Don’t worry about a backlash against Islam…to survive, the West needs that backlash!
Bruce Media may incite terror - Keelty By Steve Larkin October 26, 2006 04:33pm Article from: AAP http://www.news. <http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20649332-1702,00.html> com.au/story/0,23599,20649332-1702,00.html AUSTRALIAN Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty today warned the media against turning society so against Islam that it created a terrorist backlash. Mr Keelty called for moderation in media coverage of issues including controversial comments by a senior Islamic cleric. Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilaly compared skimpily-dressed women to "uncovered meat" and suggested they were "the problem" that caused sexual attacks, The Australian reported today. Mr Keelty said that if true, the comments were inflammatory. "Obviously what was said is going to be offensive to many of us in the community," Mr Keelty said in Adelaide today. "But I would also point out that there are many other people in the community who say offensive things from time to time as well, and many of them are ... caucasian Australians. "Clearly things are going to be said from time to time that I guess inflame the situation and for all us, we have got to look at ways to try and keep some element of moderation about what we say and what we do." In a speech to the South Australian Press Club, Mr Keelty said: "if we are not careful, I think we risk raising a generation of Australians who will have a bias against Islam". "As I travel around the country and speak to different Islamic communities ... you hear more and more stories of treatment of the Islamic community that really is sub-standard by members of our own wider community. "If we don't get a handle on this now, if we don't actually teach the values to future generations that we were brought up with, we do risk, I think, having a bigger problem in our own future than what we have in our past." Mr Keelty said he was concerned some media coverage may incite terrorism. "If we are not careful, the way we treat the issues of security and terrorism can in fact incite others to become involved," he said. He cited reported threats to the safety of the Australian cricket team during last year's Ashes series in England as an example, saying Australian media followed a story of "questionable background" from the United Kingdom. "It was the story of a friend of a friend of an alleged friend of an alleged bomber that made the front pages and drove our media here for over 24 hours," he said. "It's important that we actually understand that the object of terrorism is to kill one and frighten 10,000. "If we carry the story and we don't understand it, or if we carry the story and the story is false, we have actually achieved the objective of the terrorist by creating fear in the community." Mr Keelty said he understood the media's competitive nature but pleaded for better co-operation with police. "One of the things that really does need to be addressed are the headlines now creating the opportunity, creating the motivation, for other people to embrace these (terrorist) ideas. "Because while ever we have inequity in all our communities ... there will always be people in our community who feel marginalised or disenfranchised. "We don't want to provide them with more reasons to be further marginalised or further disenfranchised to the point where they will take their own life in order to kill many others." =============================================== Muslim leader blames women for sex attacks Richard Kerbaj October 26, 2006 http://theaustralia <http://theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20646437-601,00.html> n.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20646437-601,00.html 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. "They are below and beyond any comment (and) do not deserve any consideration." =============================================== Matt Price The unacceptable face of Islam Thursday, October 26, 2006 http://blogs. <http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/mattprice/index.php/theaustralian/comments/the_unacceptable_face_of_islam/> theaustralian.news.com.au/mattprice/index.php/theaustralian/comments/the_unacceptable_face_of_islam/ PRU Goward wants him deported. Peter Costello says he should be condemned. Kim Beazley thinks he should retract his words. Actually, Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali has done us a huge service airing his appalling views at last month’s Ramadan service (Muslim leader blames women for sex attacks). In Australia and around the world, Muslim women are under increasing pressure to abandon their veils and hijabs and make a greater effort to assimilate with Western culture. Sheik Hilali's draconian religious address helps us understand why this is no easy task. Remember, these are not the ravings of a radical Islamo-fascist--Hilali is one of the most senior Muslim clerics in Australia. Nor were they off-the-cuff comments. Hilali's sermon comparing women with meat and blaming female immodesty for adultery--and, by inference, sexual assault--was delivered to hundreds of worshippers during an important religious ceremony. Islam, we're constantly told, is a peaceful and tolerant religion, but Hilali's comments undermine this contention. All power to the young Muslim women outraged by the sheik’s sermon, but Hilali's sermon reminds us you don't need to be an Islamic extremist or terrorist to hold views utterly incompatible with modern society. We should stop focusing on females wearing veils and concentrate on the oppressive, archaic aspects of their religion that put unfeasible, unacceptable pressure on Islamic women and, by extension, present an excuse for disgraceful, abusive, oppressive behaviour and sexual abuse. 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