Apologist worked for jihadi journal

THE man who was first to jump to the defence of Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, following his comments comparing women to meat, was the same man who 10 years ago translated jihadi propaganda, including an interview with Osama bin Laden, for an extremist Islamic magazine based in Sydney.

THE man who was first to jump to the defence of Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, following his comments comparing women to meat, was the same man who 10 years ago translated jihadi propaganda, including an interview with Osama bin Laden, for an extremist Islamic magazine based in Sydney.

President of the Islamic Friendship Council of Australia Keysar Trad was yesterday virtually alone among the Muslim community in defending Sheik Hilali's comments, saying he had been misrepresented but could have chosen his words better.

Mr Trad has carefully remade himself into a readily available voice for moderate Islam in Australia, after being the sheik's friend and informal spokesman for many years and at one time a translator for the radical Islamic Youth Movement in Sydney. This group's Nida'ul Islam magazine and website advocated terrorist "martyrdom operations" against the West and famously scored an exclusive interview with the al-Qa'ida terror chief in 1996.

The magazine, which targeted students in the Australian Islamic community, had stated it wanted to reflect the views of the "jihad stream" and promote jihad as the only path to establish the Islamic state.

Yesterday, Mr Trad said he did not agree with the views of IYM, which has been shut down, when he was translating for them and that he had only carried out the unpaid work "to get translation practice".

Mr Trad said Sheik Hilali's speech was a series of "off the cuff" remarks given as a late-night talk about chastity and marriage.

He said Sheik Hilali had attracted unfair criticism from media and politicians over the comments and insisted the cleric had long been a supporter of women's rights.

"His critics first and foremost should give him the right to a fair hearing which they are expected to do in that situation," Mr Trad said. "Secondly on the issue of women's rights, if they go back through the history of all his commentary, they will find he has been a very strong supporter of women's rights."

Mr Trad said the mufti's words must be taken in context.

"It doesn't really work when you try to translate it," he said. "You can't really take it literally like that. What he was saying is, in the fasting month, all men and all women are told to 'avert their glance' which means, not to look at each other.

"It's out of context. He was making a speech about sex outside marriage. He was trying to discourage his flock, Islamic people, from having sex outside marriage."

He said the speech did not translate well to English "so all I can say is, he was trying to say to men and women, don't provoke sexual attention".

"Obviously, there is a severe penalty for rape and there should be. He's saying, 'If you do this, if you behave in a sexual way, see how much trouble you can get into'," Mr Trad said.

He said the mufti did expect men and women "to dress modestly and not go out late at night. He was also saying, anybody who commits fornication, who is not married, that is a bad thing".

"He was saying, women can be guilty of trying to attract attention. So Muslim women should cover up. Obviously, if she's not a Muslim, the speech isn't relevant to her."

He said the Islamic religion says "you should not look at women, you must not touch them, so obviously, you can't rape them". "The scanty dress might seem like an invitation, that's what he said, and that invitation must be resisted. He was trying to encourage his flock toward modesty and chastity."

Mr Trad said the mufti was "completely shaken by the controversy". "He is bedridden, and he's on an oxygen machine. He's very unwell."

Mr Trad said the comments comparing women to meat were "not meant in a derogatory way". He said the Arabic word for meat - lahm - could also be translated as "flesh".