Muslim Grand Mufti jokingly asks Melbourne guests 'to make jihad' for him

Australia’s Muslim Grand Mufti has shocked guests at a Ramadan commemoration dinner after jokingly telling them “to make jihad” for him.

Less than one week after Melbourne was rocked by a fatal terror attack at the hands of Yacqub Khayre, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamed raised some eyebrows with his controversial opener.

He then went on to say it was unreasonable that whenever there is a terrorist incident we are expected to "condemn and deny".

"He did make a joke at the expense of all of us and he asked you all to make jihad," his English translator Adel Salman explained.

“And your jihad is to stop eating for a few minutes, while he gives his talk. And you won't be 'you know what' after doing so.”

While insisting there was no justification for killing innocent people, the Grand Mufti told his audience that Muslims shouldn’t be expected to publicly condemn every act of terrorism.

“It is unfair and unreasonable that Muslims, whenever there is an incident, we are always expected and demanded ... to condemn and deny, condemn and deny, condemn and deny and he has said, for the record, are you all listening?,” the translator said.

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“For the record: Muslims condemn all terrorist incidents that have happened, that are about to happen and they may never happen.”

Just last week the Islamic Council of Victoria proposed the Victorian government should use taxpayer's money to fund safe spaces for Muslim youths so they can vent in a healthy environment.

The proposal was met with immediate criticism from politicians and social commentators alike.

3AW radio host Tom Elliot told Sunrise that using taxpayer's money to fund the proposal was “quite possibly the dumbest idea” he had ever heard.

“What they are effectively saying is they want a tax-payer funded place where they can say things that otherwise they wouldn’t be allowed to say.”

Mal Lees from 102.9 Hot Tomato said he believed that the venues could effectively become Jihadi recruitment centres.

“They would be a hot bed of passing ideas and information along,” Mr Lees told Sunrise.

“When I was a young bloke, I used to have a rant room and it was called the pub.”