Immigration Forum / Canada / October 2006

Muslim leader blames women for sex attacks
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20646437-601,00.html
Richard Kerbaj
October 26, 2006

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.

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
Hilali 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 on adultery to about 500 worshippers in Sydney last
month, Sheik Hilali 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
Hilali'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 Hilali'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 Hilali 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 Hilali 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 Hilali 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 of 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 Hilali 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 Hilali's remarks during Ramadan were inaccurate
and upsetting to the Muslim community.

[ed. It will be interesting to find out how many of the attendees got up and
walked out of the sermon as a good indicator of "upset" felt by "the muslim
community"...]

"They are below and beyond any comment (and) do not deserve any
consideration."

[ed. Au Contraire, one can only imagine the young knuckle-heads eyes light
up as they sit around the mosque listening to "the grand mufti" telling them
that disgusting behaviour is ok...]

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