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Tue 9 Mar, 2004 11:11 am
Australia Muslim Chief Decries Extremists
Tuesday March 9, 2004 4:46 PM
By JAMIE TARABAY
Associated Press Writer
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Condemned by the government for describing Sept. 11 as ``God's work,'' Australia's top Islamic leader said in an interview Tuesday he did not support the attack and accused rival Muslims of trying to discredit him.
Sheik Taj El Din Al Hilaly, the mufti of Australia since 1989, claimed the country's politicians were exploiting terror fears to garner votes ahead of a national election later this year. He said a group that adheres to the Wahhabi strand of Sunni Islam - the same followed by Osama bin Laden - wants him out of office.
Although small in number, the Wahhabis have gained followers in Australia's otherwise conservative community since the 1990s, he said. Hilaly said they are using funds from some Arab states to recruit young men at universities and youth centers.
He did not elaborate, but described them as ``hypocrites within the ranks of the community who feel that my presence causes harm.''
Hilaly played down the influence of Wahhabism in Australia, where 285,000 people, or 1.4 percent of the overall population of 20 million, is Muslim.
``We have a few small chicks here who haven't grown their feathers yet,'' Hilaly said. ``My job is to pluck them out before they get any bigger.''
Hilaly had been seen as a voice of religious tolerance, but that changed dramatically last month when he preached in Lebanon.
According to a translation from the Australian Embassy in Beirut, he told worshippers at one mosque: ``Don't be surprised if one day you hear the Muezzin calling for prayer and saying 'Allahu Akbar' (God is great) from the top of the White House. Sept. 11 is God's work against oppressors.''
While in Lebanon, he also met officials from the Hezbollah guerrilla group - which Australia and the United States list as a terrorist organization. He also reportedly voiced support for Palestinian suicide bombers.
The Australia government was a leading U.S. ally in the war on terror and has deployed troops both to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Against that backdrop, the Mufti's comments unleashed a barrage of condemnation. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer denounced the remarks as ``stupid,'' ``appalling'' and ``provocative.'' Prime Minister John Howard also criticized Hilaly.
Officials with Australia's main Islamic organization say they are standing by Hilaly, who returned to Australia on Saturday.
Sitting at his desk at Sydney's largest mosque with the Australian flag draped behind him on Tuesday, Hilaly defended his position.
``I'm allowed to have freedom of speech like everyone else,'' said Hilaly, a 62-year-old Egyptian immigrant who became an Australian citizen more than two decades ago.
He was reluctant to speak at length on the controversy, but said he was against extremism. He chose his words carefully and said he didn't support the attack.
``I'm a man of peace. I hate extremists and violence and I've fought them and their rigid views for 45 years. They've tried to hurt me here as well as other countries,'' he said. ``Whoever supported Sept. 11 is ignorant of religion, because it is an act of terrorism to kill innocent people.''
Hilaly defended his support for Palestinian attacks against Israeli military targets and his meeting with Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.
``I congratulated Hezbollah for succeeding militarily in causing Israel to withdraw from the south of Lebanon and politically, for its dialogue that resulted in the exchange of prisoners, allowing the Israeli soldiers to return to their families,'' he said.
He was referring to a January prisoner swap between Israel and the militant group.
Despite his attempts to distance himself from the controversy, calls for Hilaly's resignation continued unabated Tuesday.
``He is trying to distance himself and say he was misquoted,'' federal lawmaker Gary Hardgrave said in The Australian newspaper. ``But this is the approach of a recidivist.''
This fellow is sold as the voice of moderate Islam in Australia.
However, quite regularly, when he is overseas, he makes statements supporting terrorist activities. Each time, he claims to be misquoted by the Australian press, Islamic extremists, Australian embassy, whoever. Or they don't understand cultural differences, poetic licence, etc.
So the question is being asked as to how come he alone is being "misquoted" - when others aren't? It's generated quite a lot of controversy.
Australia is not the only country where Muslims leaders say shocking things. A imam here - I don't know his exact name anymore - once said homosexuality was a disease and that homosexuals are pigs. He denied, said he was wrongly quoted. But there was a journalist who taped his prayers, and then it was clearly he did say those things. There were a lot of people who wanted to kick him out of the country, but he apologized. It does show - at least here in the Netherlands - that the Islamic leaders do not really have understood Dutch culture. He is not the only imam who has said controversial things.
In my opinion, I think this Islamic leader Sheik Taj El Din Al Hilaly deserves a second change. But if he continueswith saying these things, it could be time for considering a one-way ticket back to Egypt. But I would rather have a dialogue with him.
G'day Rd'I
It's not his first time - indeed, these episodes appear about once every couple of months, and he always claims he was misunderstood, or mis-quoted, even when, as you mention, someone actually played his speech back to him.
The question here is how many more "misquotes", how many more chances? How long before we decide he's been given a fair go, and piss him off somewhere. Unfortunately, he's now an Australian citizen, but I'm sure we could send him somewhere.
Indeed, that's the question: what can we tolerate and what can we not tolerate? When does someone cross the line? Some extremist Islamic leaders - not all of course, it seems to be only a minority - have to understand that Western culture has other values, with other points of view towards things like marriage, or sex.
But it's just too easy to send them immediately back. It doesn't change their attitude towards us. This could mean that we only relocate the problem. Maybe it's better instead of sending them away - and enforce their ideas about the West - to give them a course about Western culture, what is acceptable and what is not. But we do not know whether it will work. It's a tricky topic.
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