This followed the Board of Imams Victoria suspending him as it probed claims he tried to take a second wife and had an affair.
Mr Abou-Eid claimed the society, acting as the mosque committee, had misappropriated “millions in worshippers’ funds” which were meant to go to charity.
Speaking through an interpreter at the Fair Work Commission, Mr Abou-Eid said members of the mosque committee were strict about him not learning English.
“They said if you were to try to learn English we might get a replacement,” he said.
But James Catlin, acting for the Islamic Society, said the previous imam was an English speaker and Mr Abou-Eid’s sermons would reach a wider audience in English.
Mr Abou-Eid admitted he had been engaged to a woman he wanted as his second wife.
But he denied allegations that he had sexual relations with another woman in 2014, saying she tried to bribe him.
Mr Abou-Eid made a fiery speech outside Preston mosque in February last year, days before the Board of Imams’ hearing into his alleged conduct, claiming the committee had raised millions for a school which only cost $650,000.
He called them a “gang of thieves controlling the mosque”.
“They came to my home and threatened to kill me,” Mr Abou-Eid said. “They want to kill me, they can kill me — I put my faith in Allah.”
Mr Catlin put to Mr Abou-Eid he made that speech because he knew there would be a hearing into his relationships with the women.
The cleric denied this claim.
The hearing, before Fair Work Commissioner Michelle Bissett, continues in April.
