The Sheik’s comments, made last month in a Ramadan sermon and reported by News Limited today, likened women who wore make-up and dressed immodestly to meat that attracted cats.
"If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats or the uncovered meat?" he reportedly said.
"The uncovered meat is the problem.
"If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab (Islamic headdress), no problem would have occurred."
Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) committee member Sherene Hassan is outraged by the comments.
"Those comments are extremely offensive, and there is no basis for what he said in Islamic teachings," Ms Hassan said.
"They are a paternal distortion of Islamic teachings. We are calling on him to issue an apology to all Australian people, because his comments are offensive to males and females alike, and we are calling on him to retract those comments.
"There is no justification for rape."
Ms Hassan, who wears a hijab says she does so because of her "devotion to God".
"It's a form of identification. Men do not enter the equations. I don't do it to hide from men."
‘Unacceptable’ comments
The chairman of the New South Wales Community Relations Commission, Stephan Kerkyasharian says Al Hilaly must make an immediate retraction of his comments.
Failure to do so could damage Islam's position in Australian society and disrupt social harmony, he said.
Mr Kerkyasharian has written to Al Hilaly asking him to retract in writing the comments saying the comments were "totally and absolutely unacceptable."
"They denigrate all women regardless of their religion and choice of profession. Nothing justifies rape," Mr Kerkyasharian wrote.
"They also denigrate all men by implying that men are creatures who follow their animal instinct instead of being civilised members of a civilised society.
In his letter, Mr Kerkyasharian drew Sheik Al Hilaly's attention to Australia's anti-discrimination and anti-vilification laws, saying the sheik had a responsibility due to his high office to support gender equality.