Excuse Me While I Gag

Australia has a history of supporting the outspoken, the underdog and the larrikin. To many, part of being an Aussie, a REAL Aussie not the kind you find in the cities, is that spirit of rebellion. The 'Middle Finger Salute' class, the ones who, like me, believe we are being politically correct if we can curb our swearing while we say whatever we damm well please.

This being the case, it would stand to reason that we would percieve the Sheik Al-Hilali as some kind of hero. This is, after all, what he claims to be. A person who loves Australia and supports this country who just happens to be a little outspoken.

I just got through reading a particular piece on the Sheikh from the Sydney Morning Herald. Now, I understand the need for Journalists to sell newspapers and that from time to time, that requires a degree of antagonism to encourage people to read. Somebody reading an article in disgust or anger is still someone reading an article right??

May 2, 2007 Age and experience have softened the outspoken Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly, who talks to Ben Cubby. SINCE arriving on a tourist visa in 1982, and overstaying, Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly has lurched from scandal to opprobrium in a way that would have embarrassed Anna Nicole Smith. The holder of the disputed title of Mufti of Australia has politicians falling over each other to tell people how much they dislike him. A stream of contentious public comments - comparing scantily clad women to uncovered meat, questioning the Holocaust, attacking the sentence given to the gang rapist Bilal Skaf and cracking jokes about Australia's convict heritage - has given even potential supporters cause to edge away from the sheik. More recently, he has faced claims that donated Australian money which he passed on in Lebanon might have ended up with terrorist groups. Yet in parts of the Muslim community, especially among elements of Lebanese Australian society, support for Hilaly remains strong. Away from the spotlight, Hilaly lives a relatively unglamorous life in the south-western suburbs of Sydney. The former sharia court judge is happiest in the kitchen, cooking. He adores his adopted country, he says. "I have fallen in love, after the age of 40, with a beautiful lady named Australia," Hilaly told the Herald. "What many of those who do not know me, who are angered by some of my comments, are ignorant of, is that I am a person who loves literature, in particular satirical poetry." His outspoken comments, whether in a public sermon at his Lakemba mosque, on television or in interviews with journalists, are twisted out of recognition by politicians and the media, he says. "They scrutinise parts of my comments without looking at the overall meaning or the heart of the topic. This is second nature to the section of the media that seeks to market its products through controversial or sensational headlines. Link

Mr Cubby, might I suggest we 'Love to Hate' the Sheikh for a reason?? His actions in openly supporting convicted rapists by accusing their victims of being deserving of the crimes perpetrated against them was deplorable at best. Then to go and state that he had more right to Australia than those who shed blood, sweat and tears to mould this great nation simply because he brought a ticket here was little more than a deliberate act of antagonism.

Mr Cubby, let me ask you. How much money does the Sheikh make from his tirades and sanctimony?? How much did that nice picture of the Sheikh in his kitchen cost you Mr Cubby??

If the Sheikh so strongly believes in his support of this country, why does he conduct interviews in Arabic, in foreign countries and then delay his return to this country to 'Face the music'??

The Sheikh will insist he was 'misquoted, misunderstood or misrepresented' every time he is interviewed. He delivers his interviews in Arabic then insists mistakes were made in the translation. There is always an excuse for him to offer when the heat is turned up.

May I suggest in future that the Sheikh be a little more careful of his choice of words before he speaks. Not all jouranlists are as understanding as Mr Cubby. Some actually report the truth.

A_C