Australia's most senior Islamic cleric, Sheikh Taj Aldin Alhilali, has made headlines again with more controversial comments.
In an interview on Arabic radio reported in The Australian, the sheikh praised militant jihadists in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He called them men of the highest order for fighting against coalition forces - which include Australian forces - to liberate their homelands.
"Jihad of the liberator of Palestine, that's the greatest and cleanest and highest ... jihad which lifts our heads in pride in south Lebanon," the sheikh said in the October 17 interview.
He told broadcaster Abrahim Zoabi he endorses jihad for liberation. "We are talking about ... jihad of liberating our land, jihad of Muslim Afghanis in their land - that's jihad.
"Jihad of Iraqi Muslims is jihad, but not when Sunnis and Shias are killing each other - that's not jihad."
A defiant Sheikh Alhilali said on Friday he would resign only when the world was "clean of the White House".
He is under pressure to step down after suggesting in a sermon immodestly dressed women invite sexual assault.
Meanwhile, it was revealed intelligence reports warning that Sheikh Alhilali had been linked to extremist groups in Egypt and could pose a threat to Australia were sent to the federal government in 1984 - six years before he was granted permanent residency.
But the documents, which also said military-style weapons were being kept at the Lakemba mosque, were shelved, according to the secret agent who passed them on to Canberra.
The reports came from an Egyptian source considered highly reliable by Western intelligence agencies, including the CIA.
"He was our best agent at the time," the former secret agent told The Australian.
The reports were passed on through the Australian embassy in Cairo then headed by Ken Rogers.
Current ASIO director General Paul O'Sullivan was a senior diplomat at the embassy at the time.
Prime Minister John Howard has urged Muslim leaders to listen to the Australian community when deciding the fate of the sheik.
The board of the Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA), which runs the Sydney mosque where Australia's most senior Islamic cleric preaches, met on Sunday night and decided on a plan to deal with the controversy.
"The board has met. We have put together a plan and hopefully we can get ourselves out of this crisis," LMA president Tom Zreika told AAP.
But he declined to reveal the plan, saying it was confidential.
Despite earlier reports to the contrary, no meeting was held regarding the sheik's future.
The sheik has repeatedly said his comments, which sparked a storm of outrage after being translated from Arabic, were taken out of context and he would only quit if it could be proved his sermon was deliberately offensive.
"I am particularly concerned about the views he (Alihali) expressed concerning women," Mr Howard told Macquarie Radio.
"They are quite unacceptable to the mainstream of Australian opinion and if those views had been expressed by a Catholic bishop there would be an absolute uproar."
Mr Howard said he did not have the power to sack the Muslim leader, and could only call on those with power to resolve the issue.
"The responsibility to resolve this matter sensibly rests with the Islamic community," he told reporters in Canberra.
"I don't appoint him, I can't dismiss him.
"And there is no point in people in my position calling for this and that other than to call upon those who have the power to resolve this matter, to resolve this matter in a way that promotes the interests of harmony in our community and promotes the view Islamic Australians are fully integrated into Australian society."
He said the Islamic community must hear what the rest of the Australian community was saying on the issue and asked them to "discharge their obligations as members of the Australian community".
"If this matter is not properly handled by the Islamic community I am concerned that their failure to do so will do lasting damage to the perceptions of that community within the Australian community.
"His remarks were totally unacceptable - full stop."
Mr Howard says the sheik's controversial comments have also tarnished the image of Australian Muslims overseas.
"One of the things that does bother me is that when he goes overseas he carries the title of Mufti of Australia and that represents to the world a view of Australian Islam which I feel very uncomfortable with," Mr Howard told Macquarie radio.
"I feel very uncomfortable, and I don't mind saying it, that somebody holding a responsible religious position in Australia should have expressed the view he did."
Opposition leader Kim Beazley said it was very important the Islamic community took action on the sheik.
"He should go," he said.
"This fellow should go from his status in the Islamic community."
The sheik and the LMA, which runs the Lakemba Mosque, have agreed he take a break from preaching for several months.
Mr Howard said the Labor federal government in the late 1980s took a "blatantly political decision" to keep the sheik in Australia at the time.
News Limited papers have reported that then treasurer Paul Keating and leading Labor figure Leo McLeay demanded in the mid 1980s that immigration minister Chris Hurford grant the sheik residency and were furious when he refused.
But Mr Hurford's decision was reportedly overruled by Mr Keating while he was acting prime minister in the absence of then prime minister Bob Hawke.
It was the second time the party leaders had attempted to intervene on behalf of the sheik, according to Labor sources cited in the papers.
The sheik arrived in Australia in 1982 but did not gain residency until 1990.
"It is so typical of John Howard to be out there saying the Labor party is somehow to blame for Sheik Alhilali's views," Mr Beazley told the Nine Network.
"It would be as sensible as me saying the Liberal Party is responsible for it because I see in one newspaper he came in 1982 (when Liberal Malcolm Fraser was in power).
"The point is what do you about it now - what stand do you take now. That was years ago."
Mr Beazley said immigrants to Australia should have to give an indication they support Australian values, "in this particular case that we regard men and women as equal stakeholders in this society".
A prominent Liberal backbencher says the sheik should be stripped of his permanent residency and kicked out of the country.
Queensland Liberal MP Warren Entsch said he understood the cleric was only a permanent resident, not a citizen, and his invitation to remain in Australia should be rescinded.
"My first reaction is to hell with him," Mr Entsch told reporters in Canberra.
"Having citizenship is an absolute privilege, so is residency, and if he wants to abuse that privilege than he should suffer the consequences.
"I'm not too sure what the legal ramifications are, whether the government has the capacity to do that once it's granted, but I think it's something that should be considered.
"He shouldn't be here."
But Mr Entsch said he had taken heart that the mainstream Muslim community had quickly stood up against the sheik.
He said high-profile leaders were speaking against the cleric and making strong moves to have him step down.
"From what I've heard within the Muslim community they are certainly lining him up to do a lot more than an apology," he said.
"And it's good to see the moderates and more mainstream Muslims in the community actually taking this character on and telling him it's totally unacceptable in this country to be making the statements he is."
Liberal MP Cameron Thompson said the cleric should listen to the groundswell of people in the Islamic community asking him to step down.
"From where I sit he's long outlived his usefulness as an effective leader of that religion," Mr Thompson told reporters in Canberra.
"I think there are many more people who would be more effective in that position ... so I'd like to see something else happening there."
Labor's deputy leader Jenny Macklin said the Muslim community should show leadership and make it clear the sheik's views were not acceptable.
She said the person responsible for rape was the perpetrator, not the victim.
"I think this man needs to be condemned for his lack of moral leadership," she said.
"He certainly should go, from my point of view."
Ms Macklin said Attorney-General Philip Ruddock should actively investigate whether Sheik Alhilali had broken any laws with his comments. |
...the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
FIVE of the nation's most powerful Islamic clerics, including 
CONTROVERSIAL cleric Sheik