Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has sat down with a controversial Islamic sheikh who called AIDS a divine punishment for homosexuality and preached against Jews who “incite hatred” while enjoying special legal protection.
Mr Albanese tweeted a picture of himself sitting at a table with a smiling Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman on Wednesday evening, saying it was an “honour” to attend the ritual fast-breaking Iftar dinner with him.
Sheikh Shady chairs the Australian National Imams Council, which advises governments on important Islamic issues, but he has been embroiled in a number of controversies, including a brief travel ban to New Zealand following the Christchurch massacre.
Speaking over dinner in Sydney, Mr Albanese said he was proud to lead a government that “celebrated diversity” and thanked the Imams for showing Muslim youth how to “be proud of their heritage and their believe’.
In 2016, former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he regretted inviting Sheikh Shady to an Iftar dinner at the Lodge in Canberra after videos emerged of the cleric’s sermons against homosexuality.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured left) posted a photo of himself dining with outspoken Islamic cleric Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman (pictured right)
In the tweet accompanying the photo, Mr Albanese said he was honored to attend the dinner
In the videos, which were published on YouTube in 2013, Sheikh Shady said that homosexuality was punished by Allah with “terrible new incurable diseases” such as HIV AIDS with “more on the way” and that it had “bad consequences for our society” .
Mr Turnbull called the views “unacceptable” and he “strongly advised” the sheikh “to think about what he has said and recant what he has said”.
At the time, the sheikh rejected claims that he wanted gays to be punished by other Muslims for their sexuality.
“I have previously noticed passages in the Holy Quran that do not support homosexuality,” he said.
In his sermons, Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman has said that homosexuality is punished with “terrible new diseases,” accused the Jews of incitement to hatred, and said jihad (holy war) may be a “necessity” or a “last resort” on the ask if it’s OK to kill civilians
“However, I always follow such statements with a personal commitment to tolerance and encouragement that all Muslims and all peoples treat all individuals, regardless of creed, race or sexuality, in a considerate and respectful manner.”
In another video posted to YouTube in 2016 with the caption “response to the kuffaar (infidel or denier),” Sheik Shady denounces the “Jew” who produced the anti-Muslim online video “Innocence of the Muslims.”
“One of the Jews, with the cooperation of one of the Coptic Christians in America, disgraced our prophet Mohammed,” Sheikh Shady said of the film.
He argued that laws against being “anti-Semitic” gave Jews special protection.
“You can’t say anything about the Jews,” he claimed by law.
“You can’t say anything about the Jews because you’re inciting hatred against the 17 million Jews around the world, but for them to incite hatred against 1.5 billion Muslims around the world is okay.
“With this act, the Muslims are not going to shut up about it.”
In 2019, Sheik Shady was found to have been banned from entering New Zealand after being placed on a ministerial blacklist by Denmark
It later emerged that the alleged producer of the film, Sam Bacile, who told interviewers he was a Jewish Israeli, was a fake character adopted by the American-Egyptian Coptic Christian Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, who was born in Egypt.
Sheikh Shady stressed that he was not urging people to break the law in their anger at the film, but to “love and imitate the Prophet Muhammad even more.”
In a video posted in 2014, titled “Can we kill civilians as Anwar al-Awlaki claims?”, the sheikh answered a question put to him about whether Muslims can kill civilians in Western countries who send soldiers to fight in Islamic countries . .
Sheikh Shady said Muslims should not kill innocent civilians and should follow the forgiveness of the Prophet Muhammad, but he seemed to rule out jihad (holy war).
“Jihad, according to the scholars, is a necessity, something that is his last resort,” the sheikh said.
“A last resort to uphold the truth, but if I could do it any other way, I don’t have to.
“I don’t want to fight people. I don’t want you to face your enemy.
“It’s not something that we’re not going to play today and kill a few people.”
He argued that the much better way was to “bring people to Islam.”
Mr Albanese (pictured right) poses with Muslim ministers Anne Aly (front left) and Ed Husic (centre) at the Australian National Imams Council dinner on Wednesday night
Islam is not there to kill. Islam is here to invite, Islam is here to save people,” he said.
Sheikh Shady’s name was placed on an Islamic State hit list in 2017 with a propaganda video citing him as a Muslim leader who discouraged violence in the name of Islam and urged people to follow the laws of the land.
‘[It] confirms in no uncertain terms that the beliefs, teachings and ideology of this group, ISIS, are inconsistent with the religion of Islam,” the sheikh said at the time.
“Many Australian Imams, including myself, have publicly denounced and preached ISIS’s hateful and murderous teachings – publicly stating on numerous occasions that ISIS’s way is not the Islamic way.”
In March 2019, Sheik Shady was sent to Christchurch to help with the funeral of the 50 victims of the mass shooting of two mosques a few days earlier.
However, it turned out that he had been denied entry to New Zealand following a travel order imposed on him by Denmark.
In April 2018, Denmark placed the sheikh on a banned list of ministers because he “displayed behavior that gives reason to believe that the foreigner could pose a threat to public order.”
With the help of Australian officials, the sheikhs were granted the right to enter New Zealand within 24 hours of the ban coming to light.
In 2017, Sheikh Shady was revealed to have delivered a sermon in Lakemba, southwest Sydney, claiming that men had “authority” over their wives, amid wider controversy at the time over whether Islam encouraged domestic violence .
Sheikh Shady said that men need sex from their wives.
“If a man calls his wife to bed and she rejects him, the angels will continue to curse her until morning,” he told his followers in a speech quoted by The Weekend Australian.
‘A man has the right to fulfill his sexual desires from his wife; a man has that right.’
He later clarified his comments in a Facebook post, arguing that he never said that men have the right to “demand sex.”
“I have clearly stated that according to Islam, both men and women have the right to fulfill their sexual desires with each other,” he said.
“I do not condone coercion or coercion of any kind.”
In 2019, Sheik Shady was named as one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world and is in his second term as President of the Australian National Imams Council.
In his tweet of the Iftar meal, Mr Albanese posted a photo of himself with Islamic Labor Ministers Ed Husic and Anne Aly.
“I am proud to lead a team that represents and celebrates modern Australia,” Mr Albanese wrote.
“It was an honor to join Ministers Ed Husic and Anne Aly at the Iftar dinner with the Australian National Imams Council.”
During the event, Mr. Albanese expressed his pride in being invited.
“I am proud to lead a government that includes Australia’s first Muslim ministers, representing and celebrating the diversity of beliefs and experiences of modern Australia,” he said.
Mr Albanese praised the work of the council, which represents more than 200 member imams from every Australian state and territory and is the body that elects the spiritual head of Islam in Australia, the mufti.
“You are helping to educate new generations of Australian Muslims – you are showing how the next generations can be proud of their heritage and their faith in such positive ways,” he said.
“So many Australians can look with pride at the work you do, helping to keep the culture and faith alive and strong.”
Sheikh Shady and the Prime Minister’s Office have been contacted for comment.