A man has filmed the shocking moment he spat at a moderate Islamic sheikh and called him a 'pig' as he walked down the street in the Muslim heartland of Sydney.

Shia imam Sheikh Mohammad Tawhidi was verbally abused as he walked along Haldon Street in Lakemba, which is home to Australia's largest mosque.

A man shouted in Arabic as the sheikh ventured past shops with 7 News reporter Bryan Seymour shortly before noon on Monday.

Asked by what the insult meant, Sheikh Tawhidi, who speaks out against radicalisation, said: 'It means, 'May God curse you, you pig, you dog.'

The Muslim man, who describes Sheikh Tawhidi as a fraud and a 'lying piece of sh**' on his personal Facebook page, later uploaded footage of the confrontation online.

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A man in outside a shop (pictured wearing black) in Lakemba called Sheikh Mohammad Tawhidi a dog and a pig in Arabic

The Muslim man, who describes Sheikh Tawhidi as a fraud and a 'lying piece of sh**' on his personal Facebook page, later uploaded footage of the confrontation online

Sheikh Tawhidi picked up the footage and uploaded it himself, writing: 'A captured video footage from the very phone of the radical Muslim.'

'"May God curse you, you pig, you dog". It's interesting how we are yet to see a pig or dog damage this planet like these radicals have,' he added.

He later informed his supporters that he had banned the Muslim man in question for 'insulting members of the page'.

Comments in support of Sheikh Tawhidi quickly flooded his Facebook page.

'Dont worry about the motor mouth ... at least you had the guts to walk the street and hold your head high,' one man wrote.

'You sir are a bl***y legend and all AU an NZ (sic) stand beside you. Thank you,' added another.

Comments in support of Sheikh Tawhidi quickly flooded his Facebook page

A few minutes after the verbal confrontation, Sheikh Tawhidi and the 7 News crew returned to an unmarked van to avoid the possibility of violence.

Closed Facebook groups began sharing abuse online, with a Lebanese Muslim man using the Arabic word for dog to suggest there should have been a violent confrontation.

'This kalb walking through Lakemba. Can't believe no one did anything,' he said.

Sheikh Tawhidi, who moved to Australia from Iraq when he was 12 in 1995, said this was the first time he had experienced abuse of this nature.

'We were abused, spat at, insulted, called pigs and dogs and they gathered to try and intimidate us,' the Adelaide-based religious leader told Daily Mail Australia shortly after the incident.

'I have never been insulted or abused in Australia by any non-Muslim.

A man on a closed Facebook page used the Arabic word for dog, kalb, to wonder why violence wasn't inflicted on Sheikh Mohammad Tawhidi

Sheikh Tawhidi believes Islamists in parts of Sydney think they have a God-given right to the land

'I have never suffered from racial discrimination at all and today was the first time that I ever experienced racial discrimination in my entire life and it was from a Muslim.'

Sheikh Tawhdidi said the holy Koran had influenced the men who abused him on Monday.

'They believe the land belongs to God and they are the chosen nation of God and that everybody that doesn't believe in the God that they believe in, the way they believe in, then it's basically not their land and they have no right to be on it,' he said.

However, he fears something worse could happen next time.

'If this continues, there will come a time where an average Australian will require a visa to enter those areas,' he said.

'I was expected to be shot at, I expected to be stabbed with a knife, it was very normal for me and I was not afraid.

'My appearance today was a statement that I am not afraid.'