Free Republic

A MUSLIM leader has told his students that it is "obligatory" for all Muslims to engage in jihad if an Islamic country is under attack, even if it means killing the enemy's children. Teachings Sheik Shady Suleiman, a youth leader at Lakemba Mosque in Sydney's southeast, told his students in a one-hour Arabic and English lecture that it would be "self defence" to kill children who were attacking them in battle. Muslim leaders yesterday attacked the 29-year-old cleric, who has a substantial following in Sydney and is deputy to leader Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali. They accused him of delivering a...

SYDNEY, Australia - Australia's top Islamic cleric, under fire for comparing women who go without head scarves to "uncovered meat," ignored his promise to refrain from preaching and delivered a sermon to the applause of hundreds of supporters Friday. Sheik Taj Aldin al-Hilali, mufti of Australia since 1989, had apologized last week for any offense he caused to women and then agreed with the Lakemba Mosque's administrators to take three months off from preaching as outraged politicians called for his resignation. But the 65-year-old native of Egypt appeared for noon prayers at the mosque Friday, Muslims' sabbath, and preached for...

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...

An ambulance has been called to the Lakemba Mosque in Sydney's south-west. The ambulance service says someone has collapsed inside the mosque. The incident happened at the same time a meeting between controversial Sydney Muslim cleric Sheikh Taj El-Din Al Hilaly and the president of the Lebanese Muslim Association, Tom Zreika, was meant to take place to discuss the Sheikh's future. The ambulance officers have entered the Sheik's office, but it is not known if the Sheik himself has collapsed.

BEHIND the frenzied scenes and the headlines the Federal Government is quietly pleased about how the drama surrounding Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali is playing out. No one is happy, of course, about the comments that sparked the controversy – the sheik's Ramadan speech in which he referred to women as sexual meat and Satan's soldiers. What's pleased the Government and the Parliamentary Secretary responsible for Multicultural Affairs, Andrew Robb, is what came next; a spontaneous condemnation by most sections of the Muslim community of his grotesquely offensive remarks . It is important to realise that this has never happened before....

Suspected terrorist Willie Brigitte was reportedly sent to Australia to help a local terror group prepare a terrorist act "of great size". Brigitte, 35, who was deported last October and is in French custody, was a link figure in the world terrorist network who had connections with the organisers of the September 11 terrorist attacks and the March 11 Madrid train blasts, Sydney's The Daily Telegraph reported. It said his potential targets included the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor and the Australian army's administrative compound at Victoria Barracks, both in Sydney, and the Perth headquarters of Australia's SAS regiment. French authorities...