Sydney, Australia - THE country's highest-profile Islamic leader has called for the deportation of clerics who preach violence, as part of a push to rid Australia of the "disease" of fundamentalism.
Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilaly compared the spread of Islamic fundamentalism in Australia to AIDS, and said he and other moderate clerics across the country must take firm steps to win the hearts and minds of impressionable young Muslims.
"They are a disease like AIDS and you can't cure them with Panadol," Sheik Hilaly said of radical clerics.
In some of the strongest public comments yet by a senior Islamic figure in Australia, Sheik Hilaly also told The Australian the sale of Islamic literature preaching hatred or violence should be banned.
But the call was flatly rejected yesterday by Australia's most senior fundamentalist Islamic cleric, Sheik Mohammed Omran.
"Australia is a free country and should allow all books to be sold here," Sheik Omran said. He claimed there were no Islamic clerics in Australia guilty of inciting hatred.
"We do not have clerics who incite hatred here so there is no point raising the issue of deporting clerics who incite hatred because such clerics do not exist in Australia."
Sheik Hilaly said some young Muslims were also drawn to the firebrand preachings of a handful of local and visiting overseas clerics who had little religious education themselves.
"A small number of Muslims do have a disease of the mind," Sheik Hilaly told The Australian at his office attached to Sydney's largest mosque, in the south-western suburb of Lakemba.
"The ASIO, the other authorities and the journalists know who they are. They don't pray here (at Lakemba Mosque), they don't respect us, they have in the past called us disbelievers."
While he doubted Australia would suffer a suicide bombing like London, he was concerned the minds of some young Australian Muslims were being manipulated, a dangerous development that could eventually lead to hatred and violence.
"It's like they are remote-controlled. They could be steered down the wrong direction," he said, stressing that the numbers of such Muslims in Australia was small.
He said he sometimes went to the homes of young Muslims developing fundamentalist ideals, to try to turn them around. Their thinking had created tension and conflict with their families.
"Young people will get any books from people who are not renowned scholars and teach this fundamentalist way of thinking," he said.
"They (the fundamentalist clerics) try to motivate them with aggressive speak rather than teach them about their religion. And boys love conflict."
Sheik Hilaly said Muslim community groups should work together to develop strategies to educate and inform young people about their religion.
His call for extreme books to be banned was welcomed yesterday by the Muslim community umbrella body, provided it extended to all hate literature, not just Islamic texts.
The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Ameer Ali said any ban should strike a balance between censorship and freedom of expression.
The call coincides with intense debate in Britain about the role of Muslim leaders in preventing terrorism such as the bombings that killed 56 people in London.
The British Government is also considering tougher terrorism laws allowing deportation of clerics considered too radical.
Sheik Hilaly said although he did not think Australian clerics were currently preaching violence or hatred, a law should also be introduced here as a precaution.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) this week began an investigation into whether literature sold at a bookstore in Lakemba breached laws against inciting a terrorist act.
AFP and New South Wales counter-terrorism officers met yesterday to discuss just who could be prosecuted over the sale of the books.
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said he was prepared to review these laws if the investigation showed insufficient legal safeguards.
Sheik Hilaly said books justifying attacks, such as the London bombings, or ones preaching hatred of Australians and their way of life should be banned.
"It's like someone selling poison, or like selling the poisoned Mars bars, they should be taken off the shelves. It's a free country, but it's not free to poison people," he said.