Two men accused of illegal land clearing on a rural property in north-west Sydney were building a large shed on the day they were required in court for a hearing about the allegations, ABC footage shows.

Key points: Two men accused of illegal land clearing in Sydney say the property is used for religious reasons

Two men accused of illegal land clearing in Sydney say the property is used for religious reasons They belong to an Islamic guild they founded called Diwan al Dawla

They belong to an Islamic guild they founded called Diwan al Dawla Hawkesbury City Council has taken civil action against them in the Land and Environment Court

Dr Mustapha Kara-Ali and Diaa Kara-Ali, who belong to an Islamic guild founded by Dr Kara-Ali called Diwan al Dawla, have been taken to the Land and Environment Court by Hawkesbury City Council for allegedly carrying out illegal land clearing and earthworks without seeking any of the relevant development approvals at a property in Colo.

They also allegedly built gates, fences and driveways, and they have claimed the civil action against them infringes on their religious freedoms because they say they use the Colo property for religious prayers and "ritual baptisms".

The court matter was set down for a two-day hearing on Monday, but neither of the men showed up.

Sorry, this video has expired Council workers arrive at Colo property

The hearing continued without them, but it is alleged construction on the site continues and footage shows the two men working on the shed.

Before and after photos show the loss of vegetation after the men allegedly cleared the block. ( Supplied )

In further vision provided by the court, one of the men is shown spitting at and throwing a rock at council workers when they tried to serve legal papers.

The ABC understands it was Diaa Kara-Ali in the footage.

The council's lawyer, Mark Cottom, told the court a council officer had requested police accompany them on a site inspection of the property, because they might have required forced entry.

The council workers who visited the property were told by police that they needed the riot squad and a PolAir helicopter when accompanying them due to safety concerns, the court heard.

However, speaking to the ABC today, Dr Mustapha Kara-Ali denied police attended with the riot squad and PolAir.

"This is something Mark Cottom raised for dramatisation and made us look like criminals," Dr Kara-Ali said.

'Not accountable to any other religion'

Dr Kara-Ali was formerly a member of then Prime Minister John Howard's Muslim Community Reference Group and, in the past, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University.

He told the ABC his "religious freedom … is being attacked, and is being violated and we have every right to stand up for our faith and to uphold our god as being supreme".

The council alleges illegal land clearing was carried out without any of the relevant development approvals being sought. ( Supplied: NSW Courts )

In relation to the civil lawsuit, Dr Kara-Ali said: "I am not accountable to any other religion other than our religion," referring to the guild he founded 10 years ago and now leads.

The self-proscribed imam has an interest in horses and with Diaa Kara-Ali keeps them on the north-west Sydney property.

He said: "The bond between the Arabian horse and adherence of our religious faith is crucial."

He claimed the property was a "Southern Chariot religious site" for people "who share a common religious perspective to come together and inter-commune and to pray together".

"There are a few factors involved at the site, people is one thing, horse is another."

'We have our form of governance'

Dr Kara-Ali said the NSW Government was "not a secular government" but "another religion that uses other religious symbols that is coercing another religion".

"We came about as a un-incorporated association that never signed a social contract with any secular state let alone a religious [sic] symbolised state that claims to be secular, so until such symbolisms are absent from a form of governance then we have our form of governance and they have theirs."

"I am not accountable to any other religion other than our religion.

"For us it's a matter of basic religious freedom."

In a letter by Dr Kara-Ali to council staff, tendered in the court documents, he said the members of his guild lived "separated from secular lifestyles to pursue a religious mode of worship and an ascetic lifestyle under an oath of self-sacrifice and dedication to the purposes of Diwan Al Dawla".

The letter said the Colo property was used "for the carrying out of religious activities of devotion, self-discipline, ritual baptism, inter-community prayers, contemplation and religious study".