The Mufti speaks

The comments of Sheik Hilali have been reported not only in the Australian media, eg this "edited transcript" from The Australian but also internationally, eg the BBC, Al Jazeera, CNNand The Guardian.

I find it difficult to get inside his mind, and in particular wonder why he is not fluent in English after 20+ years' residence here.

While the Mufti is reported as apologising for his remarks, he has apparently not retracted them, and has exacerbated matters by claiming, as The Age and the ABC among others have reported, that he will only resign "when the world is clean of the White House first". This will only intensify the anti-Islamic feeling among non-Islamic Australians and perhaps some Islamic ones as well.