Sydney, Australia - Australia's top Muslim cleric says he plans to form a political party to fight a federal election due this year.
Sheikh Taj el-Din al-Hilali said there was a need for a new party to represent the interests of Muslims in Australia.
The mufti defied a ban on speaking to the media, imposed by Australian Muslim leaders at the end of last week, to discuss his political plans.
The sheikh and a number of other senior Muslims have recently caused uproar with a string of controversial remarks.
It has led to fears that the relationship between the Islamic community and mainstream Australia is being damaged.
'Un-Australian remarks'
Sheikh Hilali told ABC that he hoped to have a party up and running by the time of the federal election, which is expected to be called by the end of the year.
"There's a new committee who have some experience in politics and most certainly in the future there must be something along those lines," he said.
His spokesman Keysar Trad said the aim was to stop politicians using Muslims as a "political football" and to work on promoting greater social harmony.
He said the imam envisioned a party that would represent Muslim interests but would not exclude other faiths.
"The whole idea is to promote fairness across the board and specific values, such as honesty and dignity and equality," Mr Trad said.
Last Friday, the Lebanese Muslim Association, which is responsible for the country's largest mosque, put a gagging order on five clerics - including Sheikh Hilali - accused of making "un-Australian" remarks.
According to local media, they demanded the clerics "pause and desist" from talking to the media and concentrate on their primary task of offering pastoral care.
Of particular concern was what the association called the "double speak" of clerics - where they say one thing to Australia's English-speaking media and then adopt a more radical stance when dealing with Arabic-speaking journalists.
Sheikh Hilali caused uproar in recent months when he suggested that immodestly dressed women were to blame for sexual assault, and then made disparaging remarks about Australia's convict beginnings.