"I had only intended to protect women's honor, something lost in The Australian presentation of my talk," said Hilali. (Reuters)

SYDNEY — Australia's most senior Muslim scholar apologized on Thursday, October 26, for comments describing scantily-clad women as "uncovered meat," after having invited a barrage of criticism from politicians and Muslim leaders.

"I unreservedly apologize to any woman who is offended by my comments," Sheikh Taj Aldin al-Hilali, who carries the title Mufti of Australia, said in a statement cited by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"I had only intended to protect women's honor, something lost in The Australian presentation of my talk," he said.

The Australian first reported that the Muslim scholar criticized during a sermon last month women who "sway suggestively", wear make-up and no hijab.

"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?" he asked.

"The uncovered meat is the problem. If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred," Hilali said according to a newspaper translation.

"Women in our Australian society have the freedom and the right to dress as they choose. Duty of many is to avert his glance or walk away," the scholar said Thursday.

"If a man falls from grace and commits fornication then if this was consensual, they would be both guilty, but if it was forced then the man has committed a capital crime.

"Whether a man endorses or not, a particular form of dress, any form of harassment of women is unacceptable."

Hilaly's spokesman Keysar Trad said the Egyptian-born scholar had been lecturing around 500 followers on the sin of adultery.

"He's talking about those people who prey on others, whether men or women, who seek to engage in sexual conduct outside of marriage, and do so through alluring types of attire," he said.

The meat comments, Trad insisted, referred to prostitutes.

Rebukes

Hilali's speech had provoked a deluge of rebukes from Australian Muslim leaders and politicians.

The Islamic Council of New South Wales said the comments were "un-Islamic, un-Australian and unacceptable".

Sherene Hassan, a spokeswoman for the Islamic Council of Victoria, said the remarks were "absolutely repulsive".

A fellow spokesman, Waleed Aly, warned that the comments would invite backlash against the Muslim minority.

"I am expecting a deluge of hate mail. I am expecting people to get abused in the street and get abused at work."

Tom Zreika, the president of the Lebanese Muslim Association, threatened to ban Hilali from teaching at Lakemba Mosque, which the group owns.

"The board (of the LMA) has unlimited powers in respect of his teachings in the mosque. We can do anything that's required to prevent him from teaching in our mosque," he said.

"If you haven't got the backing of Australia's largest and most established Islamic organization then you are out on a limb."

Expulsion

Goward called for the Muslim scholar's expulsion.

Hilali's comments have also drawn fire from Prime Minister John Howard as "appalling and reprehensible".

"The idea that women are to blame for rapes is preposterous," he said.

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Pru Goward said Hilali should be expelled from the country, where bikinis and miniskirts color a sun-drenched lifestyle.

"I would strongly urge the Islamic leadership to ask him to go, we would all support that," she told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Goward said she was not aware of the citizenship status of the Egyptian-born scholar who arrived in Australia in 1982 from Lebanon.

Last month, Australia announced plans to toughen its citizenship policies requiring immigrants to pledge allegiance to "Australian values".

Under the government blueprint, immigrants will have to sit a 45-minute test covering their competency in English and issues such as democracy, the rule of law and the equality of men and women.

The move came after repeated complaints by Howard that some members of Australia's 350,000-strong Muslim community refused to fully integrate into society.

The new crisis seems to have overshadowed some major contributions by Sheikh Al-Hilali for Australia.

In 2005, the Howard government and many Australians paid tribute to the role played by Hilali to secure the release of an Australian taken hostage in Iraq.

Hilali spent nearly a month in Iraq trying to negotiate the release Australian contractor Douglas Wood.

"Real credit should be given to him (Hilali) for the effort that he made and the risks that he took including to his own security and in assisting the team's efforts to try to get Douglas Wood released," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said at the time.