The Islamic Information & Services Network of Australasia (IISNA) is an independent Islamic organisation based in Coburg, Victoria, a suburb in Melbourne, Australia. The organisation is led by Samir Mohtadi, better known by his kunya - Abu Hamza. It is a non-profit organisation, and holds regular Islamic educational classes, and larger lecture events biannually. The organisation is well known to propagate the Salafi methodology of Islam, which in recent times has become increasingly popular, especially in the Western world.
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IISNA has held events in all major cities of Australia and also many cities in New Zealand and Fiji. IISNA recently became involved with organisations in Indonesia, after giving support following the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. IISNA through support from the Muslim community of Australia raised funds to build an orphanage in the nation for Tsunami orphans.
IISNA has taken part in the Unity Cup [1] since its inception. The Unity Cup is hosted by the Australian Federal Police and the Essendon Football Club. IISNA has competed over the last 3 years and has fielded a team which won the competition on all 3 occasions.
In early 2010 it was announced that IISNA would be building a new youth centre based in Broadmeadows, Victoria in the heart of Melbourne's Muslim community. The new centre would be named the Multicultural Youth Centre, or MyCentre for short.
Abu Hamza, also known as Samir Mohtadi has led IISNA since its beginning. His family background is Lebanese, however he was raised in Australia. Abu Hamza's grandfather was originally a Maronite Christian from Zgharta who embraced Islam at a young age.
He gives talks at IISNA every Sunday, which are all broadcast online on Paltalk. Some of Abu Hamza's most popular talks which he has given are:
Abu Hamza was one of the guest speakers who took part in the Peace Conference in 2007 which was held in Mumbai, India and was hosted by the Islamic Research Foundation and was broadcast on Peace TV. Along with Abu Hamza another representative from IISNA also took part in co-hosting the events at the conference.