Lately I've taken to wearing a small gold pendant with Allah inscribed on the front and a verse from the Koran on the back. It was given to me by my father a long time ago, and whenever I get the sense that Islam is under attack I reach for it. These past few weeks I've been more attached to it than ever. It gives me an opportunity to stand in solidarity with other Muslims in my community and I hope someone will ask me about it so I can tell them I am a proud Muslim.

No matter how much I hear that Islam is a religion of violence and oppression, I think my faith is beautiful and has shaped me in every way. I have Muslim friends who are kind, generous and loving. So it saddens and angers me to see my religion defiled by the self-titled Islamic State. But what stings even more is seeing the wider Australian community so willing to believe that these barbarians represent Islam and Muslims. I never have to scroll too far down the comments in the online news articles to come across menacing and ignorant anti-Islamic rhetoric. And most common of all are statements from Australians wondering why Muslim leaders aren't speaking out against terrorism and claiming that moderate Muslims must not exist because their voices aren't being heard.

Muslim voices being drowned out by sensationalism: Preston Mosque.

The truth is, Muslim leaders are speaking out, but their voices are drowned out by sensationalism, such as the comments made by Palmer United Party MP Jacqui Lambie on Insiders last week when she equated sharia law to terrorism. Lambie's comments got a lot more media attention than when the Australian National Imams Council issued a media statement on September 15, that likened Islamic State to a "group of criminals" with nothing Islamic about their murderous actions, and stated: "Since the ISIS group was established we have been very clear about denouncing their lies and betrayal of our faith."

How will Australians know that Muslim leaders are speaking out if the media chooses to cover it so scantily? For example, there was little, if any, coverage on July 2 when two of the world's most prominent Muslim leaders denounced Islamic State, one of them Iyad Ameen Madani, the Secretary General for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which represents 1.4 billion Muslims in 57 countries.