Rifi defends Grand Mufti's Arabic address

Muslim community leader Jamal Rifi has defended the decision by the Grand Mufti of Australia not to speak in English at a news conference about last week's terrorist attack in western Sydney.

Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamed used a translator to speak to reporters on Friday, during which he told those who supported the 15-year-old gunman's fatal shooting of a police worker in Parramatta to "stop messing with Australia and its society".

The decision not to speak in English sparked criticism on social media and talkback radio.

But Dr Rifi said people need to focus on Dr Mohamed's message, not the language it was delivered in.

"If you need to criticise, criticise his message," Dr Rifi told AAP.

"And his message was very positive.

"He meant that we have a society that is cohesive and he will not, along with the Australian majority of the Muslim community, let those people disrupt that cohesiveness that we enjoy."

Dr Rifi also moved to justify Dr Mohamed's decision not to meet Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Friday and instead send a representative.

"Like the prime minister, the Grand Mufti is a very busy person," he said.

"There was a clash of time. To his credit, the Grand Mufti elected to front the media, rather than meeting with the prime minister."