Sheikh Hilali is suspended
In a Ramadan sermon in Sydney in September 2006, Sheikh Taj el-Din al-Hilaly, then regarded as the Mufti of Australia and based at Lakemba Mosque, compared women who do not dress modestly to uncovered meat. In late October 2006, excerpts from a recording appeared in The Australian. Reuters quoted the newspaper's translation: "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."
The board of the Lebanese Muslim Association, which owns Lakemba Mosque, met him on the night of 26 October 2006. On 27 October the ABC reported that he would not give sermons at Lakemba Mosque "for the next two to three months". Reuters reported that he had been "barred from preaching for three months". Association president Tom Zreika told the ABC the board accepted that the comments were misinterpreted. He would not say whether the sheikh agreed to stop preaching or whether the board imposed it as a punishment. Reuters quoted Zreika: "We felt the three months away would give him time to mull over what's been said."
Hilaly apologised and said his comments had been misinterpreted and taken out of context (Reuters). Prime Minister John Howard said the suspension was not enough (Reuters). In June 2007 the BBC reported that Hilaly had stepped down as mufti after declining another two-year term, and that Sheikh Fehmi Naji el-Imam had replaced him.
More sources:
