Muslim cleric says women without a veil are "uncovered meat" asking for rape

[Grimmlok]

SYDNEY, Australia — One of Australia's senior-most Islamic clerics has triggered outrage after comments reported Thursday comparing women who don't wear a headscarf to "uncovered meat" who invite rape.

Sheik Taj Aldin al Hilali denied he was condoning rape when he made the comments in a sermon last month, and apologized to any women he had offended, saying they were free to dress as they wished.

The row comes during a heated debate in Britain about religious freedom centred around whether Muslim women should wear veils. Similar passions raged when France banned head scarves and other religious symbols in public schools two years ago.

In Australia, there was widespread condemnation Thursday the cleric's comments, from other Muslim leaders, civil libertarians and political leaders.

Hilali was quoted in the Australian newspaper as saying in the sermon: "If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside . . . without cover, and the cats come to eat it . . . whose fault is it, the cats' or the uncovered meat's."

"The uncovered meat is the problem. If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred," he was quoted as saying, referring to the headdress worn by some Muslim women.

Australia's sex discrimination commissioner, Pru Goward, said Hilali's comment was an incitement to rape and that Australia's Muslims should force him to stand down.

"This is inciting young men to a violent crime because it is the woman's fault," Goward told television's Nine Network. "It is time the Islamic community did more than say they were horrified. I think it is time he left."

Prime Minister John Howard also rejected the comments as unacceptable.

"They are appalling and reprehensible comments," Howard told reporters. "The idea that women are to blame for rapes is preposterous."

Hilali is the top cleric at Sydney's largest mosque, and is considered the most senior Islamic leader by many Muslims in Australia and New Zealand.

He has in the past served as an adviser to the Australian government on Muslim issues, but triggered a controversy in 2004 for saying in a sermon in Lebanon that the Sept. 11 attacks were "God's work against the oppressors." Hilali said later he did not mean that he supported the attacks, or terrorism.

The latest furor comes at a time when relations between Australia's almost 300,000 Muslims and the majority Christian-heritage population are tense following riots last December that often pitted white gangs against youths of Middle Eastern decent.

Howard offended some Muslims recently by singling out some Muslims as extremists who should adopt Australia's western liberal attitudes to women's rights.

Many Muslims say they are increasingly treated with suspicion since the Sept. 11 and other international terrorist attacks. Waleed Aly, a member of the Islamic Council of Victoria state, said Hilali's comments would result in more antagonism toward Muslims.

"I am expecting a deluge of hate mail," he said. "I am expecting people to get abused in the street and get abused at work."

Hilali said in a statement he was shocked by Thursday's reaction to his sermon.

"The presentation related to religious teachings on modesty and not to go to extremes in enticements, this does not condone rape, I condemn rape," he said.

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

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...path=News/News

Charming, makes me all warm and squishy inside.

[buttmunch]

A Muslim cleric's claim that women who do not wear the veil are like 'uncovered meat' who attract sexual predators sparked outrage around Australia yesterday.

Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, the nation's most senior Muslim cleric, compared immodestly-dressed women who do not wear the Islamic headdress with meat that is left uncovered in the street and is then eaten by cats.

Read more...
EU boss Barroso blasts veil as 'obstacle to communication'


Politicians including Prime Minister John Howard, community leaders and a large number of Muslims condemned the mufti's comments amid calls that he should be deported to Egypt, his country of origin.

In a Ramadam sermon in a Sydney mosque, Sheik al-Hilali suggested that a group of Muslim men recently jailed for many years for gang rapes were not entirely to blame.

There were women, he said, who 'sway suggestively' and wore make-up and immodest dress "and then you get a judge without mercy and gives you 65 years. But the problem, but the problem all began with who?" he said, referring to the women victims.

Addressing 500 worshippers on the topic of adultery, Sheik al-Hilali added: "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?

"The uncovered meat is the problem."

He went on: "If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab (veil), no problem would have occurred."

Women, he said, were 'weapons' used by Satan to control men.

His comments, reported yesterday in the nationally-circulated newspaper The Australian, created a storm of outrage.

It follows anger that erupted among Muslims in Britain earlier this month when MP Jack Straw said women who wear veils over their face can make community relations harder.

But Sheik al-Hilali's has created an even bigger storm by using the uncovered meat example to accuse women who do not cover their heads and faces of tempting men.

Prime Minister Howard labelled the mufti's comments as 'appalling and reprehensible', adding: "They are quite out of touch with contemporary values in Australia.

"The idea that women are to blame for rapes is preposterous. I not only reject the comments, I condemn them unconditionally." Treasurer Peter Costello urged the Muslim community to condemn the comments and take action against the Sheik.

"If you have a significant religious leader like this preaching to a flock in a situation where we've had gang rapes, in a way that seems to make it justifiable, or at least lighten the dehumanising and degrading extent of the offence."

A close associate of the sheik, Keysar Trad, said the speech was about adultery, not rape. "He wasn't talking about standard norms of dress in Australia or any country, he wasn't talking about the hijab, he was talking about people who engage in extramarital sex."

But Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner Miss Pru Goward said there could be no backtracking over the comments. "He could be guilty of incitement to the crime of rape and should be deported," she said.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770

Ah yes, another step backwards into the dark ages. Men can't control themselves and when they can't it's the woman's fault. I wonder if this guy's Mexican?

[Grimmlok]

already posted in news.. gotta be faster

[crumpet]

As Gomer Pyle would say, "Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!!!". The fact that he would say that publicly says it all, imo.

[A*O]

Here's another link from the local paper.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/nation...749280791.html

After due deliberation the Muslim community has decided to take firm action with this moron and are doing........ er....... absolutely nothing. He was "misinterpreted" apparently. And our Muslim friends wonder why we have such a sceptical view of their religion and its leaders. If a Christian church leader made remarks like this he'd be sacked in disgrace.

[Grimmlok]

dammit! already posted!

[buttmunch]

already posted in news.. gotta be faster

Bloody hell, you beat me by minutes and I, at least, posted in the correct forum! But what do you know, it earned me a warning.

[pacific breeze]

Please get in the habit of using the button to the immediate right of the post field to check if it's already been posted. It couldn't be simpler.

We encourage posting, but everybody is asked to check that the item hasn't already been posted. It takes 15-30 seconds and saves the mods a lot of work.

[Grimmlok]

*does a triumphant dance*

[buttmunch]

*trips Grimm as he does his triumphant dance...he falls flat on his face*

[A*O]

The public outcry about this continues and his feeble excuses about being 'misinterpreted' aren't going to wash this time. A meeting was scheduled today to decide on his future but he had to be 'rushed to hospital' instead. Let's hope it's nothing trivial.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/nation...056893851.html