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November 1, 2006

Australia: Another Muslim Cleric Blames Women For Rape

The recent comments by the "Mufti" of Australia, Sheikh Taj al-Din al-Hilaly, made in a sermon in Arabic, shocked the nation. He said women who did not cover themselves Islamically could be compared to uncovered meat left outside, and if cats ate the meat, then who could be blamed, the cats or the meat? He referred to the rapist Bilal Skaf, who led a group of young men who terrorised, physically brutalized and gang-raped several women in western Sydney.

The Mufti has asked to be given "indefinite leave" from his duties at the Lakemba mosque in Sydney. Yet the dispute rages on. The latest person to defend the Mufti is Abdul Jalil Ahmad, the Indonesian-born imam at the Rivervale mosque in Perth, Western Australia. On September 28, writing in the West Australian, Ahmad had at first appeared to distance himself from the Mufti's remarks.

He had then said that he disagreed with the way Hilaly had phrased his comments. He said that the Mufti had meant well, and was addressing a Muslim audience. Imam Ahmad said he understood the "philosophy" behind it.

"People must realise men and women feel and think in very different ways, and a woman who deliberately exposes herself may attract an evil man, and some men are very bad - but I do not agree with the expression Sheikh al-Hilaly used," Ahmad had said. He also noted that a local Muslim woman had complained to him about the Mufti's comments.

However, Ahmad has subsequently decided to make a sexist comment which, like that of Hilaly, insults both women, for being "victims", and men, stereotyping them as "potential rapists".

According to the Australian and the News.com.au, Abdul Jalil Ahmad has said that women should not leave their homes unless they are accompanied by a man. He claims that sexual attacks only happen because the "man is provoked".

Ahmad apparently rejects the notion that women were to be blamed for rape, but said that women should protect themselves because assaults happened when males were provoked.

He said: "Crime is always the fault of the criminal, but sometimes we have to take also preventative measures, like you would secure your home. Especially when they are alone, there's a problem. That's why the ideal is to have company with them all the time."

"They should try to take precautions, to wear (clothes) decently, not necessarily to cover from top to toe. In democratic countries they are free to dress as they like but you see the assault only happens because the man is provoked sexually or something like that."

The premier of Western Australia, Alan Carpenter, said the remarks by Ahmad were "totally unacceptable" and "totally out of step with modern Australia." Carpenter said: "Women have got every right to expect to be able to live free in this community, just like men, and to suggest they should not be going out unaccompanied is just totally unacceptable, wrong."

This is not the first time that Imam Abdul Jalil Ahmad, who is also part of the Islamic Council of Western Australia, has shown that he does not agree with Australia's values. In April last year, he argued for sharia divorce courts to be instituted in Australia, as if the national system was "inadequate".

Ahmad spoke on The World Today, on the ABC broadcasting network, on April 16, 2005. He suggested a sharia court of 10 members could be set up in Perth. He said "You see, when we live in any country as minority you always, you know, what do you call - abide by the law of the land, you see. Only in areas where we are legally allowed to implement our Islamic teaching we do, otherwise we cannot do because it is illegal, you understand. Especially, like, where it got to marriage, divorce and funeral, that all we have what we have been doing so far, you know. But it doesn't extend to, like, criminal law or something like that, because you have to follow the law of the land because we are a minority."

The implication in such a comment is ominous, as if the situation would be different if Muslims were the majority in a location. Amjad Mehboob of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC), supported Ahmad's suggestion. In May, Mehboob was summarily sacked from AFIC after being in the organization for 27 years.

The news of Abdul Jalil Ahmad's comments on women came at the same time as it was revealed that a man was charged with making threatening phone calls to two Islamic schools in West Australia.

The two schools were based in Kewdale and Thornlie. A 47-year old man from Innaloo was charged by State Security Investigation Group officers. The threats had been made on Thursday, after the comments by Hilali, the Mufti, had been widely reported in the Australian media.

Yahya Ibrahim is the deputy principal of the Kewdale Islamic school. He blamed the reporting of the Mufti's comments for the threats. He said: "Some people get muddled up with the fact that these are young children who have nothing to do with the comments made over there."

Canadian-born Yayha Adel Ibrahim is no stranger to controversy himself. In December his extremist views led him to be refused entry into the United States. In April this year, it was revealed that some of the widely-distributed audio CDs of his sermons referred to Jews and Christians as "enemies".

At the Kewdale Islamic school, Yayha Ibrahim teaches math and geography. He is married to an Australian national, and has resided in the country for four years. He has acted as translator for radical Salafist scholars, as well as for the Wahhabist imam, Abdulrahman al-Sudeis of the Grand Mosque at Mecca, who is a rabid anti-semite.

Premier Carpenter did not blame the reporting of the comments, but those who made them. He said that some leaders' comments could "only provoke unfortunate reactions. But for people who are feeling as though they are angry and they want to react - don't. Don't take it out on innocent people. It is completely and utterly the wrong thing to do."

The comments of Abdul Jalil Ahmad, the highest Muslim authority in Western Australia, are unnecessary. He has been in Australia since 1986. Twenty years is ample time to understand the cultures and values of a land one has chosen to migrate to.

51-year old Ahmad has no excuse for such comments, other than that he actually believes them. He has served as a religious adviser and authority figure for various Muslim groups, including the Ar-Rukun Association, Rockingham, the Mirabooka Mosque Board of Trustees, the Al-Hidayah Islamic School Governing Shurah, and the Islamic Association of Christmas and Cocos Islanders.

Before he came to Australia, Abdul Jalil Ahmed was president of the Dakwah Students Association, Banda Aceh, Indonesia. He has a Master's Degree in Islamic Studies/Arabic and lectured in Arabic language studies at State Institute of Islamic Studies, Islamic University of Ar-Raniry, Darussalam, Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Between 1982 and 1986, he was a religious teacher in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 1, 2006 12:14 AM

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Posted by: Dinah Lord at November 1, 2006 9:44 AM

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