Beleaguered Australian Muslim cleric faints

SYDNEY- Australia’s top Islamic cleric, who sparked outrage with a recent sermon saying that immodestly dressed women invite rape, said he was taking indefinite leave after he collapsed yesterday during a meeting with Muslim leaders.

“In due course, I will take the necessary decision that will lift the pressures that have been placed on our Australian Muslim community and that which will benefit all Australians,” Sheik Taj Aldin al-Hilali said in a statement issued from a Sydney hospital where he is recuperating. “The pressure of the last couple of days has had an obvious effect on my health and well-being,” he said, adding that he had requested indefinite leave from his duties at Lakemba Mosque in Sydney.Some media have speculated that the statement means the cleric intends to resign.Mosque administrator Toufic Zreika said he did not know whether the cleric intended to resign.”What’s happened in the last few days has really taken it’s toll on him, his family, his health and I think he’s just had enough,” said Zreika, president of the Lebanese Muslim Association.The 65-year-old Egyptian-born Sunni cleric’s collapse was related to his heart, Zreika said.Al-Hilali had suffered four strokes in the past and recently underwent double heart bypass surgery, Zreika said.Al-Hilali was meeting yesterday with members of the Muslim association that administers the mosque where he preaches to discuss his future role in light of the controversy when the ambulance was called to the building.Earlier yesterday, Prime Minister John Howard said that the cleric, mufti of Australia since 1989, may have breached Australia’s counterterrorism laws by praising militant jihadists in Iraq and Afghanistan.Al-Hilali has rejected calls for his resignation since a newspaper reported last week that he compared women who do not wear head scarves to “uncovered meat” in a sermon at the mosque.Nampa-AP”The pressure of the last couple of days has had an obvious effect on my health and well-being,” he said, adding that he had requested indefinite leave from his duties at Lakemba Mosque in Sydney.Some media have speculated that the statement means the cleric intends to resign.Mosque administrator Toufic Zreika said he did not know whether the cleric intended to resign.”What’s happened in the last few days has really taken it’s toll on him, his family, his health and I think he’s just had enough,” said Zreika, president of the Lebanese Muslim Association.The 65-year-old Egyptian-born Sunni cleric’s collapse was related to his heart, Zreika said.Al-Hilali had suffered four strokes in the past and recently underwent double heart bypass surgery, Zreika said.Al-Hilali was meeting yesterday with members of the Muslim association that administers the mosque where he preaches to discuss his future role in light of the controversy when the ambulance was called to the building.Earlier yesterday, Prime Minister John Howard said that the cleric, mufti of Australia since 1989, may have breached Australia’s counterterrorism laws by praising militant jihadists in Iraq and Afghanistan.Al-Hilali has rejected calls for his resignation since a newspaper reported last week that he compared women who do not wear head scarves to “uncovered meat” in a sermon at the mosque.Nampa-AP