The Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA) is an Australian non-profit welfare Sunni Muslim organisation based in Lakemba, a south-western suburb of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. It is also variously cited as the Lebanese "Moslem", "Moslems" or "Muslims" Association. The Association was founded in 1962 as a

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

project aiming to serve the "social, religious, recreational and educational" needs of Sunni

Australian Muslims Islam is the second-largest religion in Australia. According to the 2021 Census in Australia, the combined number of people who self-identified as Australian Muslims, from all forms of Islam, constituted 813,392 people, or 3.2% of the total ...

, and to advocate on their behalf in pursuit of these aims.About the Lebanese Moslems Association
, LMA website. Retrieved on 2007-02-01.Trad, K.

,

HREOC The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of the Commonwealth of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body fu ...

website. Retrieved on 2007-02-02. The Association also owns and operates Lakemba Mosque, which is situated close to its head office and is the venue for most of its programs and events.History of Lakemba Mosque
", LMA website. Retrieved on 2007-02-02. Hafez Alameddine is the president of the organisation.

History

The Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA) was established in 1962 by a group of Lebanese immigrants, to provide social, religious, educational and recreational services for the Muslim community. The LMA was formally registered as an Australian

company limited by guarantee A company limited by guarantee (CLG) is a type of company where the liability of members in the event the company is wound up is limited to a (typically very small) amount listed in the company's articles or constitution. Most have no share ca ...

in 1973 and listed as The Lebanese Moslem Association. The entity is registered as a charity, but is not entitled to receive tax deductible gifts. Between 2025 and 1977, the organisation built the Imam Ali bin Abi Taleb Mosque on Wangee Road in Lakemba. The mosque is more commonly known as Lakemba Mosque. It was the first purpose-built mosque in Sydney.

Mosques

The LMA owns and runs three mosques within New South Wales.

Lakemba Mosque

Lakemba Mosque, also known as Masjid Ali Bin Abi Taleb, was completed in 1977 and was the first purpose-built mosque in Sydney. It is believed to be Australia's largest mosque. The Imam of the mosque is Shaykh Yahya Safi and the assistant Imam is Shaykh Mohamed Harby. Lakemba Mosque hosts the largest

Eid Prayers Eid prayers, also referred to as Salat al-Eid (), are holy holiday prayers in the Islamic tradition. The literal translation of the word "Eid" in Arabic is "festival" or "feast" and is a time when Muslims congregate with family and the larger ...

in Australia, with 40,000 people regularly turning out for the prayers at the mosque.

Othman Bin Affan Mosque

Located on Water Street in

Cabramatta Cabramatta, also abbreviated as Cabra, is a suburb in South Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Cabramatta is located south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local gove ...

, Othman Bin Affan Mosque was opened in 1994. The mosque was formerly a

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Hall. The Imam of the mosque is Shaykh Emad Hamdy.

Omar ibn al-Khattab Mosque

Situated in the rural NSW town of

Young Young may refer to: * Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents * Youth, the time of life when one's age is low, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood Music * The Young, an America ...

, Omar ibn al-Khattab mosque serves the need of the local Muslim community which is estimated at 400 people. The mosque was formerly a movie theatre before being opened as a mosque in 1994.

Mosque Tours

The LMA conducts mosque tours at Lakemba Mosque. Visiting groups consist of schools, university students, Christian groups and other groups of individuals. It is believed the LMA offers the longest ongoing mosque tour in Australia, having delivered free tours to visitors for decades. Each year, thousands of visitors come through the mosque.

Zakat

The LMA collects and distributes

Zakat Zakat (or Zakāh زكاة) is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Zakat is the Arabic word for "Giving to Charity" or "Giving to the Needy". Zakat is a form of almsgiving, often collected by the Muslim Ummah. It is considered in Islam a relig ...

and

Sadaqa ' ( , "charity", "benevolence", plural ) in the modern-day Islamic context has come to signify "voluntary charity". Unlike zakat, which is a obligatory form of almsgiving and one of the five pillars of Islam, ''ṣadaqah'' is a voluntary offe ...

in accordance with

Shariah Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intan ...

principles.

Membership

In 2002, the LMA had more than 1100 financial members, with more than 5000 members attending Friday congregational prayers and "over tens of thousands" (members and non-members) using the Association's facilities on festive occasions.

Women's issues

A Women’s Committee has been established to support the needs of women in the community.

Activities

In early 2015 the

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

intended to establish early intervention programs to counter

violent extremism Violent extremism is a form of extremism that condones and enacts violence with Ideology, ideological or deliberate intent, such as Religious violence, religious or political violence. Violent extremist views often conflate with Religious violen ...

, as part of $630 million package. The LMA said they would not participate, with one source saying this is because the funding is "paltry" with a lack of ongoing financial commitment. The LMA received about $2m in government funds in 2014 and in 2015 it obtained several "community development and participation" grants.

Politics

For the 2011 New South Wales state election, the LMA endorsed the

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

over the

centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

Labor Party. At that election, the Liberal-

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Coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

under

Barry O'Farrell Barry Robert O'Farrell (born 24 May 1959) is an Australian former politician who was Australia's List of Australian High Commissioners to India, High Commissioner to India and non-resident Ambassador to Bhutan from February 2020 to 30 June 202 ...

won a

landslide victory A landslide victory is an election result in which the winning Candidate#Candidates in elections, candidate or political party, party achieves a decisive victory by an overwhelming margin, securing a very large majority of votes or seats far beyo ...

over the

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

Labor government, led by

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Kristina Keneally Kristina Marie Kerscher Keneally (born 19 December 1968) is an American-born Australian politician who served as the first female Premier of New South Wales from 2009 to 2011 and was later a Labor Senator for New South Wales from February 2018 u ...

. In 2015, the LMA did not directly endorse the Liberals, during the final stages of the election campaign, the LMA criticised

Opposition Leader The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

Luke Foley Luke Aquinas Foley (born 27 June 1970) is a former Australian Labor Party politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South Wales from 2015 to 2018. Foley was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Counci ...

. Foley, originally a member of the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

, won the seat of Auburn for Labor; with the seat of Auburn having one of the largest Muslim communities in the state.

References

External links

* * {{coord, -33.9122866, 151.0733, display=inline, map sources for the Lakemba Mosque 1962 establishments in Australia Lebanese diaspora in Australia Islamic organisations based in Australia Islamic organizations established in 1962 Non-profit organisations based in New South Wales Organisations based in Sydney