Bolt on Grand Mufti

In my Commentary of 3 July I drew attention to the statement by the Australian leader of Muslims, Grand Mufti Mohammed, that “no person can ever change” Islam’s rejection of homosexuality and to my letter published in The Australian expressing concern about the statement and the implications of it for Islamic support of sharia law and jihadism.

Andrew Bolt has now elaborated  on the Grand Mufti’s statement and argued that it implies support not only for Sheik Shady’s view on homosexuality but that criticism of a Muslim cleric is to “criticise Islam itself and risk death. Shut up or else”. Bolt rightly concludes below that “Turnbull and other community leaders must address this with frankness, or else Pauline Hanson will. The time for evasion is over”.

Unfortunately, in a short address to a function on the end of Ramadan, NSW Premier Baird has adopted an approach saying “we must stand up against any form of racial vilification” and, when questioned after the function, refused to condemn remarks by the Muslim speaker, Samier Dandan, attacking “the media and the rise of far-right political parties and hate preachers in Parliament” (see Baird on Islam). Separately, a report indicates that girls of Muslim parents are now wearing the hijab well before they reach puberty, when according to one Muslim spokesman it is a religious obligation.  He suggested that “the more you persecute us, the more we will become closer to our religion” (see Children Choosing hijabs ‘against Isalmophobia’)