Trad told the Herald last weekend's violence was the product of ''young and empty-headed men'' but his organisation chose not to be part of the collective because he believed the call for more government resources to be channelled into Sydney's communities of disaffected Muslim youths was ''inappropriate for the occasion''.

This ongoing disunity is costing the state's Muslim communities dearly, says Kuranda Seyit, the director of the Forum on Australia's Islamic Relations.
''The biggest hurdle facing Muslims in Sydney Australia is a lack of unity and co-operation,'' he says. ''And the inability to unify or get a message across comes with a lack of deep understanding of our faith.''
Seyit believes this problem has particular pertinence for the Lebanese Muslim community, which remains the largest ethnic subgroup under the broad umbrella of Islam. While the vast majority of Muslims with Lebanese heritage follow Sunni orthodoxy and are in line with mainstream Muslims around the world, small factions exist between the minority extremist groups, and those small factions appear to be growing.
''Many grow up with only remnants of Islam, and as they get older and look for meaning, certainty and camaraderie they come across the radical fringes,'' says Seyit. ''These groups might only be made up of 2 or 3 per cent of the Muslim population but the disproportionately high amount of media coverage they get magnifies the perception that they are an important part of the mainstream Muslim community.''

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/disunity-not-anger-is-muslim-dilemma-20120921-26c4m.html#ixzz279T6OayN