Samir Abu Hamza Loves the Taste of Foot in the Morning

The Herald Sun reports on the latest controversial statements by Muslim cleric Abu Hamza.

Outspoken Islamic cleric Abu Hamza has branded Australians as boozers who are hooked on gambling and prostitution.

In another sermon broadcast over the internet, the Coburg cleric urged followers to spread the word of Islam to save Australians.

“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.”

You can see the offending sermon in the Herald Sun report only. That’s because this is what greeted me when I looked in YouTube to find the video:

youtube-removed

Change of heart, or threatened with beating by toothbrush?

As for the speech itself, I did not find it nearly as offensive as the first. Sure, he is being judgmental, but I suspect he did not mean that all Australians are prostitute-visiting boozers. I think he was more attacking the idea of a godless society, but he did it in a way guaranteed to offend the very society which affords him the freedom to espouse his views and put his foot in his mouth.

Meanwhile, to those who claimed in the comments to my last post that there was nothing offensive to women in his marriage sermon, some Muslim women disagree.

His comments on the treatment of women have been condemned by the Islamic Women’s Welfare Council of Victoria and Muslim community leaders, including Yasser Soliman.

“To claim this is Islamic, or that the Koran forces wives to do things such as (these) lectures suggest, is quite insulting to most of the Muslim world,” Mr Soliman said.

Update: Yasser Soliman, executive director of Diversity Connect International and a past president of the Islamic Council of Victoria, has repudiated Hamza’s marriage comments, and even continued the damage control by holding a liveblogging session.

Update: The video is now on YouTube.

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