The Grand Mufti of Australia and New Zealand Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamed has taken aim at US President Donald Trump over his racially charged attack on four US Democratic congresswomen.
The US president on Sunday told a group of mostly American-born Democratic congresswomen to "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came" - a comment that was condemned by Democrats as "racist".
"So interesting to see 'Progressive' Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe... viciously telling the people of the United States... how our government is to be run," Mr Trump said in a series of comments on Twitter.
The president then defended his attack, saying he was not concerned if people thought his tweets toward them were racist and accused them of hating America.
Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib held a press conference to collectively hit back at the US president on Tuesday, vowing they would "not be silenced" and accused Mr Trump of promoting a "white nationalist agenda".
Dr Mohamed told SBS Arabic24 on Tuesday: "Those women were born in the United States, which shows extreme racism. People should not be categorised based on their race. When is a human an American? When they are white, blonde and with green eyes?"
Mr Trump's tweets were condemned by several Democrat politician, and also by Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May who called the comments 'completely unacceptable'. 
Dr Mohamed said that he was "concerned" about what he said was the rise of far-right politics internationally.
File: Scott Morrison with (L-R) Immigration Minister David Coleman, Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Grand Mufti on 16 March 2019. Source: AAP
"It is not only me who is worried. Every honest person is (..) because the rise of the far right is the start of a confusing period."
In March, the Grand Mufti brought several items to the table during a meeting with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, including a request for the introduction of new laws which would make it an offence to discriminate against Muslims.
The meeting came following the Christchurch mosque massacre which claimed 51 lives.
