SYDNEY, Oct 27: Australia’s most senior Muslim cleric refused to resign on Friday over his likening women without headscarves to ‘uncovered meat’, saying he would only quit once the world was “clean of the White House’.
As Prime Minister John Howard, a key US ally, called for the Muslim community to act or risk a long-term stain on its image, Sheikh Taj Aldin al-Hilali was defiant over his comments that scantily-clad women invite rape.
“After we clean the world of the White House first,” Hilali said in reply to a question whether he would resign.—AFP
