Islamic ethics and liberal democracy share deep common ground in justice, dignity and equality. But selective commitment to those principles now risks eroding the freedoms that once made democratic societies a refuge.

For generations, Islamic teachings and Western democratic values have shared more common ground than many care to admit. At their core lie principles of justice, human dignity, accountability, equality before the law, and the protection of human rights.

Islam commands fairness in trade, compassion in society, and the defence of the oppressed. Liberal democracies speak of freedom of thought, freedom of expression, equal opportunity, and the rule of law. These are not opposing ideas. They are overlapping moral languages describing the same human aspirations.

This shared ethical foundation is precisely why so many Muslims fleeing persecution and injustice in parts of the Muslim world sought refuge in Western democracies. They did not come to abandon their faith. They came because these societies allowed them to practise it peacefully and openly.

In the West in general and Australia in particular, Muslims found the freedom to pray, to build mosques, to establish charities, to educate their children, and to participate fully in civic life without fear. In many ways, they were able to live Islamic values more comfortably in democratic countries than in authoritarian homelands.

Over the last half-century, Muslim diaspora communities have flourished. They built institutions, businesses, schools, welfare organisations and media platforms. They contributed to medicine, law, academia and public service.

They became woven into the social fabric. Australia, with its multicultural and multi-faith ethos, fair go for all and equal opportunity to pursue your dreams has been one of the finest examples of this possibility.

My own life bears witness to this. Having lived in Australia for more than five decades, I have experienced a society that enriched my thinking and welcomed my participation. I was able to read widely, write freely, and contribute to community building without fear or favour.

Through  _Australasian Muslim Times_, which began as a multilingual newspaper in 1991 and resumed in 2014 as an English print and digital publication, we established a platform to express ideas openly and honestly by all Australians, Muslims or otherwise.

That freedom was something I cherished deeply, and something I believed distinguished Australia from much of the world where such opportunities either did not exist or could not be sustained for the long run.

Yet today, that confidence feels shaken.

For more than two years now, the devastation in Gaza and the suffering of Palestinians have unfolded before the world’s eyes. One would expect democracies that champion human rights, justice and equality to speak consistently and act with moral clarity.

Instead, many Western governments have displayed troubling double standards, appearing reluctant to affirm that Palestinian lives matter with the same urgency afforded to others. Principles once described as universal suddenly seem selective.

More concerning still is the shrinking space for open discussion. The growing conflation of anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism, and the push for laws and policies that chill criticism of Israel, risk undermining a cornerstone of democracy itself: freedom of expression.

Legitimate political critique is increasingly framed as hate. Journalists, academics and community voices hesitate before speaking. Even as an editor, I now weigh my words with a caution I never once felt in decades past, wary that honest opinion might be mislabelled or weaponised against me.

This should worry every Australian, not just Muslims. When fear replaces open debate, democracy weakens. When certain injustices become unspeakable, equality before the law becomes hollow. The values that once made the West a refuge begin to erode.

If Australia is to remain a home for both faith and freedom, it must defend those freedoms consistently, especially when they are uncomfortable. Justice cannot be selective, and free speech cannot come with exceptions. Otherwise, we risk losing the very ideals that drew so many of us here in the first place.