MUSLIM LEADER DAMNS THE DRUG TRADE

Close to 100 Muslim students crammed into the Werribee Islamic College
library this week for what promised to be a serious lecture by the New
York anti-drugs campaigner Imam Siraj Wahhaj. They got a show.

Mr Wahhaj spoke passionately about non-conformism, how Muslims can
retain their identity in a Western culture. When he finished, a young
girl tentatively raised her hand and asked what she should say when
people ask why Muslims are opposed to homosexuality.

"Tell them God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve," the Imam
bellowed. As the students roared with laughter he asked: what next -
sex with animals?

"Can I tell you the scariest moment in my life? I was on a plane and
for the first time in my life the entire crew was gay. The plane was
moving in a very funny way," he grinned, turning to the school
principal behind him for a nod.

Imam Wahhaj Siraj Wahhaj lectures around the world and is touted as a
drug expert. He achieved this notoriety when he led a group of Muslims
who drove crack dealers out of Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn in 1988.

For 40 days and 40 nights in the middle of a bitterly cold New York
winter Mr Wahhaj and his Muslim brothers staked out drug dealer's
houses, armed only with walkie-talkies.

When the crack dealers finally left the story made waves around
America. People started calling and asking Muslims to do the same in
their area. Half a decade later, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani began
zero-tolerance anti-drug policies.

"According to the police, the area was one of the worst in the city in
terms of drug addiction, shootouts, murder and robbery," Mr Wahhaj
said.

"We transformed it into a model area. We knew that when drug dealers
left our place they would so somewhere else. We tried to trigger a
response in the city so that other people would do the same thing.

"We didn't get the kind of response we wanted because people became
afraid.

"You've got to get involved. We took a big risk fighting against drug
dealers. It's a very dangerous business. People are murdered. But I'm
going to try and motivate and inspire Muslims to stand up and take a
stand that they're going to stop it."

Surprisingly Mr Wahhaj, who is giving public lectures on issues facing
young people, does not advocate tougher policing.

He said he opposed the "three strikes and you're out" mentality
because putting people in jail did not work.

"There are so many prisoners in the United States that together they
represent a state that would be the 14th largest in America," he said.
"It's too much.

"In New York City we have 40,000 police. The biggest police force in
the world. That isn't the real answer. Throwing a lot of people in
prison isn't the real answer. The answer is education. It's slower,
because you've got to build the foundations first."