Posted on 01/12/2007 7:59:26 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SYDNEY (AFP) - A top Islamic cleric's mockery of the convict ancestry of many white Australians met with a mixture of amusement and anger from the government.
Prime Minister John Howard laughed off the jibe by the controversial Mufti of Australia, Sheikh Taj Aldin al-Hilali, but some of his ministers suggested the cleric should leave the country.
Hilali made the comments in an interview on Egyptian television while explaining a controversy he provoked last year by comparing scantily dressed women to "uncovered meat" inviting sexual attack.
He said Australian law guaranteed freedoms to the point of insanity and suggested that Muslims had a greater claim to the country than the descendants of the British settlers.
"The Anglo-Saxons arrived in Australia in shackles. We (Muslims) came as free people. We bought our own tickets. We are entitled to Australia more than they are," he said.
Howard dismissed the jibe. "I think it will bring a wry smile to the face of Australians who don't actually feel the least bit offended that many of our ancestors came here as convicts.
"It's almost a badge of honour for many Australians," he told reporters.
A total of 162,000 convicts were deported by Britain to its new colonies in Australia from the late 1700s -- a past that was once viewed by some with embarrassment but has more recently been embraced with pride.
Egyptian-born Hilali also accused his non-Islamic countrymen of being liars.
"They are the biggest liars, the western people, especially the English people," he said.
And he claimed Australia's courts were racist for sentencing an Islamic gang-rape leader to 55 years in prison.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone told national radio that if the cleric did not like Australia, he did not have to return to the country from his trip to Egypt.
She said her office had received a large number of calls from people who were outraged by the reported comments.
Federal opposition leader Kevin Rudd also suggested the cleric remain in Egypt, adding: "Sheikh Hilali increasingly strikes me as being several sandwiches short of a picnic."
The executive director of a Muslim community group, the Forum on Australia's Islamic Relations, said the comments did not represent the views of the majority of the Muslim community.
"I would like to reiterate to all Australians, including our people of Anglo-Saxon heritage, that there is no substance to the idea that Muslims have more of a right to Australia than the early settlers," Kuranda Seyit said in a statement.
"We are all just shell-shocked. Muslims just want to get along and be a part of the nation, not as outsiders whom others only see with disdain," he said.
Seyit said he was saddened the mufti had made more divisive comments and suggested he should be forced to retire early.
Sheik Taj Aldin al-Hilali, the Mufti of Australia, speaks at a press conference concerning Australia's census night in Sydney, July last year. Australian leaders laughed off remarks by the top Islamic cleric who mocked the convict ancestry of many white Australians and said Muslims had a greater claim to the country.(AFP/File/Greg Wood)
That dude that claim any woman who undercover deserve to be rape HUH what moron Cleric that so 1950 law enforcement reset
What the H... is a Mufti?
It sounde muzzie for miscreant ignorant jerk.
A man who is an apologist for rapists should offend us.
I think the Australians should make the Sheikh a convict so he can feel more at home.
Yes, and the freedom for you to spout your cr*p is one of those. Go back to the $hithole you came from.... please.
Countries in the Anglosphere, and the West in general, are insane to allow people like this into our countries.
How could anyone with any commonsense, envision a country where thousands on convicts were deposited willy nilly. First there were administrators, clerks, and employees. No way did a concourse of "convicts" roam around. There were militia. Farmers and workers emigrated to a new land.
A little history here and indeed to indicate "convicts". In the tiny village of Tolpuddle in Dorset, England, seven farm labourers withdrew their work. They were paid seven shillings a week. The went on strike for an extra sixpence (half a shilling).
They were sentenced to transportation for life. They all went to Australia. These are your "convicts". A public outcry reduced their sentences to seven years. Only one returned to his native Dorset. Of course this cheap,nasty individual, would not know- or care. Anyway.
The Tolpuddle Martyrs.
If this POS is a top Islamic cleric, I'd hate to see the bottom. Where do Muslims do their cleric recruiting? In cesspools?
CANBERRA AUSTRALIA: Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia, as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks. A day after a group of mainstream Muslim leaders pledged loyalty to Australia at a special meeting with Prime Minister John Howard, he and his ministers made it clear that extremists would face a crackdown.
Treasurer Peter Costello, seen as heir apparent to Howard, hinted that some radical clerics could be asked to leave the country if they did not accept that Australia was a secular state and its laws were made by parliament.
If those are not your values, if you want a country which has Sharia law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you," he said on national television.
"I'd be saying to clerics who are teaching that there are two laws governing people in Australia, one the Australian law and another the Islamic law, that is false.
If you can't agree with parliamentary law, independent courts, democracy, and would prefer Sharia law and have the opportunity to go to other country which practices it, perhaps, then, that's a better option," Costello said.
Asked whether he meant radical clerics would be forced to leave, he said those with dual citizenship could possibly be asked to move to the other country.
Education Minister Brendan Nelson later told reporters that Muslims who did not want to accept local values should "clear off". "Basically, people who don't want to be Australians, and they don't want to live by Australian values and understand them, well then they can basically clear off,".
Separately, Howard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying he supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques.
London terrorist bombings raised domestic terrorism concerns in countries with large immigrant Muslim populations, such as Australia. The following month, Australian prime minister John Howard held a two-hour summit with moderate Muslim leaders in Canberra to work on a national strategy for addressing intolerance and the promotion of violence, during which issues such as the curriculum of Islamic schools and suggested measures for vetting imams were discussed.
A ham sandwich no doubt. BTW, it has been determined that "pork" is brain food.
I think he has his towel wrapped too tight.
What is he talking about? They couldnt agree on what toilet paper to use do you think they could agree on which way to sail a boat? Please...
I wish the US would do that. Because Sharia law is against democracy. I may have to move to Austrailia at least they are not going to put up with this crap.
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