THE city's Muslim leaders have banded together to condemn the actions of extremists amid an "unfair" wave of anti-Islamism in the wake of Australia's beefed-up security measures.
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Muhammad Kamran is a PhD student at Charles Sturt University who left his home nation Pakistan in search of an Australian education.
Dr Kamran believes the reputation of Islam has been tarnished by the actions of a minority, issuing a plea to the wider community to refrain from generalisations against Australian Muslims.
"First of all, we are human beings," he said.
"Being a human being, if I live in Australia, the laws are the same for me as any other Australian."
The terror alert level has been elevated to "high", a teen was shot in Melbourne in a joint counter-terrorism operation, with two AFP officers stabbed, national security laws have been expanded and Australia's most extensive anti-terror raids have been carried out in Sydney and Brisbane.
Dr Kamran, who has a wife and two children, said the basic teaching of Islam is one of peace.
"The media should see the perspective of both sides," he said.
"It is the teaching of Islam, it doesn't matter who is your boss, who is your president or prime minister, you have to obey them and the law of their country.
"We are good people."
Dr Kamran participated in a sermon with other members of Wagga's Muslim community where they celebrated Haj - the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
Standing shoulder-to-shoulder as a show of brotherhood with Pakistanis, Moroccans, Iranians and Indians alike, the sermon encouraged Muslims to be charitable and generous at a time of "difficulty and hardship" in sections of the Islamic world.
A symbol of interfaith co-operation, Wagga's Muslim community resolved to make a substantial food donation to the Catholic-run Micah House homeless organisation.
Muslim Association of Riverina Wagga Australia (MARWA) chairman Dr Ata ur Rehman said the "finger pointing" had to stop.
"We are law-abiding, peace-loving people - this never comes into the limelight," he said.
"We are behind whatever the government is trying to achieve by cracking down on people who are doing wrong.
"But then suddenly, we feel as if everyone is pointing the finger at us."
Dr Rehman said the latest crackdown on terror had a different "feeling" to the mood after the attacks on the US on September 11, 2001.
"There is an unusual level of anger," he said.
"I've told my children not to watch TV full stop. This is not what Islam is, this is not what our religion is."
MARWA member and CSU lecturer, Dr Asim Qayyum, compared references to the Islamic State to the "king hit" media hype.
"The king hit was renamed the coward punch. The Islamic State should be renamed the un-Islamic state," he said.
"No religion would say 'go and kill people'. These people are pure terrorists ... we could compare them with Hitler."
