A prominent Muslim doctor who demanded Australia's mufti quit after his controversial sermon fears for his life after a series of threats. Dr Jamal Rifi says he received calls, emails and letters from Islamic extremists after taking a stand against his former friend Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilaly. The threats were spurred by an open letter written by the Bankstown GP which condemned the mufti's apparent justification of rape.Dr Rifi said he has been forced to install a security system at his surgery and take other precautions to protect his family and staff. "I've told my wife to be careful and we now take our kids to school and bring them back every day," he said.
"We're not seeing any new patients either, only people we trust, and I've told my office to take extra care. I have to be cautious because I've had a few nasty emails and a few nasty phones calls and faxes that were not nice at all."
But the threats have not stopped Dr Rifi from further demanding Sheik Hilaly step aside following the inflammatory comments which compared immodestly dressed women with uncovered meat and seemingly blamed them for sexual assault.
He said the cleric's recovery speech last Friday did manage to relieve some tension which had built up "like a pressure cooker about to explode". But his offer to resign if an ethical tribunal found him guilty of condoning rape "just causes more problems", the doctor said.
"He has already been trialled, judged and convicted in the court of public opinion so he must go," said Dr Rifi, who formed the Australian Muslim Doctors Against Violence during the Lebanon-Israel conflict.
"What he said has done a lot of damage. I believe he is the wrong image of Islam and it's really not a good reflection on our community, him staying in this position."