Sheik returns for Australia Day
SHEIK Taj al-Din al-Hilali today denied that he was forced to sneak back into the country when he arrived in Sydney last night - just in time for Australia Day.
The sheik avoided waiting media at the airport yesterday, and was ushered through a VIP exit after his plane touched down.
Media reports said police protection was waiting for him, and one airport worker said the mufti was accompanied by two quarantine officers as he left the building and had no baggage with him.
But the mufti's spokesman, Keysar Trad, today said he had simply followed the advice of uniformed officers who were at the airport.
"I don't believe he snuck in," he said. "I spoke to him last night. He said it was a long, tiring trip and he had been advised by officers at the airport on the best way to come out, via discreet exits. The mufti took their advice."
Mr Trad said Sheik Hilali, who was travelling with his family, would conduct Friday prayers at the Lakemba mosque in southwest Sydney tomorrow.
"Health permitting, that's what's likely to happen. He's been away for three months and everyone wants to hear his voice, to bask in his spirituality, as well as to receive comments on the present situation."
During his absence, Sheik Hilali sparked outrage in Australia with comments in an interview on Egyptian TV.
He called Westerners liars and said that Muslims were more entitled to live in Australia than the descendents of Anglo-Saxons sent here as convicts.
The comments followed the stir he caused last year when he compared immodestly dressed women to "uncovered meat".
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