Australian Muslims called to arms.

AN inflammatory pamphlet urging Muslims to oppose Western governments was handed out at a major Islamic festival in Melbourne yesterday.

The flyer, distributed at a family carnival to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan in Preston, bore the name of the fundamentalist group Hizb ut-Tahrir - which is banned in Britain and Germany. It claimed new terror laws were part of a conspiracy to eradicate Islam in Western countries. And it said Muslims had “enormously rejected their evil and corrupt rulers that the West have appointed over them, and they are looking forward to consigning them to the dustbins of history”.

The pamphlet said Muslims overseas had “heroically resisted” invasion and “inflicted the most humiliating lesson on supposed superpowers”. It claimed Prime Minister John Howard’s recent summit with Muslim leaders was a “smokescreen designed to rubber stamp the Government’s proposals”.

In August Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said he had no evidence that Hizb Ut-Tahir had breached current laws, but he was already reviewing the rules for declaring a terrorist organisation after elements of the group called for attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan, Iran, the US and Israeli interests. In Sydney the group has drawn gatherings of up to 200 calling for the creation of an Islamic super-state.

“Ally yourselves with those who work day and night to confront this war against Islam,” the pamphlet says in what was virtually a call to arms.

Australian Muslim authority figures seem to just want it all to go away.

Melbourne’s most senior Muslim cleric, Sheik Fehmi, urged Muslims at the celebration - expected to attract up to 10,000 visitors over the weekend - to ignore the pamphlet. He said Ramadan was the time for spiritual purification and reflection for Muslims.

“We’re not terrorists and we’re not thinking of terrorist acts, we’re not going to do anything in the future - God willing.”

And if Allah wills otherwise?