Boozy Aussies hooked on gambling: cleric09:15 AEST Fri Jan 23 2009


Australians are boozers hooked on prostitution and gambling, Melbourne Islamic cleric Abu Hamza says.

Mr Hamza made headlines on Thursday, and earned criticism from Islamic groups and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, for a 2003 speech posted on the internet last year in which he said it was OK for Muslim men to hit their wives and that it was not possible for a man to rape his wife.

The Herald Sun newspaper on Friday reported the contents of another speech, also posted on the internet, in which Mr Hamza was critical of the Australian way of life.

"They think happiness can be achieved by being intoxicated, by going to the casino and blowing your money away, by going from one prostitute to the other," he said.

"They don't know what life is all about, that's why they are on the booze, why they are binge drinking . . . why unfortunately suicide has skyrocketed, murder, anxiety and depression."

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Islamic leaders have condemned Mr Hamza for his earlier remarks but the Coburg mosque cleric has told a confidant his message has been taken out of context and that he was referring to hitting wives in a metaphorical sense.

Mr Rudd told reporters Mr Hamza's comments had no place in modern Australia.

"Under no circumstances is sexual violence permissible or acceptable in Australia - under no circumstances," Mr Rudd said.

"Under no circumstances are other forms of violence, physical violence, acceptable towards women in Australia nor are they acceptable in my view to mainstream Muslim teachings.

"Australia will not tolerate these sort of remarks. They don't belong in modern Australia, and he should stand up, repudiate them and apologise."

The President of the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) Ramzi Elsayed said he had spoken with Mr Hamza about the lecture, titled The Keys to a Successful Marriage.

"He told me he was speaking in a metaphorical sense," Mr Elsayed told AAP.

"In regards to hitting your wife, his position is that it has always been metaphorical - it's not a whack, it's not a slap, it's a wake-up call."

He said Islam did not condone violence against women or making a wife have sex with her husband against her will.

"He believes he was taken out of context insofar as he was talking about people who censure their spouses - it was not so much a physical hit as a metaphorical one to say wake up, we're heading for a divorce kind-of-thing."

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/732111/boozy-aussies-hooked-on-gambling-cler...


Good on you Ruddy for standing up and saying something

Well if he heard some of the idealisms of the "OzPolitic's Abu" then he might have a bit more to say.

Ok I clarified the title for you Gaybriel. Does that help?

As for the content of the article apart from the wife beating, yes I agree too.
Gambling, prostitution and drinking have been around since Adam was a boy.
Would you suggest an attempt to ban them? That's been tried before, it doesn't work.

If you put the contents of the article together with somebody who condones wife beating, then I'm sure that anybody could put two and two together to see the magic solution that this Abu has in mind.

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So he can preach "The understood meaning of the term", but he doesn't really mean it?
Should he also be allowed to preach Sharia law as long as he doesn't really mean it?

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Last time I checked speaking about other laws, teaching them to people and believing in them is NOT illegal in Australia. Practising them could in some cases be illegal, that's perhaps true.

Unless of course you want to return back to the day of McCarthyism, and persecute anyone who believes in a political system other than Democracy.

abu_rashid wrote on Jan 27^th, 2009 at 8:34am:



abu,

A little of the pot calling the kettle black?


Lets just reassign a couple of moniker's in that sentence....

"Unless of course you want to return back to the day of McCarthyism the Kalifa, and persecute anyone who believes in a political system other than Democracy  ISLAM / Sharia jurisdiction."

abu,

Isn't it true that muslims who live alongside non-muslims [within host countries], believe that ISLAM should become dominant in those countries?

And isn't it true that muslims believe that ISLAM should only [ever] co-exist with other cultures, until it becomes strong enough politically, to become dominant?

And that such agitation [within host countries] for that domination of muslims, is the Jihad, or, the working for the cause of Allah?

Amadd,

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No, that's because governments love to use fear as a tool to increase their power over their people. It's just sad the people bought into it.

Yadda,

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We don't  live in a Khilafah, we live in Australia, and Australia has certain values and systems. Do you not believe in those values and systems? If you do, then stop using the Khilafah system as your yardstick.

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As I've mentioned before, just as true as it is that JW's and LDS' for instance want to see their host countries embrace their belief systems. Perhaps you belong to a proselytising church also that seeks  to spread it's message to all of it's fellow countrymen as well?

freediver,

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At least someone here still remembers what Australian values are about.