Media group Muslim Village founder Ahmed Kilani has responded to former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s comment on Islam and terrorism, calling for reformation in culture.

During an interview with Sky News on Wednesday, Abbott said that all cultures are not equal. The culture that has decency and tolerance is much better than the one in which the followers believe in killing innocent lives in the name of God. Abbott said that the West should enjoy “clear superiority” over Islam.

Abbott added that the nations need to work together with live-and-let-live Muslims, while advocating Egypt President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s notion of a “ religious revolution inside Islam.”

Kilani declared the comments from the ex-prime minister as ill-informed. “It is extremely disappointing to see what is tantamount to hate speech coming from someone that was only a few weeks ago prime minister of Australia,” the ABC quoted him as saying. “He is playing right into the hand of the extreme fringe of society that want to create an “us and them” world full of fear and hatred.”

Abbott’s comment aroused a wave of anger among Muslim authorities. As a result of which, several Muslim leaders stood against his argument. Australia’s Grand Mufti Ibrahim Abu Mohammad has shown his anxiety over Abbott calling for reformation in Islam.

“Islam is not in any need of reformation since the normative principles and practices of the religion allow Muslims to harmoniously coexist within pluralist societies that are based on the universal values of compassion and justice,” he said.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull expressed his concern over the issue and spoke to reporters in Perth, saying it was important to make sure people don’t make mistake what the terrorists expect from them. Holding each and every Muslim responsible for what the extremists were doing was not an apt solution to the problem.

On the other hand, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has defended Abbott by saying that he has thought about the issue too much and whatever he said should not be misunderstood as it was quite sensible for him to say that.

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