Any claims to Sheik Hilaly being possibly misinterpreted and mistranslated have been swept away. Richard Kerbaj from The Oz can feel exonerated by the fact that other media outlets (including SBS) have come up with effectively the same messages in Hilaly’s speech.
Lebanese Moslems Association President and Auburn Councillor Tom Zreika summed up the mood of Muslims everywhere when he told Fran Kelly on Friday words to the effect of:
We’ve been doing so much work to try and build bridges and now this incident has thrown all that work down the drain.
He also confirmed the LMA would take no action. With respect, this is a cop-out. There is plenty the LMA can and should do. They can start by sacking him from his role as Senior Imam at the mosque they manage.
The sad reality is that the LMA likes to present itself as “the largest and most established Muslim organization in Australia ”. Yet the reality is that full membership of the LMA (and hence voting rights and ability to sit on the executive) is limited to male Muslims eligible for Lebanese passports.
So you have this absurd situation where the senior imam of a mosque which practises membership apartheid claims the mantle of leadership of a multiethnic religious congregation.
Friday’s Daily Telegraph shows three prominent Muslim women (including a colleague of Tom Zreika’s on Auburn Council) standing outside Auburn Gallipoli Mosque expressing their condemnation. Mosque Prez Ibrahim Din was also there (as was yours truly). Din made the position of his congregation (and no doubt of Turkish-speaking Muslims who manage more mosques than any other ethnic group) clear: “He is not my Mufti”.
Sadly, some Muslim spokespeople continue to life with their heads in the sand. Executive Director of the Forum on Australia’s Islamic Relations (FAIR) Kuranda Seyit issued a Press Release this morning calling for an end to the “media witch hunt”, claiming: “I have read his public statement and apology and I am satisfied that Sheikh Taj did not imply that women are the cause of rape.” Yet FAIR’s resident scholar, Na’eem Abdul Wali has contradicted Seyit.
Perhaps the most colourful comment comes from one Canberra Muslim who e-mailed this to me:
Hilaly with two similar sphincter muscles at either end and nothing but **** comes out at either end I don’t whether to laugh or cry at his outburst; who needs enemies when we have this loose cannon on board. He should be reprimanded by Muslims first then others.
Words © 2006 Irfan Yusuf
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11 comments:
First they came for the obvious religio conservatives, and you did not speak out against it. What will you do when they come for you? Who will speak out for you? Coward.
Very interesting and well-written Irfmeister. The LMA seems a more interesting piece to investigate than the sheik :)
Leave him alone Irfy. I know you have a love - hate relationship with the Sheik but look at the quality of his possible replacements.
Irfy, leave the Sheik alone. His position is not up to you, ahbash, the PM, jamal rifi or the media. You do not speak for the community. You should worry about whether your prayers are accepted.
Anon @ 303, 'replacements' in what capacity? As Mufti? Who says we need a Mufti in the first place?
Mr Irf Y can't the supporters of the Sheik understand the damage he is doing to the community of Moslems in Australia. It is not enough to say he is misinterpreted, this excuse has worn thin - once it is understood but what steps has he taken to stop being misinterpreted?
Let this mufti lead the all the muslims into the sea to drown like rats.
read the article again irf
Naeem abdul wali did not contradict seyit- totally different subject matter
So a total of "three prominent Muslim women" according to Irfan plus Irfan have come out against Sheik Hilaly. Ibrahim Din has said "He is not my Mufti". Thats all. Out of a a population of how many muslim scum? I suggest that the only prominent thing about the three muslim women is how prominently ugly they are and how desperate they must be for drug money to be seen in public with Irfan Yusuf.
I am an anglo-saxon of convict hertitage. I have no animosity towards those muslims that want to make a real life here in Austalia and practice their faith peacefully. But if you want some valueable advice....get rid of that dolt you call a Mufti. He is doing your community and your faith a lot of harm in this country. I am sick and tired of hearing the pathetic excuses that his mouthpiece Keysar Trad trots out to cover his sorry arse. Obviously the Mufti is not happy living in Australia nor does he like it's people. I say let him stay in his native Egypt where he would be more at home with his Muslim Brotherhood buddies. Austalian muslims don't need his type - and neither do we.
Cattypus:
AT LAST - A RAY OF HOPE!!! LET'S ALL HOPE THEY GET RID OF THE LITTLE FASCIST BASTARD AND HIS LITTLE SIDE KICK KEYSAR TRAD! O HAPPY DAY....:)
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/01/15/1168709645952.html
Every single muslim in this country should get behind these guys and make a fresh start with mainstream Australia!
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