Rethinking Islamism and Islam: Confronting Adversarialism and Apologetics.

The dominant image of Islam today is one of religious fanaticism.

The stereotype is of a Muslim from birth, of Middle Eastern, South Asian or Southeast Asian extraction: the "Orientalist stereotype" of a monolithic, homogenous Islam.

Lentini accepts he may be seen as the antithesis of that stereotype. "The only reason I did that was to demonstrate the diversity within Islam, and that there are gradations of religiosity."

Islam came to him through intellectual processes, and what he finds appealing is its intellectual traditions.

Lentini is encouraged by the core of Muslim public intellectuals now engaging in public debate...

The extent to which progressive Islam will prevail over radical ulama will depend on how the media is prepared to give space for mainstream Islam to be heard, he says.

Wright-Neville confines the negative stereotyping of Muslims to the more "hysterical elements" in Australia. "Most Australians are more sophisticated in their understanding of Muslims," he says. But he says the public profile of Lentini can help dispel the myth of Islam as an intolerant religion.

The Centre is coordinated by Dr. Pete Lentini, a specialist on terrorism and politics in the former Soviet Union,  Associate Professor David Wright-Neville, former Senior Counter-terrorism Analyst for the Office of National Assessments, Dr Andrew Newman, whose main research interests include WMD terrorism, US foreign policy and arms control,  and Professor Gary D. Bouma, the UNESCO Chair in Intercultural and Interreligious Studies.

• The Centre's mission is to generate interdisciplinary, culturally informed research into terrorism, counter-terrorism and related forms of identity-based conflict and cooperation. This includes:
• Using collective expertise and research to enhance international scholarship and Australia 's reputation in the study of terrorism, political violence, cultural conflict and cooperation;
• Providing information services for the private, public and philanthropic sectors and broader publics in Australia and abroad;
• Offering students a culturally informed curriculum in the study of terrorism and related forms of political violence. (source)

Monash University has united a team of experts to help understand and combat one of our greatest social and economic threats. Specialists at the University's new Global Terrorism Research Centre are researching the best ways to combat extremism and train a new generation of political scientists.
...former Deputy Commissioner of Victoria Police Bill Kelly is helping guide a new University team researching the best ways to combat extremism around the world, as part of the new Global Terrorism Research Centre (GTReC).
The Centre's Director, Professor Gary Bouma, says "It is clear that since religion is a significant part of the problem of terror, religion must also be part of the solution. ..  the best policy for terror-proofing a nation is to promote policies of social justice and social inclusion."

Associate Professor David Wright-Neville, the Centre's co-founder, was formerly a senior intelligence analyst for the Office of National Assessments (ONA).
Monash academic and former Islamic Council member, Waleed Aly is another member of the GTReC team. He has found the quality of pro-active counter-terrorism policing through community engagement can vary widely. "The Victorian police  have a dedicated multicultural liaison unit that has been quite successful in building trust between the police and various communities..At the federal level...it seems there is a much higher level of mistrust arising from communities, especially Muslim Australia." (source)

Waleed Aly
Master of Arts (Research)
"Ideological ancestors: Modern Muslim radicalism and the Islamic history of militant heterodoxy"
Dr Pete Lentini/Assoc Prof. David Wright-Neville (reference)

Dr David Wright-Neville resigned from the university this month, the day he was to be suspended without pay over allegations of sexual assault.
The academic, a regular on 3AW and a delegate last year to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's 2020 Summit, had been on sick leave since January.
Dr Wright-Neville denied all allegations against him.
University sources said the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Dr Rae Frances, first became aware of the allegation last October and immediately contacted police.
The university has also launched an independent investigation which is expected to focus on how long staff in the School of Political and Social Inquiry -- where Dr Wright-Neville worked -- had concerns over his conduct.
One academic has told this newspaper he first learned of the alleged assault in March last year.
Monash University spokesman Tim Mitchell confirmed that a university academic was recently suspended without pay over alleged serious misconduct. (source)

Do the ranks of Middle East studies professors include terrorists? If the allegations against University of Ottawa professor Hassan Diab are proved true, the answer will be yes.
Diab, a Lebanese-born dual Canadian citizen, is a lecturer in sociology at the University of Ottawa. His job ended last month following allegations by French authorities that Diab was the leader of a commando team that perpetrated the 1980 bombing of the Rue Copernic synagogue in Paris. The bombing, which was attributed to  a splinter group of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), killed three Frenchmen and an Israeli woman and wounded 20.
French authorities who seek to extradite Diab for trial in France accuse him of making and planting the bomb used in the attack... But Mr. Diab, who has a common Lebanese name, insists that he is a wholly innocent victim of mistaken identity.
Diab's friends and colleagues insist that he is a peaceful, non-violent man who has never shown anti-Semitic or anti-Zionist leanings.
Predictably, Carleton University's decision to terminate Diab has caused an uproar among his academic peers.  An August 1, 2009, Ottawa Citizen op-ed signed by 30 members of Carleton's Department of Sociology and Anthropology labelled Diab's firing "an attack on widely held democratic values, and on the need to achieve justice through the law and due process" and "a bleak chapter in the story of injustice and discrimination in the dark shadow of 9/11."
Diab has yet to stand trial, but the reaction of his academic peers demonstrates a knee-jerk opposition to authority, an arrogant rejection of accountability, and a dangerous naiveté towards the dangers of Islamic terrorism. Rather than expressing shock and horror that one of their own may have been involved in a heinous crime, they immediately jumped to his defense. But what will they do if the allegations against Diab prove true?
This isn't the first time the Middle East studies establishment has rallied around a beleaguered professor accused—or even convicted—of terrorism charges.... or acted as cohorts or apologists for those with proven Islamist sympathies.  (Here Stillwell cites many examples.)
Viewing the Middle East studies establishment's support for Diab against this background reveals a disturbing pattern. The presumption of innocence is one thing. Blindly throwing one's support behind any colleague accused of terrorist ties is another. (source)