Dr Rifi says the Islamic State's deadly attacks in Paris will test Australia, but that it's time to come together "united in our condemnation, standing together to defeat this global terrorist organisation".
"It's like we are drowning in a sea of hate and every time we get our heads above water, something else happens to pull us down," he said.
He said the extremists behind the attacks in Paris, and other acts of terror, "are only Islamic by name".
“They (IS) have nothing to do with Islam - as a matter of fact they are the enemy of Islam and they have killed more Muslims than non-Muslim civilians”.
The comments came as Attorney-General George Brandis warned against alienating the Muslim community following the deadly assault on Paris, which has left at least 130 people dead, and amid calls from some for Australia to stop accepting Middle Eastern refugees.
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“They (IS) have nothing to do with Islam - as a matter of fact they are the enemy of Islam and they have killed more Muslims than non-Muslim civilians,” Mr Rifi said.
"(I am) angry for the fact that there has been a failure to prevent this terrible event from happening."
While some have launched scathing criticism at the terror group IS, the county's most senior Muslim cleric did not directly condemn the attacks.
Australia's Grand Mufti Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammed focused instead on what he labelled causative factors such as racism, Islamophobia and "duplicitous" foreign policy.
In a statement, he said "These recent incidents highlight the fact that current strategies to deal with the threat of terrorism are not working.”
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Dr Denis Dragovic has lived in several war zones and authored a book on religion and conflict, and said IS draws on a particular seventh century element of Islamic teaching, and that any response ought to take this into consideration.
“We need to understand what aspects of their Islamic theology they're drawing upon - it's not an army in of itself that needs to be eliminated - it's what people - civilians themselves believe in and you can't eliminate individuals beliefs so we have to tackle it differently,” Dr Dragovic said.
He is critical of direct military action, and favours a version of partitioning over traditional military responses, in an attempt to isolate and strangle the group.
“Help them to wither from within (so) that they collapse internally from the uprising of other groups,” he said.
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Hussain Nadim, a PhD candidate at the Department of Government and International Relations agreed the only way to defeat ISIS is through its internal mechanisms.
“The only way that such groups could be tackled and Islam could have its own enlightenment is through its internal mechanisms.
"What the Muslim world needs is its own Martin Luther who can transform the discourse and separate religion from politics.
"The solution to the problem that we see today in the form of the Paris or Sydney attacks is allowing Muslims to take the lead against ISIS and other extremism.
"As long as Muslims won't truly consider groups like ISIS and al Qaeda as a threat foremost to Islam, violence and attacks will likely soar," he said.
- With AAP
