Collective Religious Authorities

Chapter 5 examines how Muslim clerical organisations assert their collective authority. The chapter provides an overview of peak Islamic organisations and Muslim minority groups in Australia, before moving into the role and evolution of the Australian National Imams Council (ANIC), Australia’s largest Muslim clerical body. It explores ANIC’s mandate, organisational structure and membership. It includes 16 interviews of ANIC imams, including senior members of its council. The chapter analyses ANIC’s grassroots activism, media, political lobbying and fatwa-making (production of non-binding Islamic rulings). The chapter concludes that ANIC operates with the goal of legitimising its religious authority through its organisational structure, traditional Islamic schooling and social activism in a localised Australian context.