Sheik Hilali,The Australian, 11 June 2007.

11 JUNE 2007:

By John Stapleton

MIND, heart and speech are the three elements that make up a mufti, the position as leader of Australia's muslims. They are qualities that lie within the man, and Australia's resigning mufti, Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, said he retained all three.

He may no longer technically be mufti but Sheik al-Hilali is going nowhere. He will continue to remain the iman at Australia's most powerful mosque at Lakemba, to conduct the principal sermon each Friday and to hold his weekly lessons for Islamic women, children and youth.

He will also retain the infamous Kayser Trad as his spokesman. As a prominent member of four international Islamic councils he will represent Australia at conferences and seminars around the world.

Sheik al-Hilali told The Australian yesterday he had every intention of remaining a thorn not just in the side of state and federal governments, but of other sections of the Islamic community.

``Gold is gold, underneath the ground or above, God is God, someone who is good is always good, the person inside, irrespective of the title, remains the same,'' he said.

If anyone thought Sheik al-Hilali would now quietly depart the stage they are sadly mistaken. After 18 controversial years as Australia's first mufti, he declined an offer of re-appointment by a meeting of the Australian National Imans Council on Sunday.

But he is not going quietly.

Yesterday he blamed pressure from the Howard government, along with threats by state governments to withhold funding from muslim community groups if he retained his position, for his decision to retire.

``All the projects for the muslim community, the state and federal grants, would have dried up if I stayed on,'' he said. ``I understood the pressure on the muslim community was mounting and I resigned for its benefit.''

Sheik al-Hilali said no doubt federal and state governments were proud of forcing him to resign, but he would remain a pivotal member of the Australian community and was now freer than ever to speak out against corruption, racism, social injustice, terrorism and Australia's foreign policy.

``The three principles of being a mufti, mind, heart, speech, the three exist in me, but I do not have the title. Don't think for a moment that I will stop speaking out. Of course I will, now I will be a `V8' and speak with even more power. I want politics to be based on truth rather than lies, on facts rather than perceptions.''

He said although he greatly admired Howard's economic management of the country, Australia's standing in the muslim world had fallen due to the Howard government's foreign policies. ``Australia was seen as a potpouri of the world, as a bunch of roses, now it has a bad smell because of the foreign politics of the Howard government. The policy that aligned Australia to the US has brought us discredit and disgrace. I want to fight to have Australia stand on its own two feet.''

Sheik al-Hilali said his contributions would live on through the muslim community. ``For 25 years I have had no holiday, no weekend, never had my phone off. I have always been accessible. I have married thousands and thousands of muslims, and now I am marrying the second generation.

``In almost every muslim house I have left a seeding, by way of marriage, of visits, by resolving domestic issues or answering questions they raised,'' he said.

Sheik al-Hilali said he long ago learnt to cope with being the centre of controversy, but the one scandal that caused him the most personal pain was the mistranslation and misrepresentation of his comments concerning women. He was reported as comparing scantily clad women to uncovered meat left out in the sun - with the media ignoring his description of rapists as wild animals.

``I am the exact opposite of what was portrayed,'' he said. ``I don't care about the perception of politicians, but I care about the perception of women. No one respects women more than I do. I value and respect women, and established the Muslim Women's Association.''

Sheik al-Hilali said now that he was free of the responsibilities of being mufti he will turn his attention to reforming muslim organisations around Australia. ``These groups and institutions need sweeping changes and correction in the administration of their own bodies and in the way they spend money. I will be urging a lot of action.''

He said he expected the next headline with his name in it to read: ``Hilali discovers corruption in muslim organisations''.

We may not have to wait long.