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Down Under
Muslim Cleric: 'Women to blame for sex attacks'
2006-10-25
AUSTRALIA'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 al-Taj al-Din al-Hilaly also alluded to the infamous Sydney gang rapes, suggesting the attackers were not entirely to blame.

While not specifically referring to the rapes, brutal attacks on four women for which a group of young Lebanese men received long jail sentences, Sheik Hilaly said there were women who "sway suggestively" and wore make-up and immodest dress "and then you get a judge without mercy (rahma) and gives you 65 years."

"But the problem, but the problem all began with who?" he asked.

The leader of the 2000 rapes in Sydney's southwest, Bilal Skaf, a Muslim, was initially sentenced to 55 years' jail, but later had the sentence reduced on appeal.

In the religious address about adultery to about 500 worshippers in Sydney last month, Sheik Hilaly said: "If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats' or the uncovered meat?

"The uncovered meat is the problem."

The sheik then said: "If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred."

He said women were "weapons" used by "Satan" to control men.

"It is said in the state of zina (adultery), the responsibility falls 90 per cent of the time on the woman. Why? Because she possesses the weapon of enticement (igraa)."

Muslim community leaders were yesterday outraged and offended by Sheik Hilaly's remarks, insisting the cleric was no longer worthy of his title as Australia's Mufti.

Young Muslim adviser Iktimal Hage-Ali - who does not wear a hijab - said the Islamic headdress was not a "tool" worn to prevent rape and sexual harassment.

"It's a symbol that readily identifies you as being Muslim, but just because you don't wear the headscarf doesn't mean that you're considered fresh meat for sale," the former member of John Howard's Muslim advisory board told The Australian. "The onus should not be on the female to not attract attention, it should be on males to learn how to control themselves."

Australia's most prominent female Muslim leader, Aziza Abdel-Halim, said the hijab did not "detract or add to a person's moral standards", while Islamic Council of Victoria spokesman Waleed Ali said it was "ignorant and naive" for anyone to believe that a hijab could stop sexual assault.

"Anyone who is foolish enough to believe that there is a relationship between rape or unwelcome sexual interference and the failure to wear a hijab, clearly has no understanding of the nature of sexual crime," he said.

Ms Hage-Ali said she was "disgusted and offended" by Shiek Hilaly's comments. "I find it very offensive that a man who considers himself as a mufti, a leader of Australia's Muslims, can give comment that lacks intelligence and common sense."

Yesterday, the Mufti defended the sermon about "adultery and theft", a recorded copy of which has been obtained and translated by The Australian.

Sheik Hilaly said he only meant to refer to prostitutes as "meat" and not any scantily dressed woman with no hijab, despite him not mentioning the word prostitute during the 17-minute talk.

He told The Australian the message he intended to convey was: "If a woman who shows herself off, she is to blame, but a man should be able to control himself".

He said if a woman is "covered and respectful" she "demands respect from a man". "But when she is cheap, she throws herself at the man and cheapens herself."

Sheik Hilaly also insisted his references to the Sydney gang rapes were to illustrate that Skaf was guilty and worthy of receiving such a harsh sentence.

Waleed Ali said Sheik Hilaly was "normalising immoral sexual behaviour" by comparing women to meat and men to animals and entirely blaming women for being victims.

"It's basically saying that the immoral response of men to women who are not fully covered is as natural and as inevitable as the response of an animal tempted by food," he said.

"But (unlike animals) men are people who have moral responsibilities and the capability in engaging in moral action."

Revelation fo the Mufti's comments comes after he criticised Mr Howard last month in The Australian for saying a minority of migrant men mistreated their women. Sheik Hilaly said such a minority was found in all faiths. "Those who don't respect their women are not true Muslims."

"There's a small percentage found among all religions, but we don't recognise ours as Muslims."

Aziza Abdel-Halim said Sheik Hilaly's remarks during Ramadan were inaccurate and upsetting to the Muslim community.

"They are below and beyond any comment (and) do not deserve any consideration."
Posted by:Oztralian

#17  Farkers have clicked on the above link 2077 times

Oh yeah. I think I got the subject noticed. Time to hit the hay. I did my deed for today.

Crap...I haven't checked yet what the other link brought. No time now. Have a good night yallz.
Posted by: Thoth   2006-10-25 23:59  

#16  He said women were "weapons" used by "Satan" to control men.

The penis is probably a better candidate. I'll go with 'moose's suggestion and hope this guy gets to be someone's prison wife. Shithead.
Posted by: Zenster   2006-10-25 23:42  

#15  between that violent video that anon5089 posted the other day and the comments and articles going around the web - it won't be long until western women will be once again needing chaperones to go out in public - just to keep from being raped by animals.

How far we have fallen and so quickly. And unless something changes, the chances of a women alone on the street getting wacked on the head and raped or worse, seems to be increasing tenfold by the month. I thank God that I was born and lived in what may soon be remembered as that brief but perhaps very short moment in history when women were safe and free to do as they pleased.
Posted by: anon   2006-10-25 23:40  

#14  Fair enough. I'm watching them destroy each other right now. I'm going to give em a little break, and see what happensd 2 or 3 days from now. It should be a nice time to hit them again.
Posted by: Thoth   2006-10-25 23:23  

#13  I already have a life, lol. Going to yet another DU-level shitfest doesn't strike me as a good investment of my time.

You seem to think I'm in need of combat - I dunno about that, lol. I used to relish the fight. Now I'm nore mellow. Prolly cuz I'm getting a very healthy dose of happy happy joy joy, lol.

You can handle 'em.
Posted by: .com   2006-10-25 23:17  

#12  Farkers have clicked on the above link 1033 times

So far so good. Go get in this .com

It hasn't even been an hour yet.
Posted by: Thoth   2006-10-25 22:57  

#11  I read the comments. I need a shower.
Posted by: .com   2006-10-25 22:34  

#10  And it's on. Go submit your opinion:

Muslim Cleric: 'Women to blame for sex attacks'
Posted by: Thoth   2006-10-25 22:26  

#9  For kick-ass art, I go to www.somethingawful.com and www.worth1000.com.
Posted by: .com   2006-10-25 22:07  

#8  So you're evangelizing amongst the heathen? Lol. Good luck, bro - you'll need it.

Just the comments offered on any Photoshop contest, since most of them are political in nature anyway, should confirm what I'm saying.

I got fed up with 'em and went away.

I've dropped in 3 times since 9/11 and peeked at the Photoshop contests - same old Tranzi shit, lol.

Be careful. Wear a disguise - and go armed, lol.
Posted by: .com   2006-10-25 22:06  

#7  Condom on and the Farkers are getting exposed to different shiat other than tranzi crap. I don't agree with ya .com on this one. This should bring up good discussions on a major website.
Posted by: Thoth   2006-10-25 22:01  

#6  Lol, Fark? Lololol. Were the stories even remotely pro-USA? If so, I wonder how many of the little Farkers gagged, swelled up into a big blue ball, and 'sploded, lol.

90% of the Farkers are Tranzi shitheads. I've had a login there for at least 6 yrs - dating to before going off the Saudi the last time - but I quit visiting after 9/11. They snapped back into Eurtrash mode faster than the NYT.

I hope you wear a condom when you visit, lol.
Posted by: .com   2006-10-25 21:31  

#5  Jeebus. Thanks Fred. I got two greenlights on fark today from articles first found at Rantburg. I have to do that more often.
Posted by: Thoth   2006-10-25 21:23  

#4  So this muslim cleric likens women to pieces of meat in his arguments? Personally, I wouldn't have thought of things that way. I sort of like to think of them as alive, human, and having rights and all. Also, he likens men to some poor cats who have no choice but follow their instincts to do what they have to do to survive. Also very telling. And the people around him listened to this without shouting him down, I suppose. Also very telling.

It seems as though it's all he can do to restrain himself from saying it's the women's fault altogether. Probably knows that would be bad in the current environment.

In my experience, this kind of thinking is nothing new at all in the muslim world. It isn't talked about, and the many who experience it either directly or indirectly will deny it, but it is very much there. The men will threaten something like "If you tell anyone, I'll say that you knew I was in the house but you stepped out of the shower and I saw you!" to shut them up. Even though she's ten. And everyone knows that the guy will be forgiven, and the girl blamed and ostracized.

SNAFU.
Posted by: gorb   2006-10-25 20:31  

#3  Hey Oztrailian...so how goes the muzzie assimiliation experiment? Still need a little tweaking?

This "mufti" is the "senior muzzie cleric" for all of OZ?

OMG.

Posted by: Mark Z   2006-10-25 19:30  

#2  I there is karma in the world, I hope this guy gets himself raped by some skinheads, who then publicly blame him for being dressed like a woman.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2006-10-25 19:08  

#1  "2000 rapes".....Boy I'd like to hear Putin's comments on that virility!
Posted by: Janos Hunyadi   2006-10-25 18:57  

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