The former Archbishop of Canterbury has defended a controversial speech in which he criticised Islam as a faith "associated with violence throughout the world".

Lord Carey of Clifton cited suicide bombers and the rise of extremism as evidence of a violent battle for the soul of Islam which was spilling out and having a heavy impact the wider world.

In a lecture last night at the Gregorian University in Rome he said that Islam was resistant to modernity and Islamic societies had contributed little to world culture for hundreds of years.

Many Muslim countries were led by authoritarian regimes which had risen to power "at the point of a gun", he said.

And he accused Islamic spiritual leaders of not doing enough to condemn suicide bombers who claimed to be religious martyrs.

Lord Carey's remarks were delivered hours before his successor as Archbishop, Rowan Williams, is due to depart for a three-day seminar between Christian and Muslim scholars in America on the subject of "building bridges".

Muslim leaders in the UK accused him of "recycling" old religious prejudices. But Lord Carey defended his speech on BBC Radio 4's The World At One programme.

"It is meant to provoke a reaction. In the same way I look at the West and Christianity and am equally critical," he said.

"I'm looking at the way we build stereotypes of each other and the way we must transcend this, and I think that a person looking objectively at the entire speech - five and a half thousand words - will see there's a balance there ...

"So to twist it as an attack on the Islamic world would be far too simplistic and sadly it does suggest how polarised the world is at the present moment."

An official statement released by the Muslim Council said that Lord Carey should mind his own business.

"In his myopic vision of the Middle East, Lord Carey seems also to show little understanding of the role played by Western powers in propping up many of the regimes all over the world.