Imams In Australia Banned From Talking To Media.

Five of Australia's most powerful Islamic clerics have been banned from talking to the media by Muslim leaders. The clerics have been accused of conveying un-Australian messages. The ban is being enforced by the Lebanese Muslim Association, which runs Australia's largest mosque in Sydney.

Sheikh Taj el-Din al-Hilali, (pic) the country's most senior Muslim cleric, caused uproar last year when he likened unveiled women to uncovered meat.

Muslim leaders say that a string of controversial remarks from its spiritual leaders have damaged the relationship between the Islamic community and mainstream Australia. They say that they have introduced the gagging order so that imams can concentrate on their primary task of offering pastoral care.

'Shape up'
The Lebanese Muslim Association has warned the imams that they could lose their position at the nation's largest mosque in Sydney unless they pause and desist. Of particular concern is what the association calls the "double speak" of clerics - where they say one thing to Australia's English-speaking media and then adopt a more radical stance when dealing with Arabic-speaking journalists.

The ban includes a strict prohibition on speaking to Sydney's Arabic radio station, the Voice of Islam.

The gagging order will affect Sheikh al-Hilali, whose comments regularly generate unfavourable headlines. Last October, he suggested that immodestly dressed women were to blame for sexual assault, then made disparaging remarks about Australia's convict beginnings. The aim of this gagging order is to prevent clerics from making overtly political or controversial media statements.

As one Muslim leader put it, the clerics must either shape up or ship out. (BBC NEWS)
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