1988 speech regarding Jews Australian Jewish organisations have regularly accused Hilaly of
antisemitism, a charge he denied. The charges began in 1988 when Hilaly delivered a lecture to a group of Muslim students at
University of Sydney on the topic "The Disposition of Jews in the light of the
Qur'an." He was quoted as saying: Hilaly did not apologise nor retract his comments, in which he accused Jews of "causing all wars."
February 2004 sermon In February 2004 Hilaly gave a sermon at a mosque in
Sidon,
Lebanon, whilst overseas the text of which was translated by the Australian Embassy in
Beirut. It appeared to show him supporting terrorist attacks. In his sermon, Hilaly said: In his speech, he also predicted that Muslims would control the
White House and appeared to support
Hezbollah. The
Australian Federal Police declined to investigate his activities overseas.
2006 Holocaust denial In July 2006 Hilaly was sacked from
Prime Minister of Australia John Howard's
Muslim Community Reference Group following comments he made in which he denied the
Holocaust, calling it a "Zionist lie". He also referred to
Israel as a "cancer". This prompted calls for legal action to be pursued against him in a country which has the highest per-capita number of Holocaust survivors in the world outside Israel.
October 2006 sermon Comments concerning dress and rape In October 2006, Hilaly delivered a
Ramadan sermon in
Arabic in which he made statements concerning female clothing which proved highly controversial. The key part of these was: Hilaly also said, "in the state of
zina, the responsibility falls 90 per cent of the time on the woman. Why? Because she possesses the weapon of enticement (igraa)." Hilaly later claimed that he had intended to suggest that "if a woman who shows herself off, she is to blame...but a man should be able to control himself." He also contended that his references to the prison sentence of
Bilal Skaf, the leader of a group of
Lebanese Australians who committed
gang rapes in Sydney in 2000, in which he said that women would "sway suggestively" before men "and then you get a judge without mercy (rahma) and gives you 65 years", were aimed at illustrating the need for harsh sanctions for rape.
Keysar Trad, a spokesman for Hilaly, told the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, "From my discussions with him, the issue was not whether they wear a hijab or don't wear a hijab. The issue is that every society has a certain dress code, a normal dress code that people go by. So if somebody goes beyond that dress code, if men or women get to the stage where they dress in a manner that is provocative then these people are doing something wrong. He was not talking about rape." After such comments were made publicly, on 26 October 2006 Hilaly released a statement. He said, "I unreservedly apologise to any woman who is offended by my comments. I had only intended to protect women's honour, something lost in
The Australian presentation of my talk." The
Australian National Imams Council was formed in 2006 during a meeting of more than 80 Imams which had gathered to discuss the crisis created by comments made by Taj El-Din Hilaly.
Bikini march In late 2006 Melbourne resident Christine Hawkins organised a bikini rally, in which women were to wear beach clothing and march on
Lakemba Mosque and the Islamic Information and Support Centre in Brunswick, Melbourne, to voice their "disgust" at Hilaly's comments. Ultimately, organisers claimed that public reports critical of the demonstration and personal attacks caused them to abandon the event.
January 2007 television comments On 8 January 2007, Hilaly appeared on an Egyptian television program. He made a number of comments that sparked criticism in Australia, including the following: • British and Irish settlers arrived in Australia as convicts. Muslims paid for their own tickets, and so have more right to Australia • Western people, especially the English race, are the biggest liars and oppressors. Hilaly also condemned the level of rights awarded to
homosexuals in Australia, stating "We have Christian churches which allow people of the same gender to marry" and "I understand the mentality of the West and especially the Australian mentality and I understand that the Australian law guarantees freedoms to the point of insanity."
Proposed political movement Following his comments on social and legal issues and in the lead-up to the
2007 Federal election, Hilaly proposed to form a political party to represent Islamic interests in the national Parliament. The party was to have been supported by the political committee of Muslim community elders, also created by Hilaly. The suggested motto was: "With you, from and for you". A party manifesto had originally been drafted in 2001 but the idea was abandoned in the wake of the
11 September terrorist attacks. The concept of the Party was abandoned once again in June 2007 when Hilaly retired from his role as Mufti. ==Cleared of alleged links to Hezbollah==