Taj El-Din Hilaly: what Wikipedia removed
An Egyptian-Australian imam who styled himself Grand Mufti of Australia. The 2005 opening said that outside Australia “he has made statements in support of those who carried out the September 11 terrorist attacks,” though he denied supporting terrorism when asked. Today the opening drops the September 11 statements entirely, saying only that he “promoted Islamic extremism on many occasions,” though the word survives three times in the body. A reader arriving now learns he promoted extremism in general and not that he specifically praised the September 11 attackers.
The word “terror” appeared 2 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2005. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 3. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.
The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot
Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”| word | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 6 October 2023 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| terror | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| islamist | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| antisemitism | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| hostage | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| disputed | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.
What was taken out
Section titled “What was taken out”- The note that his self-styled title of Grand Mufti was disputed by other Australian Islamic leaders, dropped from the opening.
How it opened then, and now
Section titled “How it opened then, and now”2005 (revision 16818962):
Sheikh Taj El-Din Hamid Hilaly (sometimes spelled Tajeddin Hilaly or Hilali or Al-Hilaly ) (born c. 1941 ), Australian Islamic leader, is the Imam of the Lakemba Mosque in Sydney . He styles himself Grand Mufti of Australia, but his right to use this title is disputed by other Australian Islamic leaders. Hilaly was born in Egypt and educated at the Al-Azhar University in Cairo , and was a member of the illegal Islamist political body the Muslim Brotherhood . He came to Australia 1982 on a tourist visa. He overstayed his visa, but efforts to deport him failed when he was able to mobilise support among the large Sydney Islamic community and from Sydney politicians, including Paul Keating , the…
2025 (revision 1280048150):
Egyptian-Australian imam (1941–2023) Taj El-Din Hamid Hilaly (alternatively spelt Tajeddin Hilaly , Hilali , Al-Hilaly , Taj el-Din al-Hilali , Aldin Alhilali , Tajideen El-Hilaly or Tajeddine ; 17 January 1941 – 5 October 2023) was an Egyptian Australian imam of Lakemba Mosque in Sydney and a Sunni Muslim leader in Australia. The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils appointed him Mufti of Australia in 1988. He referred to himself as the Grand Mufti of Australia and New Zealand, although this title was not unanimously endorsed, and was also described by some Muslims as honorary , rather than substantial. Hilaly was a controversial figure and made several controversial statements, as wel…
Related
Section titled “Related”- The drift report: what changed across all 61,944 watched articles
- The case file for this article, with every snapshot and every marked removal
- Who made the cuts: removals grouped by the account that made them
- The live article on Wikipedia
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