Silma Ihram
Encyclopedia
Silma Ihram is an Australia
n pioneer of Muslim education in the West
, founder and former school Principal of the 'Noor Al Houda Islamic College' in Sydney
, and a campaigner for racial tolerance
.
She was also the Australian Democrats
candidate for the seat of Auburn in the 2007 state election, and the Democrats candidate for the Division of Reid
in the 2007 federal election.
Ihram is the author of two books, the producer of an educational video
in Arabic, and the subject of the documentary
, Silma's School. She has been described as "Erin Brockovich
in a hijab
".
, on Sydney's Northern Beaches
. At the age of five, Ihram was sent to boarding school
at Meriden, an Anglican school in Strathfield
for her primary education
, and the Presbyterian Ladies' College
in Croydon
for high school
, completing her matriculation in 1971. She then completed a Bachelor's degree
in Marine Biology
at James Cook University
.
Despite the Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist influences from her up-bringing, Ihram ended up with the Baptists who she found to be "very inspirational." She then moved to an Islander
church in North Queensland
, and studied theology
by correspondence from the Baptist sector. Ihram became a born-again Christian in 1968, and participated in missionary work with the Children's Special Service Mission
(CSSM) in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
In 1976, during an extended trip to Indonesia
, Ihram had a "personal revelation that I had to become a Muslim" and converted to Islam
, changing her name to Silma Ihram. She was followed soon after by her Irish Catholic
husband. She subsequently returned to university
, this time at the University of Sydney
, completing a Bachelor's Degree in Indonesian
and History
. She established the first Muslim Women's Shop and Centre in 1979.
, looking to enrol her daughters. It was reported that her request for the school to allow her daughters to be accepted as Muslims, including the wearing of a Hijab
with the uniform
, was rejected. Subsequently, and also due in part to the lack of Muslim schools in New South Wales, Ihram looked to establishing her own independent school
in South-western Sydney
.
In 1983, Ihram and her then husband, Siddiq Buckley, set up the Al-Noori Muslim Primary School at Greenacre
, named after a Kuwait
i benefactor who had donated A$
5,000. The school was forced to move nine times in four years, to such places as a house
in Lakemba
, a Hall
in Canterbury
, and a marquee in the Buckley's backyard. According to Ihram, this was due to an inability to "get registration from government without development approval from the council" as "no council would accept us." These problems with council have been a feature of Ihram's schools to this day.
Ihram took her case to the Land and Environment Court
, and after two actions to force Bankstown Council
to give official approval, a primary school for 105 children was established in 1987. Ihram and her husband faced angry protests due to the schools slogan
, Good Muslims make Good Australians.
The school also received little support from Muslim community organisations, making the struggle even more difficult, and creating a credibility
problem within the media
. Buckley identified the Muslim community itself as a stumbling block, describing it as "internally factionalised, ethnically diverse, politically impotent, intellectually moribund." The school had little access to overseas Islamic charities to provide funding
, and subsequently Ihram and her husband struggled to sufficiently equip their school. Assistance came in the form of individual families, with one mother
offering to sell her home, rather than see the school close. Despite the setbacks and racism
faced by Ihram, enrolments at the school were strong, and Muslim education was given a foothold in Sydney. In 1992, Ihram again returned to university, completing a Master's Degree
in Education Administration
at the University of New South Wales
, in order to aid her running of the school.
Al-Noori received positive attention when it was revealed that Ihram had encouraged her students to lobby
for the release of an Australian pilot
held hostage in Kuwait
, who was the grandson of one of the school's elderly neighbours. According to Mr. Bukley, it was "probably the first time in Australia that Muslims were portrayed as both patriotically
Australian and genuinely Muslim", and had a positive impact on the school. This was however not the end of Ihram's problems. She had divorce
d her husband and opened a second school, the Noor Al Houda Islamic College (meaning "The Guiding Light"), this time for high school
students, and a board
battle ensued that ended in the Supreme Court of New South Wales
.
The second school had been established on a leased
site near Bankstown Airport
and had attracted approximately 720 students. This site was shortly after found to be contaminated and the school was forced to contribute to the cost of a clean-up. It was soon after discovered that the Federal Airports Corporation
, who had leased the land to Noor Al Houda, knew previously of the contamination. Ihram decided to fight against Bankstown Airport in order to save Noor Al Houda, resulting in a five year long Supreme court
battle involving 125 court appearances. She re-mortgaged
and later sold her home, and accessed her superannuation in order to cover part of the $2million in legal expenses. The school was eventually awarded $1,094,430 in damages
by Justice Clifton Hoeben
, finding the Federal Airports Corporation, and subsequently the Bankstown Airport Ltd, owed the school a duty of care to disclose a report that the land was contaminated with sewage
waste. However, the judge said the $5.1 million Noor Al Houda was originally seeking in damages was "unrealistic" as the cost of moving was only an estimate. As a witness, the judge determined that Ihram:
Ihram's campaign to pressure the Government to find a new home for the school became a subject of debate following up to the 2003 state election
. In 2002, the NSW Government
offered a suitable property at Guildford
which was accepted, however a number of local residents complained of having a school there and the decision was revoked.
Aided by her second husband Baheej Adada, Ihram managed to find a new, but much smaller site for her school in Strathfield
, and at the same time publicly expressed her dissatisfaction with the then Premier of New South Wales, Mr. Bob Carr
. The new, and current school campus
is a former Christian
theological college whose chapel
has become a Hindu temple
. The temple is dedicated to Sai Baba of Shirdi
, an Indian
saint
who a century
ago made his home in a mosque
in India and taught harmony between Muslims and Hindus.
In 2006, Ihram's battle to save her school, whilst also ensuring her family's economic survival, became the subject of Silma's school, a documentary
by Jane Jeffes, screened at the Sydney Film Festival
, and in selected cinema
s and on SBS
and ABC TV
. The film received positive reviews and was greeted with a standing ovation
at a screening
in Sydney, and a sold-out premiere
in London
.
Also that year, management of the Noor Al Houda Islamic College was taken over by a large Muslim college, the Australian International Academy
from Melbourne, allowing Ihram so step down from her role as Principal in order to spend time with her family and work on other projects. Subsequently, the school is now known as the Australian International Academy, Sydney, and Ihram now works as an Education Consultant
for the school.
to the Federal Executive of the Unity Party
in 2002, and appeared on the New South Wales State Ballot
for the Upper House
.
In 2007, Silma Ihram became one of the first two Muslim women to be aligned with a mainstream political party when she ran as an Australian Democrats
candidate for the safe Labor
seat of Auburn in the 2007 State election. Ihram reportedly decided against running for the seat of Lakemba
, an area with a large Muslim population, as she felt she would be labelled a "token Muslim" candidate and wished to not be linked to controversial and much condemned Muslim leader, Sheik Taj El-Din Hilaly
, the former Grand Mufti
of Australia and New Zealand
. As she explained to The Sun-Herald
, "Auburn is far more multicultural and less religious and there are more opportunities to help the local community."
Ihram represented the Democrats again in November 2007, this time as a candidate for the Division of Reid
in the Australian federal election.
at urtin university], in "Understanding the development of identity in adolescent Muslim Lebanese girls". She is the Vice-President of the Muslim Women's National Network Australia, and remains an Education Consultant
for the Australian International Academy, and a consultant in the area of education and Muslim community relations. She frequently partakes in forums and debates regarding issues pertaining to education, racism and Australian Muslims, and also often contributes opinion pieces and interviews with media sources.
Ihram has expressed her ambition to set up an international
harmony college
, a multi-religion school where the faiths of all students would be respected.
, and in 2005 was named Muslim Woman of the Decade. She was also awarded for her "contributions and efforts in the community
", at the 2006 Women of Faith Dinner & Awards, hosted by the Affinity Intercultural Foundation.
Ihram has held a number of executive
posts with Muslim organisations in Australia, including Vice-President of the Australian Council for Islamic Education in Schools in 2004, and her current roles as the Vice-President of the Muslim Women's National Network Australia, and Secretary General of the Australian Council for Islamic Education in Schools. She was recently inducted into the Rotary Club of Strathfield.
of two books, Bridges of Light, and Islamic Parenting. She is also the producer
of an educational video
in Arabic, called Their First Years.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n pioneer of Muslim education in the West
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
, founder and former school Principal of the 'Noor Al Houda Islamic College' in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, and a campaigner for racial tolerance
Toleration
Toleration is "the practice of deliberately allowing or permitting a thing of which one disapproves. One can meaningfully speak of tolerating, ie of allowing or permitting, only if one is in a position to disallow”. It has also been defined as "to bear or endure" or "to nourish, sustain or preserve"...
.
She was also the Australian Democrats
Australian Democrats
The Australian Democrats is an Australian political party espousing a socially liberal ideology. It was formed in 1977, by a merger of the Australia Party and the New LM, after principals of those minor parties secured the commitment of former Liberal minister Don Chipp, as a high profile leader...
candidate for the seat of Auburn in the 2007 state election, and the Democrats candidate for the Division of Reid
Division of Reid
The Division of Reid is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. It is located in the western suburbs of Sydney, and includes the suburbs of Abbotsford, Auburn , Berala , Breakfast Point, Burwood , Cabarita, Canada Bay, Chiswick, Concord, Concord West, Croydon , Drummoyne,...
in the 2007 federal election.
Ihram is the author of two books, the producer of an educational video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
in Arabic, and the subject of the documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, Silma's School. She has been described as "Erin Brockovich
Erin Brockovich
Erin Brockovich-Ellis is an American legal clerk and environmental activist who, despite the lack of a formal law school education, or any legal education, was instrumental in constructing a case against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company of California in 1993...
in a hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
".
Early life
Silma Ihram was born Frances Anne Beaumont, to a middle-class agnostic family, and grew up in the suburb of BalgowlahBalgowlah, New South Wales
Balgowlah is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Balgowlah is located 12 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Manly Council, in the Northern Beaches region...
, on Sydney's Northern Beaches
Northern Beaches (Sydney)
The Northern Beaches is an informal term used to describe the northern coastal suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, located near the coast of the Pacific Ocean...
. At the age of five, Ihram was sent to boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
at Meriden, an Anglican school in Strathfield
Strathfield, New South Wales
Strathfield is an Inner West suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Strathfield is located 14 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Municipality of Strathfield...
for her primary education
Primary education
A primary school is an institution in which children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...
, and the Presbyterian Ladies' College
Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney
The Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney is an independent, Presbyterian, day and boarding school for girls in Croydon, an inner-western suburb of Sydney, Australia...
in Croydon
Croydon, New South Wales
Croydon is an affluent suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Croydon is located 11 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district. Croydon is split between the two local government areas of Burwood Council and the Municipality of Ashfield.The...
for high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
, completing her matriculation in 1971. She then completed a Bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in Marine Biology
Marine biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...
at James Cook University
James Cook University
James Cook University is a public university based in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. The university has two Australian campuses, located in Townsville and Cairns respectively, and an international campus in Singapore. JCU is the second oldest university in Queensland—proclaimed in 1970—and the...
.
Despite the Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist influences from her up-bringing, Ihram ended up with the Baptists who she found to be "very inspirational." She then moved to an Islander
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islander , is a geographic term to describe the indigenous inhabitants of any of the three major sub-regions of Oceania: Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia.According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, these three regions, together with their islands consist of:Polynesia:...
church in North Queensland
North Queensland
North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the state of Queensland in Australia. Queensland is a massive state, larger than most countries, and the tropical northern part of it has been historically remote and undeveloped, resulting in a distinctive regional character and...
, and studied theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
by correspondence from the Baptist sector. Ihram became a born-again Christian in 1968, and participated in missionary work with the Children's Special Service Mission
Children's Special Service Mission
Children's Special Service Mission was the original name, from 1867, of the organisation now called Scripture Union. Begun by Thomas 'Pious' Hughes and Josiah Spiers in Islington, London, this evangelical Christian movement was less formal than the Sunday Schools of the day and attracted children...
(CSSM) in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
In 1976, during an extended trip to Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, Ihram had a "personal revelation that I had to become a Muslim" and converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, changing her name to Silma Ihram. She was followed soon after by her Irish Catholic
Irish Catholic
Irish Catholic is a term used to describe people who are both Roman Catholic and Irish .Note: the term is not used to describe a variant of Catholicism. More particularly, it is not a separate creed or sect in the sense that "Anglo-Catholic", "Old Catholic", "Eastern Orthodox Catholic" might be...
husband. She subsequently returned to university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
, this time at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
, completing a Bachelor's Degree in Indonesian
Indonesian language
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....
and History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
. She established the first Muslim Women's Shop and Centre in 1979.
Career in education
In the early 1980s, Silma Ihram, then the proprietor of the Muslim Women's Shop and Centre, approached her old school, the Presbyterian Ladies' College, SydneyPresbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney
The Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney is an independent, Presbyterian, day and boarding school for girls in Croydon, an inner-western suburb of Sydney, Australia...
, looking to enrol her daughters. It was reported that her request for the school to allow her daughters to be accepted as Muslims, including the wearing of a Hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
with the uniform
School uniform
A school uniform is an outfit—a set of standardized clothes—worn primarily for an educational institution. They are common in primary and secondary schools in various countries . When used, they form the basis of a school's dress code.Traditionally school uniforms have been largely subdued and...
, was rejected. Subsequently, and also due in part to the lack of Muslim schools in New South Wales, Ihram looked to establishing her own independent school
Independent school
An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...
in South-western Sydney
South-western Sydney
South-western Sydney is a general term which is used to describe the metropolitan area in south-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Greater Western Sydney area....
.
In 1983, Ihram and her then husband, Siddiq Buckley, set up the Al-Noori Muslim Primary School at Greenacre
Greenacre, New South Wales
Greenacre, a suburb of local government areas City of Bankstown and the Municipality of Strathfield, is located 17 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district in the state of New South Wales, Australia, and is a part of the South-western Sydney region.-History:This area was once...
, named after a Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
i benefactor who had donated A$
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
5,000. The school was forced to move nine times in four years, to such places as a house
House
A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
in Lakemba
Lakemba, New South Wales
Lakemba is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lakemba is located 15 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Canterbury....
, a Hall
Hall
In architecture, a hall is fundamentally a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age, a mead hall was such a simple building and was the residence of a lord and his retainers...
in Canterbury
Canterbury, New South Wales
-Commercial area:Canterbury has a mixture of residential, commercial and industrial developments. Commercial developments are mostly situated on Canterbury Road and surrounding streets...
, and a marquee in the Buckley's backyard. According to Ihram, this was due to an inability to "get registration from government without development approval from the council" as "no council would accept us." These problems with council have been a feature of Ihram's schools to this day.
Ihram took her case to the Land and Environment Court
Land and Environment Court of New South Wales
The Land and Environment Court of New South Wales is a Court established by legislation giving it exclusive jurisdiction to determine environmental, development, building and planning disputes...
, and after two actions to force Bankstown Council
City of Bankstown
The City of Bankstown is a city and Local Government Area in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, centred on the suburb of Bankstown....
to give official approval, a primary school for 105 children was established in 1987. Ihram and her husband faced angry protests due to the schools slogan
Slogan
A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a political, commercial, religious and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose. The word slogan is derived from slogorn which was an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm . Slogans vary from the written and the...
, Good Muslims make Good Australians.
The school also received little support from Muslim community organisations, making the struggle even more difficult, and creating a credibility
Credibility
Credibility refers to the objective and subjective components of the believability of a source or message.Traditionally, modern, credibility has two key components: trustworthiness and expertise, which both have objective and subjective components. Trustworthiness is based more on subjective...
problem within the media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
. Buckley identified the Muslim community itself as a stumbling block, describing it as "internally factionalised, ethnically diverse, politically impotent, intellectually moribund." The school had little access to overseas Islamic charities to provide funding
Funding
Funding is the act of providing resources, usually in form of money , or other values such as effort or time , for a project, a person, a business or any other private or public institutions...
, and subsequently Ihram and her husband struggled to sufficiently equip their school. Assistance came in the form of individual families, with one mother
Mother
A mother, mum, mom, momma, or mama is a woman who has raised a child, given birth to a child, and/or supplied the ovum that grew into a child. Because of the complexity and differences of a mother's social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to specify a universally...
offering to sell her home, rather than see the school close. Despite the setbacks and racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
faced by Ihram, enrolments at the school were strong, and Muslim education was given a foothold in Sydney. In 1992, Ihram again returned to university, completing a Master's Degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in Education Administration
Academic administration
An academic administration is a branch of university or college employees responsible for the maintenance and supervision of the institution and separate from the faculty or academics, although some personnel may have joint responsibilities...
at the University of New South Wales
University of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
, in order to aid her running of the school.
Al-Noori received positive attention when it was revealed that Ihram had encouraged her students to lobby
Lobbying
Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by various people or groups, from private-sector individuals or corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or...
for the release of an Australian pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
held hostage in Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
, who was the grandson of one of the school's elderly neighbours. According to Mr. Bukley, it was "probably the first time in Australia that Muslims were portrayed as both patriotically
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
Australian and genuinely Muslim", and had a positive impact on the school. This was however not the end of Ihram's problems. She had divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
d her husband and opened a second school, the Noor Al Houda Islamic College (meaning "The Guiding Light"), this time for high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
students, and a board
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
battle ensued that ended in the Supreme Court of New South Wales
Supreme Court of New South Wales
The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales...
.
The second school had been established on a leased
Leasing
Leasing is a process by which a firm can obtain the use of a certain fixed assets for which it must pay a series of contractual, periodic, tax deductible payments....
site near Bankstown Airport
Bankstown Airport
Bankstown Airport is a general aviation airport and business park located in the City of Bankstown, from the central business district of Sydney, Australia...
and had attracted approximately 720 students. This site was shortly after found to be contaminated and the school was forced to contribute to the cost of a clean-up. It was soon after discovered that the Federal Airports Corporation
Federal Airports Corporation
The Federal Airports Corporation was a business enterprise of the Government of Australia responsible for the operation of major passenger airports in Australia. At the beginning of 1997 the corporation operated 22 airports and handled over 60 million passenger annually.It was established by an...
, who had leased the land to Noor Al Houda, knew previously of the contamination. Ihram decided to fight against Bankstown Airport in order to save Noor Al Houda, resulting in a five year long Supreme court
Supreme Court of New South Wales
The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales...
battle involving 125 court appearances. She re-mortgaged
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
and later sold her home, and accessed her superannuation in order to cover part of the $2million in legal expenses. The school was eventually awarded $1,094,430 in damages
Damages
In law, damages is an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury; grammatically, it is a singular noun, not plural.- Compensatory damages :...
by Justice Clifton Hoeben
Clifton Hoeben
Major General Clifton Ralph Russell Hoeben AM, RFD is an Australian judge and soldier.Hoeben is a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales...
, finding the Federal Airports Corporation, and subsequently the Bankstown Airport Ltd, owed the school a duty of care to disclose a report that the land was contaminated with sewage
Sewage
Sewage is water-carried waste, in solution or suspension, that is intended to be removed from a community. Also known as wastewater, it is more than 99% water and is characterized by volume or rate of flow, physical condition, chemical constituents and the bacteriological organisms that it contains...
waste. However, the judge said the $5.1 million Noor Al Houda was originally seeking in damages was "unrealistic" as the cost of moving was only an estimate. As a witness, the judge determined that Ihram:
Ihram's campaign to pressure the Government to find a new home for the school became a subject of debate following up to the 2003 state election
New South Wales state election, 2003
Elections to the 53rd Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 22 March 2003. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...
. In 2002, the NSW Government
Government of New South Wales
The form of the Government of New South Wales is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1856, although it has been amended many times since then...
offered a suitable property at Guildford
Guildford, New South Wales
Guildford is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Guildford is located 25 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of the City of Holroyd and the City of Parramatta...
which was accepted, however a number of local residents complained of having a school there and the decision was revoked.
Aided by her second husband Baheej Adada, Ihram managed to find a new, but much smaller site for her school in Strathfield
Strathfield, New South Wales
Strathfield is an Inner West suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Strathfield is located 14 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Municipality of Strathfield...
, and at the same time publicly expressed her dissatisfaction with the then Premier of New South Wales, Mr. Bob Carr
Bob Carr
Robert John "Bob" Carr , Australian statesman, was Premier of New South Wales from 4 April 1995 to 3 August 2005. He holds the record for the longest continuous service as premier of NSW...
. The new, and current school campus
Campus
A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...
is a former Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
theological college whose chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
has become a Hindu temple
Hindu temple
A Mandir, Devalayam, Devasthanam, or a Hindu temple is a place of worship for followers of Hinduism...
. The temple is dedicated to Sai Baba of Shirdi
Sai Baba of Shirdi
Sai Baba of Shirdi , also known as Shirdi Sai Baba , was an Indian guru, yogi, and fakir who is regarded by his Hindu and Muslim devotees as a saint....
, an Indian
Demographics of India
The demographics of India are inclusive of the second most populous country in the world, with over 1.21 billion people , more than a sixth of the world's population. Already containing 17.5% of the world's population, India is projected to be the world's most populous country by 2025, surpassing...
saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
who a century
Century
A century is one hundred consecutive years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages .-Start and end in the Gregorian Calendar:...
ago made his home in a mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
in India and taught harmony between Muslims and Hindus.
In 2006, Ihram's battle to save her school, whilst also ensuring her family's economic survival, became the subject of Silma's school, a documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
by Jane Jeffes, screened at the Sydney Film Festival
Sydney Film Festival
The Sydney Film Festival is an annual film festival held in the Australian city of Sydney and is held over 12 days in June. The competitive film festival draws international and local attention, with films being showcased in several venues across the city centre and includes features,...
, and in selected cinema
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
s and on SBS
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...
and ABC TV
ABC Television
ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....
. The film received positive reviews and was greeted with a standing ovation
Standing ovation
A standing ovation is a form of applause where members of a seated audience stand up while applauding after extraordinary performances of particularly high acclaim...
at a screening
Film screening
A film screening is the displaying of a motion picture or film, generally referring to a special showing as part of a film's production and release cycle...
in Sydney, and a sold-out premiere
Premiere
A premiere is generally "a first performance". This can refer to plays, films, television programs, operas, symphonies, ballets and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Also that year, management of the Noor Al Houda Islamic College was taken over by a large Muslim college, the Australian International Academy
Australian International Academy
The Australian International Academy was formerly known as King Khalid Islamic College of Victoria and was opened in 1983 as a Primary school with an enrolment of 62 students in a 1920's school building in Coburg 10 km to the north of Melbourne...
from Melbourne, allowing Ihram so step down from her role as Principal in order to spend time with her family and work on other projects. Subsequently, the school is now known as the Australian International Academy, Sydney, and Ihram now works as an Education Consultant
Consultant
A consultant is a professional who provides professional or expert advice in a particular area such as management, accountancy, the environment, entertainment, technology, law , human resources, marketing, emergency management, food production, medicine, finance, life management, economics, public...
for the school.
Political career
Silma Ihram was electedElection
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
to the Federal Executive of the Unity Party
Unity Party (Australia)
Unity Party is a small multiculturist party in Australia, formed in 1997 with the aim of opposing the rise of controversial anti-immigration politician Pauline Hanson. Initially billed as a party to unite Australians of all ethnicities against racism, in practice it has never managed to draw...
in 2002, and appeared on the New South Wales State Ballot
Ballot
A ballot is a device used to record choices made by voters. Each voter uses one ballot, and ballots are not shared. In the simplest elections, a ballot may be a simple scrap of paper on which each voter writes in the name of a candidate, but governmental elections use pre-printed to protect the...
for the Upper House
Upper house
An upper house, often called a senate, is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house; a legislature composed of only one house is described as unicameral.- Possible specific characteristics :...
.
In 2007, Silma Ihram became one of the first two Muslim women to be aligned with a mainstream political party when she ran as an Australian Democrats
Australian Democrats
The Australian Democrats is an Australian political party espousing a socially liberal ideology. It was formed in 1977, by a merger of the Australia Party and the New LM, after principals of those minor parties secured the commitment of former Liberal minister Don Chipp, as a high profile leader...
candidate for the safe Labor
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
seat of Auburn in the 2007 State election. Ihram reportedly decided against running for the seat of Lakemba
Electoral district of Lakemba
Lakemba is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales in Sydney's Inner West. It has been held by the Australian Labor Party since its creation in 1927...
, an area with a large Muslim population, as she felt she would be labelled a "token Muslim" candidate and wished to not be linked to controversial and much condemned Muslim leader, Sheik Taj El-Din Hilaly
Taj El-Din Hilaly
Sheikh Taj El-Din Hamid Hilaly , is an Imam of the Lakemba Mosque in Sydney and an Australian Sunni Muslim leader. The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils appointed him Mufti of Australia in 1988. His name is alternatively spelt Tajeddin Hilaly, Hilali, Al-Hilaly, Taj el-Din al-Hilali, Aldin...
, the former Grand Mufti
Grand Mufti
The title of Grand Mufti refers to the highest official of religious law in a Sunni or Ibadi Muslim country. The Grand Mufti issues legal opinions and edicts, fatwā, on interpretations of Islamic law for private clients or to assist judges in deciding cases...
of Australia and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. As she explained to The Sun-Herald
The Sun-Herald
The Sun-Herald is an Australian tabloid newspaper published on Sundays in Sydney by Fairfax Media. It is the Sunday counterpart of The Sydney Morning Herald. In the 6 months to September 2005, The Sun-Herald had a circulation of 515,000...
, "Auburn is far more multicultural and less religious and there are more opportunities to help the local community."
Ihram represented the Democrats again in November 2007, this time as a candidate for the Division of Reid
Division of Reid
The Division of Reid is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. It is located in the western suburbs of Sydney, and includes the suburbs of Abbotsford, Auburn , Berala , Breakfast Point, Burwood , Cabarita, Canada Bay, Chiswick, Concord, Concord West, Croydon , Drummoyne,...
in the Australian federal election.
Today
Silma Ihram is married with 11 children and is currently researching her Master's degreeMaster's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
at urtin university], in "Understanding the development of identity in adolescent Muslim Lebanese girls". She is the Vice-President of the Muslim Women's National Network Australia, and remains an Education Consultant
Consultant
A consultant is a professional who provides professional or expert advice in a particular area such as management, accountancy, the environment, entertainment, technology, law , human resources, marketing, emergency management, food production, medicine, finance, life management, economics, public...
for the Australian International Academy, and a consultant in the area of education and Muslim community relations. She frequently partakes in forums and debates regarding issues pertaining to education, racism and Australian Muslims, and also often contributes opinion pieces and interviews with media sources.
Ihram has expressed her ambition to set up an international
International
----International mostly means something that involves more than one country. The term international as a word means involvement of, interaction between or encompassing more than one nation, or generally beyond national boundaries...
harmony college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
, a multi-religion school where the faiths of all students would be respected.
Awards and committees
In 2002, Silma Ihram was a recipient of the Centenary MedalCentenary Medal
The Centenary Medal is an award created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the Centenary of Federation of Australia and to honour people who have made a contribution to Australian society or government...
, and in 2005 was named Muslim Woman of the Decade. She was also awarded for her "contributions and efforts in the community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
", at the 2006 Women of Faith Dinner & Awards, hosted by the Affinity Intercultural Foundation.
Ihram has held a number of executive
Corporate title
Publicly and privately held for-profit corporations confer corporate titles or business titles on company officials as a means of identifying their function in the organization...
posts with Muslim organisations in Australia, including Vice-President of the Australian Council for Islamic Education in Schools in 2004, and her current roles as the Vice-President of the Muslim Women's National Network Australia, and Secretary General of the Australian Council for Islamic Education in Schools. She was recently inducted into the Rotary Club of Strathfield.
Publications
Silma Ihram is the authorAuthor
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
of two books, Bridges of Light, and Islamic Parenting. She is also the producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
of an educational video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
in Arabic, called Their First Years.
See also
- Islam in AustraliaIslam in AustraliaIslam in Australia is a small minority religious grouping, but fourth largest after all forms of Christianity , irreligion and Buddhism , excluding 11.2% who failed to answer at the last census...
- Islamic Schools in New South Wales
- List of notable converts to Islam
- List of Old Girls of PLC Sydney
- Candidates of the New South Wales state election, 2007
- Candidates of the Australian federal election, 2007Candidates of the Australian federal election, 2007This article provides details on candidates who stood at the 2007 Australian federal election.Nominations were formally declared open by the Australian Electoral Commission following the issue of the writ on Wednesday, 17 October 2007. Nominations closed at 12 noon Thursday, 1 November 2007...