Unspun

Aussies eschew cleric’s “women-are-meat” statement


The big issue when Unspun was Down Under last week was the controversy stirred up by Australia’s top Muslim cleric Sheikh Taj el-Din-al-Hilali who said in a sermon that women who did not wear the jilbab attracted sexual assault.

His exact words:

“If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside… and the cats come and eat it… whose fault is it, the cats’ or the uncovered meat?” Sheikh Hilali is quoted as asking during the sermon.

The uncovered meat is the problem, he went on to say.

“If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab [headscarf], no problem would have occurred,” he added.

The statement aroused anger and indignation among many Australians, even women Muslim Australians. One Muslim woman leader was quoted on TVas saying that the comment was unacceptable, his subsequent half apology was unacceptable and the Sheikh should step down. But she also added thatthe Muslim women could not get rid of him because the Mosque Association had decided that while the Sheikh should shut up for the next few months until the controversy died down, he should nonetheless be allowed to keep his position.

What sort of a structure do the Australian Muslims have where a cleric can shoot off his mouth yet be able to retain his position? What sort of image of Islam would this give to the non-Islamic world who already nurture the impression, wrong thoug it is, that Islamic organizations are mysogynistic?

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2 responses to “Aussies eschew cleric’s “women-are-meat” statement”

  1. reuben Avatar
    reuben

    This isn’t the first time that a Muslim leader has made a high-profile public gaffe of this type — after the Sydney gang rapes a few years back another mufti made almost the exact same comments, but without the awkward cat analogies.

    Certainly in a country like Australia — where despite all its claims of multiculturalism, ethnic groups tend to stick together and don’t understand each other nearly as much as they should — this kind of thing does not help anyone to gain a positive view of Muslims.

    My biggest complaint against comments such as these is that they evade responsibility for the actions of Muslims who commit crimes. If the sheik were to tell his followers that women shouldn’t wear short skirts, but that faith in the teachings of the Koran should make them able to resist any such temptation, then good for him. But how dare he come to a country seeking a better lifestyle for himself and then tell the women of that country to sit at home or be raped.

    The best thing for both the mainstream and Muslim communities in Australia would be for this guy to be deported and never heard from again. Why try to make my country a place where women have no rights, when there are plenty of perfectly good countries like that already, where he can freely preach his madness?

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  2. Kevster Avatar
    Kevster

    COMMENT DELETED BECAUSE OF INANITY – UNSPUN

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