Sheikh "We can't help but rape your slutty pieces of meat" Taj collapsed in the middle of a meeting with Lebanese Muslim Association leaders about his future, is in the hospital for at least three days, and has taken indefinite leave of his duties. He took leave of his senses a long time ago.

Australia's top Muslim cleric at the centre of a storm over his comments about immodestly dressed women has asked for "indefinite leave".
Sheikh Taj el-Din al-Hilali had asked for leave from his duties at Sydney's main Lakemba Mosque, he said in a statement read on his behalf.

Earlier, he was taken to hospital with chest pains after collapsing.

He again apologised for his comments comparing immodestly dressed women to "uncovered meat".

He said his suggestion that women who did not wear a headscarf attracted sexual assault had been taken out of context and "misinterpreted".

But he conceded the analogy had been "inappropriate and unacceptable for the Australian society and the western society in general".

While Sydney's mosque association had suspended him for three months following the publication of his comments, Sheikh Hilali indicated at the end of last week he would not resign.


On Monday, at a meeting with the Lebanese Muslim Association, he collapsed and was rushed to hospital.

He was said to be in a stable condition but would remain in hospital for at least three days.

Outside the hospital, Lebanese Muslim Association Tom Zreika released a statement from the sheikh, which said he had "asked for indefinite leave from my duties at Lakemba Mosque".

"The pressure of the last couple of days has had an obvious effect on my health and wellbeing. I ask the public to give my family and I some privacy, time and space to recover," the statement said.

Here's a bit of good old Aussie common sense:

Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner Pru Goward accused the imam of inciting rape and said he should be thrown out of the country.

Damn straight!