mood: happy.
state i'm in: wow, look at the time!
tune: macy gray "i can't wait to meethcu".
it is hard to know what to make of a man some call australia's mufti. sheikh taj al-din al-hilali is a man of contradictions, no doubt.
mr hilali is renowned, revered even, for his support of women's movements. he helped to establish the muslim women's association, and runs classes for muslim women each thursday. he also lent his support to australian model and muslim convert michelle leslie after she was briefly jailed for drug possession in indonesia, then lent further support to ms leslie when she decided to resume her previous vocation - swimwear modelling.
mr hilali then went on to say, as a part of a ramadan sermon at lakemba mosque, "if one puts uncovered meat out in the street, or on the footpath, or in the garden, or in the park, or in the backyard, without a cover and then the cats come and eat it, is it the fault of the cat or the uncovered meat? the uncovered meat is the problem ... if she was in her room, in her house, wearing her hijab, being chaste, the disasters wouldn't have happened. the woman possesses the weapon of seduction and temptation". a valid opinion, perhaps; inappropriate in the cultural context of australia from a religious leader of such standing, definitely.
and now in his latest "sermon", this time on egyptian television, mr hilali has declared that "we (muslims) came as free people. we bought our own tickets. we are entitled to australia more than they (anglo-saxons) are". he went on to say that white australians are "the biggest liars" and, when referring to sentences dished out to muslim gang rapists, that "australian law guarantees freedoms up to a crazy level".
one might reply to mr hilali that if he is so dissatisfied with australian values and legal and political institutions, then he might be better nullifying his australian citizenship (he still possesses egyptian citizenship). this might not be the best place to reside for someone with such values as the mufti's.
he consistenly claims misrepresentation by the media, his words forever taken out of context, the translation incorrect. perhaps some things get lost in translation. to flip to the other side of the coin, i do wonder who is responsible for the translations that are passed on to the media. is it the australian federation of islamic councils (AFIC)? is it the islamic high council of australia? is it the legal advisers to these positions? mr hilali broke away from the federation when internal ethnic bickering threatened to squander much time and money. mr hilali warned the leaders of AFIC not to waste the community's money on court brawls. a noble word of advice, perhaps.
the whole process is a mess, and serves as a great example of the lack of transparency evident when an institution, in this instance a religion, is shunned, and by its very nature further shuns itself, into shadows, further away from mainstream society.
now what started here as some comments where i might denounce the mufti has in fact turned into a rambling argument against itself. i am afraid i am unable to decide what a proper course of action on this issue is, and the more research i do, the more articles i read, the less certain i become. maybe mr hilali is a man who's moral standards by australian criteria are lax and inappropriate. maybe the media has it all wrong, and is just quick to jump on a story that is certain to create a degree of sensation. once again, nothing is ever as simple as it seems.
it would be of great benefit if mr hilali could stand before the nation and declare where his views lie precisely, and where the confusion about them lies also. the big trouble is mr hilali's awful grasp of the english language, the language of this land; and this stands as reason alone, aside from any grudges within the islamic community, aside from any of his apparently heinous comments, why this man ought not to be considered this nation's mufti.
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it must be noted that many muslims do not consider this man to be the leader of all muslims in australia. it ought also be taken into consideration that islam in australia does not possess the structure associated with other faiths such as catholicism or anglicism. there is a push from AFIC for such a structure to exist, involving registration of muslim leaders.
2 comments:
I think I'm with you on this one - I also don't know if he is the "nutcase" the media makes him out to be. As far as I'm concerned, media is controlled by a select few and that's when it becomes "dangerous" for society to accept everything that comes out of it's posterior.
In terms of sensationalising "news", I would like to see news reports where ALL emotive words are removed and the words of the month are not used.
I don't know if you will agree with me, but scantily clad females are quite horrid (then again I am gay). I'm quite disgusted and disappointed when girls who aren't even 13 dress in mini skirts, boob tubes, halter tops and whatever else there is. Furthermore, when parents encourage their children to dress up scantily or give them the finances to buy such clothing at stores like Supre.
On a final note, I think he only supported Michelle Leslie because she could get away with being a Muslim because he doesn't have the blonde hair/blue eyes (Aryan) look going on... and the fact that she was Muslim. Nonetheless, he seems to be quite confusing as you pointed out.
i forgot to mention something quite important also...
cast your mind back to mid-2005, and try to recall an australian contractor working in iraq being abducted and held under the threat of death if australian forces did not pull out. the middle-aged caucasian man's name was douglas wood.
mr hilali was instrumental in occasioning the mr wood's release, travelling to iraq to broker a deal with the captors. another strange contradiction.
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