Treatment has sheik wary of returning home

The Australian ^ | January 06, 2007 | Martin Chulov

[Fred Nerks]

A dangerous divide is forcing Australian Muslims to abandon their homes, says Sydney cleric Feiz Mohamed in Lebanon reports Middle East correspondent Martin Chulov ----------

AUSTRALIA'S most influential firebrand cleric feels like an alien in his own country. And Sheik Feiz Mohamed is not alone. He believes a rising anti-Islamic tide has made Muslims wary of their countrymen, forcing at least eight families to abandon their homeland for the Middle East. From the foothills of his ancestral village in north Lebanon, the man with the most sway over the nation's Islamic youth says five years into the war on terror a dangerous divide exists here.

In a rare interview, Feiz, an Australian citizen, says he is apprehensive about returning home after spending more than 12 months in Lebanon caring for his ailing father.

"Imagine me going to the Opera House and taking photos," he says. "I can't walk through the airport without hundreds of eyes on me. They are like foxes trying to eat sheep.

"Before I left I was at a restaurant in Sutherland (in southern Sydney) with my wife, eating spaghetti, and we were like aliens from Mars. I said, 'Let's get out of here'.

"We are just human beings. I am not saying Australia is negative or not good, I am saying it has changed.

"There are about seven or eight families who have left in the last few months and many more who are planning to go."

[Fred Nerks]

He says he and the nation's two other fundamental clerics - Sheik Mohammed Omran in Melbourne and Sydney's Sheik Abdul Salem Mohammed Zoud - offered a guarantee to safeguard their homeland from radicalism and the anger of Muslim youth that simmers over "the evil ways of the American regime".

[taxcontrol]

Cry me a river.

[cripplecreek]

Meanwhile if I were found heading into Mecca I could be killed for it under the laws of Saudi Arabia.

[pipecorp]

"We are just human beings. I am not saying Australia is negative or not good, I am saying it has changed.

too bad he doesn't believe inifdels are human beings.

[Spirochete]

"Imagine me going to the Opera House and taking photos," he says. "I can't walk through the airport without hundreds of eyes on me. They are like foxes trying to eat sheep.

Yeah, sucks to be a devil-inspired death cultist.

[GSlob]

One needs to develop a legal framework for stripping citizenship even from born citizens.

[Tamar1973]

One needs to develop a legal framework for stripping citizenship even from born citizens.

Well, they do in Saudi Arabia but I don't know if we want to be like them.

[Anti-Bubba182]

"...He believes a rising anti-Islamic tide has made Muslims wary of their countrymen, forcing at least eight families to abandon their homeland for the Middle East..."

Reap and sow!!

[Fred Nerks]

SHEIKH MOHAMMAD OMRAN: We choose to come to Australia as Australia welcomed us to come. You didn't choose to come to Australia anyhow. And we believe we have more rights than you because we choose Australia to be our country and you didn't. So don't come to me now because you are the majority or you are in the power now to say to me, "Well, this is only my way or the highway". I won't accept that.

http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/sixtyminutes/stories/2005_07_24/story_1455.asp

[sgtbono2002]

Is he the only one who cant figure out why no one trusts Muslims?

[operation clinton cleanup]

It's called assimilation, or "when in Rome, do as the Romans". If you cant adjust to the native culture, go somewhere else.

[ishabibble]

More good news from Down Under!

[Fred Nerks]

Clerics still preaching hatred of West

Richard Kerbaj

theaustralian.news

MUSLIM clerics in Sydney and Melbourne - led by radicals Sheik Mohammed Omran and Sheik Abdul Salam Mohammed Zoud - are still preaching hatred against the West, urging followers in Arabic to resist peace and support insurgents waging war against Australian soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In open defiance of John Howard's proposed new terror laws and the Prime Minister's demand that Muslim leaders desist from inflammatory rhetoric, Lakemba cleric Sheik Zoud has used his Friday prayer meetings over the past month to praise Muslim fighters.

"Allah yinsur el-mujaheddin fe-Iraq (God grant victory to the mujaheddin in Iraq)," he repeatedly screamed during a 35-minute Arabic sermon at Lakemba's Haldon Street prayer hall in Sydney's southwest last week.

In further contempt of Mr Howard, Sheik Zoud's high-profile counterpart in Melbourne, Sheik Omran, also declared last month: "No victory (for Islam's brothers and sisters) can be stopped by George Bush or Tony Blair or John Howard."

http://www.faithfreedom.org/oped/RichardKerbaj51106.htm

[GSlob]

Depends on how it is done, I suppose - like observance of property rights etc. Even in democratic Athens they used to have "ostracism".

[Mercat]

boo hoo

[bill1952]

then do more of this type of justice. Remember that word?

[The Blitherer]

They are like foxes trying to eat sheep

Or maybe like cats going after raw, uncovered meat? Maybe this guy should cover himself when he goes out in public so as to prevent tempting others to stare.

[SunStar]

Jesus... The media just shills for these people. It's sickening!

[fat city]

This article is outrageous. I'm convinced that if you are pi**ing off a muslim, you are doing something right.

[VOA]

In a rare interview, Feiz, an Australian citizen, says he is apprehensive
about returning home after spending more than 12 months in Lebanon
caring for his ailing father.

Why the h-ll is he in Australia?
When his ailing father is in Lebanon?

I guess spreading Jihad in an infidel country trumps looking after
one's aging parent in the Islamic Playbook.