The chairman of the Parramatta mosque, where a teenager prayed before shooting dead a police employee, says Muslims who reject Australian values should "get out".
In his first sermon since 15-year-old Farhad Khalil Mohammad Jabar shot and killed Curtis Cheng outside the Parramatta police headquarters last week, Neil El-Kadomi told hundreds of worshippers gathered for Friday prayers that "if you don't like Australia, leave".
The Parramatta mosque chairman had invited media into the mosque in an effort to quell tensions stemming from last week's terror attack, and before a protest planned for later in the day by the anti-Islamic Party for Freedom.
The protest, which has not been sanctioned by authorities, has prompted police to warn of road closures between 4pm and 7pm.
Mr El-Kadomi, speaking after prayers, said many Muslim people had waited a long time to come to Australia.
"You should not abuse the privilege you are Australian, which is very important," he told reporters just outside the prayer room.
"Get out. We do not need scumbags in the community."
He rejected suggestions the mosque was a breeding ground for extremism.
"I'm not hiding anything. You see in the mosque, there's not guns in it," he said.
"We reject terrorism."
Earlier, as he arrived at the mosque, Mr El-Kadomi said Muslim youth needed to be educated, adding that Jabar was too young "to know what he was doing".
Mr El-Kadomi also said he was not concerned about the protest.
"We can go inside the mosque, close the door, and don't fight each other."
But he also said the various sectors of the community needed better lines of communication, including between Muslim people and government.
"We have a language barrier between us and the prime minister," he said.
"We like the prime minister, we like the government ... we love our country."
'Stop messing with Australia': Grand Mufti
The Grand Mufti of Australia did not meet with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Friday, instead sending a representative to meeting called in the wake of last week's terror-linked attack outside a western Sydney police headquarters.
A spokesperson for Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamed confirmed to AAP the meeting between Muslim representatives and the prime minister was to be held in Sydney at 10am on Friday.
Dr Mohamed spoke at a media conference in Bankstown held at the same time to address the fall-out from the shooting death last Friday of NSW Police accountant Curtis Cheng by 15-year-old Farhad Khalil Mohammad Jabar, who was in turn shot dead, at Parramatta.
His Eminence, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamed (left), Mufti of Australia, speaks with religious leaders from Muslim and Christian communities. (AAP) Source: AAP
The grand mufti's political adviser, Samir Bennegadi, attended the meeting with Mr Turnbull, AAP has been told.
The leaders of Australia's Muslim community - including Dr Mohamed and Australian National Imams Councils representatives - came together on Friday to reject "deviant so-called religious teachings" in the wake of the murder of Mr Cheng, 58.
They also rejected attempts to apportion blame by association and raised concerns about "message of hate and threats of violence" against Australians of Muslim faith.
Dr Mohamed said violent religious extremism was a rare but serious issue threatening the entire Australian community.
"Sadly, a very, very small number of Australians of Muslim faith have chosen this path," he told reporters through an interpreter.
The community leaders stopped short of describing Jabar's actions as an act of terrorism, although Dr Mohamed told those who supported the shooting to C and its society".
"We refuse and reject any form of terrorist activities, whether this - if it's proven to be a terrorist act - or any other," he added.
He called for "proper communication between the families and the community and us" as well as security agencies and police.
"We believe that dialogue is the prerequisite of understanding.
Australia deserves this for us to remain in a cohesive society," he added.
Father Rod Bower of Gosford Anglican Church said the collective response to the shooting would "determine how we live as a community for generations to come".
Maha Abdo of the Muslim Women's Association (left to right), Father Rod Bower of Gosford Anglican Church and His Eminence, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, Mufti of Australia. (AAP) Source: AAP
"These conversations are of ultimate importance. I come with a personal commitment to participate in a conversation but not in the narrative that has in some ways contributed to this tragedy. That is the dualistic story line of a them and us."
United Muslim Women Association director Maha Abdo said the Muslim community had been "under siege" in the past week.
Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Mr Cheng's death was the tragic consequence of "people using young people, twisting their heads".
Authorities are trying to discover how Jabar got the gun he used to murder Mr Cheng and how he was prompted to commit the killing.
Three of four males arrested in Wednesday's dawn counter-terrorism raids across western Sydney have since been released.
An 18-year-old man, who cannot be named, remains in custody without charge after investigators applied for a court order extending his stay behind bars.
"What happened last week is appalling, it is hurting, and Australian Muslim women are hurting because `it could have been my child'," Ms Abdo said.
