SYDNEY: After protests in Australia's Sydney by Muslims were broken up by police last weekend, Islamic leaders have been urging Muslims in the country and across the world for calm after violent protests erupted after the spreading of an anti-Islam film insulting Islam and Prophet Mohamed enraged the Islamic world. Omar Lum, the Chairperson of the Islamic Foundation Australia in Adelaide said “Islam is a religion of peace” in his condemnation of violent protests and killings in response to the extremist video reportedly produced by an Egyptian Coptic Christian man living in the United States. “Provocations have been made on the Prophet Mohamed and Islam throughout history,” he continued. “The proper Islamic response has always been the exhibition of patience and enjoining good, despite hostile provocations. “The violence, destruction and deaths caused by these misguided Muslim extremists in Sydney and around the world have no place in Islamic teachings,” Lum continued. He was one of the strongest voices in Australia condemning the video, but also the response seen globally in the Islamic world, including a suicide attack in Afghanistan that left 12 people killed in Kabul on Tuesday. “We strongly condemn the violent and destructive reaction of these extremist Muslims in Sydney and elsewhere. “We condemn the teaching of hatred and extremist ideas to Muslim children,” he said.
