Muslim Clerics Told to Hush

(Sydney, Australia) The Lebanese Muslim Association has banned five senior Islamic clerics from talking to the media. The clerics have been accused of making "un-Australian" statements and were sent a letter demanding that they "pause and desist" from talking to the media, in particular, the Arab-speaking media.

"Most of our clerics are selected on the basis that they have Australian values and Australian characteristics," Lebanese Muslim Association President Tom Zreika told The Australian newspaper.

"Some of them haven't lived up to that," he said.

The clerics have also been warned against "double-speak" where statements made to English-speaking media are entirely different from statements made to Arabic-speaking media.

The Muslim association threatened to fire imams for failing to comply. Personally, I'm skeptical. The gag order most likely will not be followed since many of the clerics operate like independent contractors.

To its credit, though, the Lebanese Muslim Association is trying to stifle inflammatory pronouncements such as when Sheikh Taj el-Din al-Hilali said unveiled women are pieces of meat.