Iftars across Sydney promote social cohesion in challenging times
Interfaith iftar gatherings held across Sydney during opening days of Ramadan offered a reminder of what shared tables can accomplish
SYDNEY, Australia (MNTV) — A series of community and interfaith iftar gatherings held across Sydney during the opening days of Ramadan offered a reminder of what shared tables can accomplish — bringing together people of different faiths and backgrounds at a moment when Australia’s Muslim community continues to face hostility and exclusion.
At one gathering, Osman Karolia, Principal at Islamic College of Sport, spoke candidly about the experience of young Muslims who have grown up knowing no home other than Australia, yet are still told to leave. His remarks captured the disorientation felt by a generation caught between belonging and rejection.
“Where do we go? Do we go to Granville? Do we go to Lidcombe? Where do we go?” he asked, giving voice to children who have never known another country.
Karolia also addressed the particular challenge posed by social media, describing how many young people are absorbing distorted and divisive narratives online that leave them feeling isolated and confused about the world around them.
Social cohesion, he argued, is not a passive state but an active and ongoing effort — one that demands people speak out against prejudice rather than wait for it to pass.
At a separate event, Gawaine Powell Davies, a Board Director of the Buddhist Council, acknowledged the weight being carried by Muslim Australians at present. Multiculturalism, he said, is hollow without genuine solidarity.
Affinity Intercultural Foundation Executive Director Ahmed Polat described the act of gathering itself as a kind of collective prayer — a quiet but powerful expression of the humility and empathy the world is currently in short supply of.
Another iftar, held at the Australian Islamic College in Mount Druitt, drew together political leaders and community representatives. Labor MP Ed Husic reflected on the emotional complexity of marking Ramadan while fellow Muslims suffer in Gaza.
He welcomed a newly arrived refugee family from that city to the gathering, paying tribute to what he called their extraordinary resilience.
He also shared the personal significance of having taken his parliamentary oath on a copy of the Holy Quran lent to him by the same family — a detail that drew a warm response from those present.
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