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Hilali (C) leaves Sydney's Lakemba Mosque on Friday, October 27. (Reuters)
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SYDNEY — The sermons of Australia's top Islamic scholar Sheikh Taj Aldin Al-Hilali were suspended Friday, October 27, for up to three months after sparking a firestorm by comparing immodestly-clad women to "uncovered meat."
"We feel at this stage that is only fair that he be stood down for the next couple of months," said Abdul El Ayoubi, of the Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA), which administers the Sydney mosque where the scholar is based, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"He has got the hajj trip that's coming up in a month-and-a-half so he will be away. And it will only add fuel to the fire if he continues in the interim to give sermons," he said.
The decision followed an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders late Thursday, October 26.
The Egyptian-born mufti of Australia took ill as controversy erupted over the comments he made last month in a sermon in a Sydney mosque that he insists have been lost in translation, his friends 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?" 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 translation by The Australian newspaper.
Prime Minister John Howard said the incident was a crucial test for Australia's Muslim minority, estimated at 350,000 people.
"What I am saying to the Islamic community is this: If they do not resolve this matter, it could do lasting damage to the perceptions of that community within the broader Australian community," he told Southern Cross Broadcasting.
Divided
The incident is dividing the Muslim minority in Australia, already under mounting pressures from the government
Some members of the community hoped to see a firm action against Hilali.
"Some people on the board would have liked to see more done but unfortunately we can only speak as a board," said LMA president Tom Zreika.
"There were a few items there we didn't fully accept," he added.
But the mufti's supporters defended him.
"We're certainly not going to pass judgment on the basis of one comment in which we know his intentions were completely different," said Keysar Trad, the president of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia.
"The grassroots are behind him."
As the row gathered pace, Hilali made an apology in which he said his comments had been misunderstood.
"I unreservedly apologize to any woman who is offended by my comments," Hilali said in a statement.
"I had only intended to protect women's honor, something lost in The Australian presentation of my talk," he said.
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