Sheik Hilali Explains Islam.

Note: This site does not condone the foolish analogies uttered by the imam hilali in his sermon. Men in his position must be extra careful in how they formulate their words.

The attacks on him are deserved by him. He has apologised; this apology should be accepted (by whom is another matter) and he should be left alone to learn the necessary lessons of this event.

Read on...



Thursday Oct 26 18:49 AEST
Sheik apologises for 'meat' comments

Australia's senior Muslim cleric Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali has apologised for any offence caused by his comments that immodestly dressed women provoke sexual attacks.

The Australian newspaper reported that, in a sermon delivered last month, Sheik Alhilali likened scantily clad women to uncovered meat eaten by animals.

"I unreservedly apologise to any woman who is offended by my comments," he said in a statement.


"I had only intended to protect women's honour, something lost in The Australian presentation of my talk."




Sheik Alhilali has been widely condemned by Muslim and non Muslim groups for the Ramadan sermon he gave in Arabic to 500 worshippers in Sydney.

According to The Australian's translation, he said: "If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats or the uncovered meat," he said.

"The uncovered meat is the problem.

"If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab (Islamic headscarf which covers the hair neck and shoulders), no problem would have occurred."

But the mufti of Australia and New Zealand would not back away from his comments and said he was shocked by the way his sermon was interpreted.

"The Australian front page article reported selected comments from a talk presented one month ago," the sheik said.

"The title was 'Why men were mentioned before women for the crime of theft and woman (sic) before men for the sin of fornication'.

"I would like to unequivocally confirm that the presentation related to religious teachings on modesty and not to go to extremes in enticements, this does not condone rape, I condemn rape and reiterate that this is a capital crime.

"Women in our Australian society have the freedom and right to dress as they choose (while) the duty of man is to avert his glance or walk away.

"If a man falls from grace and commits fornication then if this was consensual, they would be both guilty, but if it was forced, then the man has committed a capital crime.

"Whether a man endorses or not, a particular form of dress, any form of harassment of women is unacceptable."

A spokesman for Sheik Alhilali said the backlash and criticism had badly affected him and he had been depressed and confined to bed all day, breathing with the assistance of an oxygen tank.

His comments had provoked a storm of protest from political, religious and community leaders.

Prime Minister John Howard said the comments were appalling and reprehensible.

"They are quite out of touch with contemporary values in Australia." Mr Howard said.

Mr Howard said the sheik's remarks clearly related to a "particularly appalling" rape trial in Sydney.

Asked if the sheik should resign, Mr Howard replied: "It's not for me to say what position he should hold in the Islamic faith.

"But it is for me as prime minister to say I totally reject the notion that the way in which women dress and deport themselves can in any way be used as a semblance of justification for rape."

The Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) had called for the sheik to resign, saying comments that likened women to meat were an unfounded justification for rape.

ICV committee member Sherene Hassan said she was outraged by the comments.

"Those comments are extremely offensive, and there is no basis for what he said in Islamic teachings," Ms Hassan told AAP.

"They are a paternal distortion of Islamic teachings.

"The ICV is issuing a statement calling for his resignation.

"There is no justification for rape."

Ms Hassan said she wears a hijab because of her "devotion to God".

"It's a form of identification. Men do not enter the equations. I don't do it to hide from men."

The Islamic Council of NSW also condemned the sheik's remarks.

The council said the remarks were "un-Islamic, un-Australian and unacceptable".

A spokesman for the council, Mr Ali Roude, said he was "astonished" at Sheik Alhilali's comments, saying he "had failed both himself and the Muslim community".

"While we respect the rights of any Australian citizen to freedom of speech, there is a further responsibility upon our civic leaders, be they religious, political or bureaucratic, to offer appropriate guidance to the people under their care," Mr Roude said.

"The comments widely reported today do no such thing."

Sheik Alhilali had seriously misrepresented the teachings of Islam in his comments, Mr Roude said, which were offensive to both sexes.

The comments also showed a deep misunderstanding of rape and personal violence, which Mr Roude described as a "crimes of power".

"As a father, brother and son myself, I take offence at the portrayal of both men and women in the alleged published comments," Mr Roude said.

"Islam requires all people, men and women alike, to dress with modesty.

"This is not to reduce the risk of sexual assault and rape, but rather to show respect for the God who created us all as equals and to show respect for ourselves as people who rise above the world of mere things and animals to stand as conscious beings in the presence of that same loving God - Allah Ta'ala."

Mr Roude said he had known Sheik Alhilali for many years and was deeply disappointed he had made the remarks, which were in no way shared or endorsed by the council.

"Any comments or actions which might lead any person, especially any Muslim, to despise or to objectify any other person are clearly contrary to the will of God," Mr Roude said.

"The comments reported today must be heard, read and understood in that context."

Leaders of the Sydney mosque where Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali preaches have not ruled out taking action over the cleric's comments that immodestly-dressed women are inviting rape.

But the Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA), which runs the Lakemba Mosque in the city's south-west, said it would give Sheik Alhilali the benefit of the doubt until it had reviewed his address.

LMA president Tom Zreika said he was "flabbergasted" on reading the cleric's comments.

"In order to afford him natural justice principles, we said he's got the benefit of the doubt until we have reviewed the comments on the tape as well as on the translated transcripts," he told reporters outside Lakemba Mosque.

"We would like to assure the wider public, which we are part of, that those comments were hurtful, misguided and were taken out of context."




Comment: The words uttered by Sheik Hilali, the imam of the Lakemba mosque, were ill chosen, but the content of his sermon was very orthodox Islam. Islam is very strict in matters of unregulated sex. Australia, generally, is not. This lays the groundwork for the ocassional culture clash. Such clashes are not the end of the world.

Of course, when the strictness preached leads to violence against another person, that is another matter. The connection between words and action is well known. This connection needs to be constantly taken into account by men in imam Hilali's position.

Hopefully, the very big negative reaction to his remarks will most likely lead to more careful choice of words in the future. This is a good outcome.