After beating Borat and Kenny the portable toilet cleaner to win Ralph Magazine’s prestigious Funny Man of the Year award, things were looking up for Sheikh Taj al-Din al-Hilali, the controversial Sydney cleric. But sadly it seems that — yet again — controversy has struck with Australia’s Channel Seven reporting that Sh Taj has issued something of a spray on Egyptian television.
Speaking in Arabic on Egyptian television Sheik al-Hilali said, according to a Seven Network translation, that white Australians arrived in the country shackled as convicts.
“We (Muslims) came as free people. We bought our own tickets. We are entitled to Australia more than they are,” he said.
That may be seen as offensive enough but apparently the sheikh goes on to claim that white Australians “are the biggest liars”. He also reportedly makes some fairly controversial comments about the sentencing of the Sydney rape gangs. As The Australian reports:
Having last year suggested victims should share the blame for being sexually assaulted, Sheik Hilali used the interview to blame the September 11 attacks on the US for influencing lengthy sentences given to Sydney’s notorious Lebanese Muslim gang rapists.
“Up until then the worst crime in Australia had received seven years’ jail,” he said.
The Age have placed some video footage on their website.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Taj’s supporters are apologising for the remarks.
IFAA spokesman Keysar Trad says says he apologises for the comments if they have caused offence, but says the Sheikh has been misinterpreted.
“I do understand that some people taking these comments without looking at the full video would take offence to them,” he said.
“As an Australian Muslim… I do feel like apologising to these people and also appealing to them to understand the context, it would seem he was trying to explain away that controversy and put it behind him and there were a couple of slip-ups.”
Mr Trad says the Sheikh’s comments were not intended to be malicious.
“The question was put to him, before making that comment, is that if you’re under the spotlight so much why live there, why not come back and live in the country of your birth, and he said we have every right to live there basically we’re not shackled to be there, we don’t choose to be there, we paid our own way, implying that he loves Australia and loves being in Australia,” he said.
Here we go again.
10 comments ↓
yes, well perhaps that wont be the last time we here from him either…..i suspect he is a snowball rolling down the mountain…but only half way yet
Sometimes I wonder what will happen next… Here we go again indeed!
On the plus side, the convict jibe will just make Aussies laugh. I mean, that’s all the Barmy Army do at the cricket!
Seriously though, what a dipstick. You guys must want to pick up a corner of the carpet and crawl underneath evertime this dill opens his trap.
To be honest I was suspicious as to whether the translation on some of those comments was correct because I had trouble believing that an educated person would say such things.
Yes the convict jibe means nothing to aussies like me.
This is just disgusting. It’s about time the muslim community stood up and got this mufti out of his position. No one should have to put up with these comments, not the muslims or the non muslims. He has caused enough harm to the australian community, “enough is enough”. He has no morals or values and doesn’t understand the role of being a leader. Everytime he makes these stupid and ugly comments he expects the muslim community and the australian community to put up with it and forgive him. We’ll i believe that this should be his last because he should be taken out of his position and kicked out of australia. “Australia and muslims don’t need someone like him”. And just a question for Kaysar Trad, how much does Hilaly pay you to defend him? will you ever admit that he is wrong, that he should be out?
Australian Muslim you don’t do a very good impression of an Australian Muslim. If you knew the first thing about our laws you would know that we just don’t deport people for saying things we don’t like.
Hilaly just needs to shut up, stop talking to any media and retire from all positions in the community. At best, he’s seriously damaged goods.
Saipan said
…or alternatively, he needs to say more - like, every day he should pontificate on all manner of topics which he is completely unqualified to talk about.
The more he says, the more the community will ge used to it until is becomes merely boring, trivial and irrelevant.
Note that the various nutcases on 2GB and 2UE have been making all manner of racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, paranoid and delusional statements every single day for years. Sure, they are offensive, but it has also become part of the great discursive doormat we now merely wipe our feet on without thinking.
Is he related to Dame Edna Everage or sir Les Patterson, perhaps?
he is a bit smarter than being dumb. I think that his problem is that he is a bit stupid.
Now he is running to be the Lakemba local seat in government… Great. This is definitely an interesting saga.
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