Friday, October 27, 2006
DUDE LOOKS LIKE HILALI
Sheik Hilali rocks out:
While the rest of the country expressed outrage at his comments, Taj Din al-Hilali enjoyed rock star status when he arrived at Lakemba Mosque yesterday.
He was smiling when he exited Sydney’s now infamous mosque, clearly buoyed by the backing he had received inside, where 5000 worshippers shouted their support during the midday service.
He was surrounded by more than 200 fervent supporters as he made his way to a waiting car.
Asked if he would resign, he said: “After we clean the world of the White House."
Actually, that last quote has been tidied up. As J.F. Beck emailed, and television coverage proves, the Sheik actually said:
When asked whether he would resign he replied, “after they clean the world from the White House first”.
I’m on your side, Meatman. The sooner the White House cleans the world, the better. Meanwhile, you’ve read the sermon—now buy the t-shirt! Send a few to Lakemba mosque, where Hilalians yesterday heard their main imam deliver this speech:
Let me clearly state for the record, for the history, that rape in our religion, in our Islamic law, Islamic sharia, is considered a crime whose punishment is execution.
Yes—for the victims. Keysar Trad, weary of his usual “out of context” routine, now kicks it up a notch:
Sheik Hilaly’s spokesman, Keysar Trad, did not dispute the content of the translation yesterday, saying he had not heard the tape properly, but he offered a new defence.
He likened the quoting of Rafii to Pope Benedict’s recent citing of a Byzantine religious scholar who said that Islam had been spread by the sword.
Does that therefore justify non-Muslims attacking mosques and shooting Hilali’s followers, as happened post the Pope’s speech? Just askin’! It’d be interesting to hear Trad’s defence of this Hilali remark, from 1982:
The two cheapest things in Australia are the flesh of a woman and the meat of a pig.
Come a long way in 24 years, hasn’t he? From pigs to cats. Publication of those 1982 comments in a Lebanese Christian newspaper led to the incineration of the paper’s printing press. Manny C. caught an interview yesterday on 2GB with Tom Zrika, chair of the Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA), from which he reports the following:
1. The LMA has NOT, contrary to media reports, given the Mufti several months off from preaching sermons. Instead, in the words of the LMA, he has been given a three month holiday;
2. The LMA will not proceed with further action against the Mufti as a significant proportion of the board support him;
3. Zrika admitted that the Mufti has a sizeable and vocal following ;
4. The LMA does not want to do anything concrete in response to the Mufti’s sermon because it would tear the fabric of the community; and
5. Sydney Radio 2ME conducted an on-air survey in which a majority of Lebanese Muslims supported the Mufti’s comments ...
Hit Manny’s site for links in the above-quoted chunk. Hilali’s comments are now available in expanded form thanks to a more comprehensive translation from The Australian:
[The man] is the one who has to pay the rent, he is responsible for the alimony, he is responsible for feeding his children. Maybe circumstances forced him and Satan tempted him, and there is a woman like hell behind him; she never has enough. She wants to change the furniture, change the lounge every year. And behind every man who is a thief, a greedy woman. She is pushing him. Not our women in Australia, the women of Canada. The hall up there is full. They are the women of Canada and Mexico, the ones who encourage their men - to do what? Go! Get me! And no matter how much he brings her, she wants more.
She wants to change the car, and change ... Of course, the woman keeps demanding from her husband more than his ability. Either she will tell him to go and deal in drugs, or to go and steal. What’s more than that? Spend as much as you have! You know your husband, upside down! If you demand from your husband more than his ability, then what does that mean? Who is the one who would have to become a mafia? A gangster? And steal cars? And smash banks? And deal in the “blue disease” (drugs)? Who is the one who commits these crimes of stealing? Who? The man or the woman? It’s the man.
Sometimes it seems as though this religion isn’t exactly female-friendly. Or even human-friendly, as Caroline Overington writes:
When you cut the colour out of the mufti’s speech - when you drop the references to cats, to uncovered meat, and even to Satan - his message doesn’t become more palatable, it is horrific.
The Age’s Michelle Grattan is just as damning:
Hilali’s apologies mean nothing, nor do claims from his family and supporters that his words were misunderstood or taken out of context. Their general direction was devastatingly clear, and yesterday he added some political provocation to make things worse.
Still, the rockin’ Sheik has supporters beyond those chanting in Lakemba:
The chairman of the British Muslim Council of Great Britain, Imam Abdul Jalil Sajid, today said it appeared to him that the comments had been ...
Taken Out of Context™. Imam Abdul owes royalties to Keysar Trad.
"I know that he is one of the greatest Muslim scholars on Earth and Australia is blessed with him, and I know he went to Iraq to get released an Australian national [Douglas Wood] from the clutches of a heinous regime at the time,” Dr Sajid told the Nine Network’s Today program.
"We have to appreciate and give him the credit with the result [Mr Wood’s release] but I agree and take your point that he must communicate better.”
Sheik Hilali did not secure the release of Douglas Wood. Imam Abdul should communicate better. Among blog and non-blog reactions to Hilali’s speechifying:
* “Here’s what I want to know,” asks Pavlov’s Cat. “If the women are the meat and the men are the cats, then who are these cat-owners and neighbours? Is there some sinister extra dimension to this little fairytale that I’m not picking up? Or is it just incoherent as well as repulsive?”
* Angry Asian Female is angry.
* Sultan Knish shreds Hilali’s claim that he was refering to adultery rather than rape.
* And, in the Age, Melbourne’s Fatima Abdullatif sends an open letter:
Dear Sheikh Hilali. As a young Muslim woman, I have had to deal with the ubiquitous news reports that misquote Islam. I avoid trying to “make people understand” because I find reassurance in the belief that negative comments come from those who do not understand Islam.
However, I am deeply angered by your views, on one level because they are out of touch with even the most Neanderthal society; on another because they come from a man holding a high position. How sad that you used your platform to preach these ideas. How useless that you hid behind the Arabic language and used a translator to give a different meaning to your words. Those who speak Arabic cringed at this disgusting ploy.
Muslims face enough discrimination and misunderstanding. They need positive role models. You are not such a leader, and must resign immediately.
What she said. Previous Hilali posts here, here, here, and here.