The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils reportedly wants Muslims to be allowed to marry, divorce and conduct financial transactions under the principles of sharia law.
The organization has asked for the change in a submission to the Federal Parliament's Committee on Multicultural Affairs, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports.
According to the submission, all Australians would benefit if Islamic laws were adopted as mainstream legislation, a view not shared by many other contributors to the usually low-profile committee, which has received hundreds of submissions on the topic.
Ikebal Patel, president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, agrees the very word sharia could invoke notions of a fierce, unjust, male-dominated legal code.
"Short of trying to really find or use another word, really I would like to suggest that what the Muslim community at least in Australia has to do is to try and explain that there's no aspect of sharia that is being tried to be introduced here," he said.
Patel thinks everyone would benefit if sharia law were utilized in a pluralistic society like Australia.
"Under the global financial crisis that we had the established market, the sharemarket sector, the products that are there suffered very badly," he said.
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