The capital cities of Australia’s states experienced their first Muslim Global Dawah Day on July 5, with teams of young mission-minded Muslim activists distributing leaflets and engaging in street evangelism for Islam. They took their lead from a wealth of online resources, with well-known British activist Abdur Raheem Green being a key spokesman for the worldwide campaign.
Although Global Dawah Day had little profile in the mainstream Australian media, it came at a time of considerable public anxiety and government activity over reports of home-jihadis grown leaving to fight for radical Islamist groups in Syria and Iraq. In early July, the Australian Attorney General warned that at least 60 Australians are actively involved in fighting with extremist groups, such as the newly declared Islamic caliphate, with a further 150 providing various forms of support.
Australia is not alone in engaging in this soul-searching. The European law enforcement agency, Europol, has estimated that up to 2000 European Muslims had joined the Syrian conflict by the end of 2013. The global nature of these activities was reflected in a short propaganda film released on the Internet in June. Titled There Is No Life without Jihad, it featured five young British and Australian jihadis calling on Muslims everywhere to join them. The speakers even referred to the presence of jihadis from Cambodia, underscoring the scale of jihadi extremism.
