Muslim Community Reference Group

Founding

Board members

• Ameer Ali, an Australian academic and former President of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, an umbrella group for various Islamic groups or councils in Australia, was the appointed chairman of the Australian Muslim Community Reference Group in 2006.
• Dr. Mustapha Kara-Ali served as a member of the MCRG and chaired its Schooling Subgroup. He is a community developer and a former Harvard University scholar who worked on political philosophy and religion. Prior to that he won a Commonwealth Endeavour Award for his PhD on comparative philosophy. In relation to the work of the MCRG, he founded Birr in 2006 as a Government-Community Partnership in Western Sydney.
• Sheikh Taj El-Din Hilaly, Imam of the Lakemba Mosque in Sydney and appointed Mufti of Australia by the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils in 1988, was a member of the board until he was sacked in July 2006 following comments he made in which he denied the Holocaust, calling it a "Zionist lie."
• Aziza Abdel-Halim, President of the Muslim Women's National Network Australia.
• Mohammed Taha Al-Salami, President of the Iraqi Islamic Council of Australia was also among the initial group of Australian Muslim leaders who met with John Howard in 2005.
• Sheikh Fehmi Naji El-Imam
• Nadia Gani
• Amin Hady
• Harry Hage
• Iktimal Hage-Ali
• Kemal Ismen
• Abdul Jalal
• Yasser Soliman
• Malcolm Thomas

  Others

• Zachariah Matthews, an author and public speaker on Islamic topics, former president of the Australian Islamic Mission and board member of the Australian Muslim Civil Rights and Advocacy Network, helped craft the board's public statements.