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SHEIK Taj Din al-Hilali: "The Western people are the biggest liars and oppressors and especially the English race," the Mufti of Australia said in Arabic during the extensive interview in Egypt, his birthplace. [source]On the racist gang rape spree by Arab Lebanese people|Lebanese in Australia targeting specifically white girls, From the Sydney Morning Herald 2002 Racist rapes: Finally the truth comes out, So now we know the facts, straight from the Supreme Court, that a group of Lebanese Muslim gang rapists from south-western Sydney hunted their victims on the basis of their ethnicity and subjected them to hours of degrading,...

A prominent member of the Islamic community says he is disappointed Sheikh Taj el-Din Al Hilali decided to step aside as mufti. The decision was announced yesterday after a meeting of the Australian National Imams Council in Melbourne. Sheikh Al Hilali was re-elected Mufti of Australia at the meeting but he declined the position, and Sheikh Fehmi El-Imam was appointed the new head cleric in Australia. The new Mufti, who is from Melbourne's Preston Mosque, is described as a moderate and says he hopes to foster good relations with the rest of the Australian community. But Keysar Trad from the...

Melbourne: Australia's top cleric, who triggered a furore last year when he referred to women without head scarves as "uncovered meat", stepped down yesterday, prompting Muslim leaders to appoint a new mufti. Australia's council of Muslim leaders appointed Shaikh Fehmi Naji Al Imam as the nation's senior cleric, ending months of controversy over the previous mufti, Shaikh Taj Aldin Al Hilali. The council initially offered Al Hilali another two-year term in the post but he "gracefully declined," according to a statement released by the Australian National Imams Council. "We recognise the great services that Shaikh Taj Aldin Al Hilali has...

CONTROVERSIAL Islamic cleric Taj al-Din al-Hilali has reportedly claimed Muslims have more right to be in Australia than people of Anglo-Saxon descent because their ancestors were not convicts. Anglo-Saxon Australians had arrived on convict ships, he said, "while we (Muslims) paid for our tickets". Sheik Hilali also described westerners as "the world's biggest liars" and said there was a media conspiracy against him.

A collision with modernity is at the heart of the Hilali affair SELF-APPOINTED keepers of the national conscience such as Peter Botsman, Mike Carlton and Malcolm Fraser have missed the point when it comes to the outrageous statements of Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali and this newspaper's coverage of the same. Although he may be the worst offender, Mr Botsman is hardly alone in claiming The Australian committed a "media lynching" of the Muslim cleric. In a 25,000-word paper posted on his website, Botsman, chief editor of the online journal Australian Prospect, argues that no matter how reprehensible the mufti's remarks,...

The Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA) says an independent panel is being set up to investigate if comments made by Sydney cleric, Sheikh Taj el-Din Al Hilali, endorse rape. Sheikh Al Hilali has been at the centre of controversy since comments he made suggested women who dressed immodestly were inviting sexual assault. He says his comments have been taken out of context and will resign if an independent panel finds him guilty of endorsing rape. LMA president Tom Zreika says a panel will be established to look at the matter. "The process has to be conducted and it will be conducted,"...

Australia's most senior Muslim cleric will not resign in an escalating row over a series of provocative remarks, his spokesman said, even as Islamic community leaders urged him to step down. Sheikh Taj Aldin al-Hilali, who is already at the eye of a national storm after saying scantily-clad women invited sexual attack, was quoted as hailing militant fighters in Iraq and Afghanistan. But he appeared determined to tough it out. "He is not going to step aside," the Egyptian-born cleric's friend and spokesman Keysar Trad said, citing a statement the mufti was set to release later Monday. "I certainly hope...

Muslims leaving 'Hilaly fan club' MUSLIMS were beginning to break free from the "Sheik Hilaly fan club" since the senior cleric's fall from grace, Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott said today. The controversy surrounding Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilaly was an opportunity for other Australian Muslims to represent their community, Mr Abbott said. The controversy started last week when it was revealed the mufti compared immodestly-dressed women to uncovered meat open to predators in a speech at Sydney's Lakemba mosque last month. "I certainly think that it's about time that we started to hear diverse voices in the Islamic community and...

THE nation's most senior Muslim cleric has blamed immodestly dressed women who don't wear Islamic headdress for being preyed on by men and likened them to abandoned "meat" that attracts voracious animals. In a Ramadan sermon that has outraged Muslim women leaders, Sydney-based Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali also alluded to the infamous Sydney gang rapes, suggesting the attackers were not entirely to blame.

Sheikh Taj el-Din al-Hilali is Australia's most senior Muslim cleric or Mufti. He is currently on a mercy mission in Iraq, hoping his influence can save the life of Australian hostage Douglas Wood. "We feel for Australians and we will do our best to bring our brother, Douglas Wood, home," he told reporters at Sydney airport before he left. To his supporters, Sheikh Taj is a charismatic figure. But his opponents see him as a menace. They have accused him of praising suicide bombers and claiming the attacks in the United States on 11 September were "God's work against oppressors"....

GLOBAL JIHAD Australia's top mufti calls for holy warAccuses U.S., Israel of war aimed at 'annihilating the Islamic nation' Posted: February 18, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com The top Islamic leader of Australia and New Zealand has called for a holy war against Israel and accuses the United States and the Jewish state of seeking to wipe out Muslims. Taj Al-Din Hamed Abdallah Al-Hilali, mufti of Australia and New Zealand, made the comments last Friday at the Al-Quds mosque during a visit to Sidon, Lebanon, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute. "The war waged by the U.S. and Israel...

The Mufti of Australia and New Zealand, Taj Al-Din Hamed Abdallah Al-Hilali, was born in Egypt's Suhag district in 1941. He graduated from Al-Azhar University and served as a preacher in Egypt, Libya, and Lebanon. In 1982 he came to Australia, and in 1988 he was appointed to his present position by the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils. The following is a collection of speeches and interviews by Mufti Al-Hilali:(1) A Call for Jihad from Lebanon In a February 13, 2004 sermon at the Al-Quds mosque while on a visit to Sidon, Lebanon, the Mufti of Australia and New Zealand,...