Hilaly in Sydney on Friday. (AP)

Canberra, Oct. 27 (Reuters): Australia’s top Muslim cleric, suspended from preaching after describing women who do not dress modestly as “uncovered meat”, rejected calls to resign today, saying he would not go until the White House was cleaned out.

Sheikh Taj El-Din Hamid Hilaly, the mufti of Australia’s biggest mosque in Sydney, angered community and political leaders and divided Australia’s 280,000 Muslims over the comments, made in a Ramazan sermon a month ago but only reported this week.

Hilaly attended prayers at the Lakemba mosque today but did not give the sermon. Surrounded by dozens of supporters as he left the mosque, Hilaly said he would not resign.

“After we clean the world of the White House first,” he said when asked directly by reporters when he would stand down.

The Australian Lebanese Muslim Association, which owns Hilaly’s Lakemba mosque, has suspended him from preaching for three months, but other Muslim leaders and politicians have demanded he be sacked.

Prime Minister John Howard said today stronger action needed to be taken against Hilaly, who once described Howard, President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair as the axis of evil.

“I believe that unless this matter is satisfactorily resolved by the Islamic community, there is a real worry that some lasting damage will be done,” Howard said.

“We do not want the Islamic community isolated. We do not want the Islamic community to be an object of criticism and derision.”

Howard said Hilaly, who courted controversy two years ago by glorifying martyrdom and calling the September 11 attacks the work of God, was now an Australian citizen and could not be deported.

Hilaly has apologised for his comments, which he said had been misinterpreted and taken out of context. In a Ramazan sermon last month, Hilaly said sexual assaults might not happen if women wore a hijab and stayed at home.

Tom Zreika, president of the Australian Lebanese Muslim Association, said the suspension was designed to give Hilaly time to consider his future and the impact of his comments, and to recover from an illness. “We felt the three months away would give him time to mull over what’s been said,” Zreika said.