Controversial imam Shaikh Mohammad Tawhidi: 'Islam needs a review'
'We don't want burkas and mosques on every corner': Controversial Muslim leader says the 'entire religion of Islam needs a review'
By Ollie Gillman For Daily Mail Australia
15:36 AEDT 07 Apr 2017 , updated 20:36 AEDT 07 Apr 2017
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- Imam Shaikh Mohammad Tawhidi called for a 'review' into Islam in Australia
- He said he did not want 'burqas running around' or 'mosques on every corner'
- Tawhidi said Muslims should follow Australian laws & customs while living here
A controversial imam has called for a 'review' of Islam in Australia and demanded that Muslims respect freedom of speech and democracy.
Shaikh Mohammad Tawhidi, who in recent weeks has clashed with other Muslim leaders, said he did not want 'burqas running around' or 'mosques on every corner'.
Speaking at the Rotary Club of
Adelaide, Imam Tawhidi said his father would not have moved from Iran to Australia had he known so many extreme Muslim people would end up living here.
Controversial Muslim imam says he believes Islam 'needs a review'
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The imam also said he was opposed to new mosques being built, claiming that they would all eventually be run by 'radical Muslim leaders'.
He called on the security services to monitor all imams and to check how they were being funded, in case they were supporting genital mutilation or forced marriages involving children.
He added that Muslims must follow Australian rules and customs if they want to live here.
Imam Tawhidi said his father would not have moved from Iran to Australia had he known so many Muslim people would end up living here
'We need to come to one common understanding: it is either we follow the law of the land or we don't,' he said.
'If we do, then it is one wife. If we don't, then go back to where you came from, and have as many wives as you like.
'In Australia, where there is freedom of speech and where there is democracy, many Muslims do not find it safe to speak out against extremism in their country at all. And when I say that they are afraid – they are not afraid of isolation, they are afraid of death. And I have been very close to that, and God saved me many times.'
Imam Tawhidi added that those who do not want to obey Australia's laws can get on 'one of our kangaroos and you can hop back to where you came from'.
Shaikh Mohammad Tawhidi, who in recent weeks has clashed with other Muslim leaders, said he did not want 'burqas running around' or 'mosques on every corner'
He also had advice for government ministers, urging women not to wear headscarves while visiting Muslim nations.
'I know it is good to respect other people, but if you are the foreign minister, you are a foreign minister with your uniform and your badge, and if they don't respect you as a woman, to come and dress in what you like to dress, then that's a country whose embassy we don't want.
'We don't want anything to do with them if they don't respect our foreign minister, regardless of what country that is.'
Imam Tawhidi is currently in hiding after backing Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who said all Muslim schools in Australia needed to be shut down.
The imam was escorted by police into hiding after said Islamic schools were 'a problem', and he fears retribution from the Muslim community.
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Imam Shaikh Mohammad Tawhidi says Islam 'needs review'