To those who are unaware of the situation in my country right now, I came here to say a few words regarding the events which have taken place, as a New Zealander who is also of Islamic faith.
For decades, New Zealand has been kept relatively distant from the atrocious events that we witness happening daily worldwide. New Zealanders, and even people internationally, have considered this country to be a safe haven - one of peace, diversity, refuge, security, and accepting of marginalized groups. We were the first country in the world to legalize women’s rights and the right for women to vote for political parties. We were one of the first nations to legalize gay marriage and rights for LGBT+ people. We accept pro-choice, we provide free healthcare, government benefits for those with lower incomes, and several more things which unfortunately so many countries are still suffering for under the face of oppression. We were safe.
Today on Friday, in Christchurch which is one of the major cities, there was a mass shooting which occurred in 2 mosques. Friday is considered the holiest day for Muslims. On Friday afternoon, the most sacred prayer takes place and this is called Jummah. Muslim men and boys who practice the faith, and women too, go to the mosque every Friday afternoon to pray this one prayer, because it is that precious to us. It was around this time that the shootings occurred.
49 Muslims in my country were killed in these mosques as a result of the shootings, 30 in one mosque alone. Currently, 48 more people in my country have suffered casualties and are either in extreme critical conditions or undergoing surgical treatment. None of the statuses for these victims have been confirmed to be stable. The ages of the victims range from young children all the way to senile citizens. The people who planned to partake in this heinous act not only vocally declared their words of hate and malicious actions, the gunman even streamed and filmed the entire thing, as they shot these people to the ground.
It’s important that I bring light to this issue, raw and unfiltered because this was an act of terrorism and islamophobia, which drove right-wing extremists of white supremacism to commit such a horrific deed. But it’s also important that I talk about this because the result of social media and globalization being able to inject such extremities of cancerous behaviour into a country which has always remained relatively isolated from the rest of the world, not only proves that the world is currently in one of the darkest times, but also proves that no one is safe. Not even my country, of which New Zealanders have always prided on being so safe. We were targets because we were naïve in thinking that we could achieve the closest thing to this era’s utopia. But the reality of how cruel this world has become was staring us straight in the face all along.
Today, hardly anyone in my school could concentrate. We were all so shocked by the events which took place, and no New Zealander is used to the air which is now filled thick with tension. The questions that were buzzing around were of puzzlement: “How can this happen in our country?” “How was this possible?” “In New Zealand? This is the last place I thought something like this would ever happen.” I walked past hijabi girls crying and saying that they want to take their hijabs off, in order to disguise themselves in case this plague of terrorism reached my school. All mosques have been shut down, every school in the city was under lockdown following the event and students were only released 5-6 hours after, major institutions amped their security personnel by 2-fold, and we are all on edge.
In our country of only 4.5 million inhabitants, this catastrophic event has left such a huge impact of doubt on the safety of Muslims all over my country, including myself.
I sincerely hold my hand out to anyone from Christchurch, who have had family/friends from Christchurch that were affected from today, to my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters not just in New Zealand, but all over the world. We’ll get through this, together. To the 49 people in Christchurch whose only deed was going to the mosque to pray their Jummah salaah, may Allah SWT grant you the highest place in Jannah, for you have bowed your head in sujood and now passed as an angel. Inshallah, you will all gain the highest form of peace. Ameen.
