Islamic State has taken aim at several Australian religious scholars in its latest propaganda video, calling on followers to kill the sheikhs because they discourage violence.
Youth leader Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman, NSW Police Force chaplain Sheikh Ahmed Abdo and the Grand Mufti of Australia, Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, have been branded "collaborators, informers and apostates" in the 25-minute video titled Fight the leaders of disbelief.
The video, which mentions several Muslim clerics from around the world, is a chilling and unprecedented escalation on previous calls to boycott leaders who work with governments, police and leaders of other faiths.
The terrorist group also condemns clerics from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern states, who are seen to be collaborating with the regimes of those states.
The three Australian sheikhs are criticised for discouraging violence in the name of Islam and encouraging Muslims to follow the laws of the land in which they live.
"Those traitors are sitting in airconditioned rooms attacking the mujahideen and supporting the polytheists," the Arabic video says, without directly naming the Australians. "Put an end to their evilness and kill them."
Fairfax Media has chosen not to publish most of the disturbing threat and the video was swiftly removed by YouTube on Monday.
Footage of Sheikh Shady, a popular youth leader in western Sydney, is included in the video, in which he gives a sermon criticising the idea that violent extremism will get a person to heaven.
"Then inshallah I'm gonna kill those cops ... I'm gonna go kill those kuffar [infidels], Allahu akbar, I'm gonna enter the jannah [heaven] upholding Islam. What Islam are you talking about?" he says.
Sheikh Ahmed Abdo, who provides spiritual guidance to Muslim police officers, is depicted in photos alongside Commissioner Andrew Scipione and Muslim community leader Jamal Rifi.
Dr Abu Mohamed is featured in photos shaking hands with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and with inter-faith advocate and Gosford Anglican minister Rod Bowers.
The video follows an article published in the April edition of Islamic State's Dabiq magazine that listed 21 "imams of kufr [infidelity]" who should be killed, including Australian doctor and charity worker Tawfique Chowdhury.
Previous criticisms of Sheikh Shady and the Grand Mufti have been parroted by a small band of extremists in Australia.
Earlier this month, a court heard a recording from a 16-year-old boy arrested in Bankstown last year, who called the pair "apostate dogs".
The boy and his 16-year-old friend had bought two bayonet knives and were allegedly moments away from carrying out an Islamic State-inspired attack.
A petition was circulated among Australian hardliners in 2014 after Sheikh Abdo's appointment to the police force, asking the Grand Mufti for a fatwa on Muslims joining the police, army or working with the government. It garnered less than 100 signatures.
In the latest video, mufti Ismail Menk, a Zimbabwean cleric with a Facebook following of 2.2 million, is depicted reiterating a widely accepted Islamic teaching that people should obey the law of the land.
"As time passes, people need to be taught to uphold the law of the land that they live in as Muslims," he says. "So if you're living in Australia or in the UK or ... in USA, it's important that you respect the law of the land."
Sheikh Shady and the Grand Mufti did not respond to requests for comment.
Sheikh Abdo referred Fairfax Media to the NSW Police, who declined to comment on safety arrangements for its chaplain and other religious leaders.
"NSW Police Force is aware of the video. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage," a spokesman said.
Last year, Sheikh Shady attracted criticism for anti-gay comments that emerged after the Orlando nightclub massacre.
He responded by saying he totally rejected violence and a comment he made about homosexuality being "a sin" was a basic religious position shared by other faiths, including Christianity and Judaism.
Roving imam Keysar Trad said Muslim leaders in Australia had an increasingly tough job.
"One side calls you an extremist, [another] side calls you a sellout," he said.
He said Sheikh Shady has done "tremendous work" helping young people turn away from drugs and crime and he would not be fazed by the video.
"He doesn't suit the [IS] agenda," he said. "Most of us want to keep Australia safe while [IS] wants to create a very polarised world. They want to tell Muslims they'll never be accepted in Australian society and, unfortunately, the right-wing elements want to tell us the same."
Several community groups and individuals, including Sheikh Shady, have declined to take government grants in the past to avoid creating mistrust or suspicion among their young clients that they will be reported to authorities.