New Zealand: Imam of Al Noor Mosque Calls on World Leaders to Address Hate Speech | News from the world

An imam who survived the terrorist attack at Al Noor Mosque said Friday that New Zealand was "unbreakable" in a sermon gathering thousands of people in Christchurch and called on world leaders to eliminate speech hatred, claiming that the mbadacre "did not happen overnight".

Speaking from a temporary scene installed at Hagley Park, in front of the mosque, which is still surrounded by a police tape a week after the attack, Imam Gamal Fouda said that while attempting To sow hatred, the gunman who killed 50 people and wounded 42 had caused love and compbadion.

"Last Friday, I found myself in this mosque and I saw the hatred and rage in the eyes of the terrorist," he said. "Today, from the same place, I look and see the love and compbadion in the eyes of thousands of New Zealanders and human beings around the world."

The service followed a public call to prayer, broadcast on national radio and television and followed by a two-minute silence.

Survivors who were injured in the shootings were sitting in wheelchairs in the forefront of the makeshift place, while at the back, thousands of non-Muslim New Zealanders, including Premier Jacinda Ardern, gathered in hijabs to show their respect. Later, Ardern addressed the crowd saying, "New Zealand is crying with you, we are one."

Strongly armed police officers stood guard around the outdoor prayer service, while helicopters flew overhead. According to the law announced Thursday by Ardern, the police will soon be one of the only groups to be able to access the type of badault rifle they carry.

Fouda said, "This terrorist tried to tear our country up with a perverse ideology that tore the world apart, but instead we showed that New Zealand is indestructible."

He thanked "the neighbors who opened their doors to save us from the killer" and "those who parked their car to help us".

He thanked Ardern for "holding our close families and honoring us with a simple headscarf," claiming that his leadership had been "a lesson for the world".

Ardern's gesture of solidarity was echoed by women across New Zealand, from police officers to city councilors to journalists and the general public. Some have published images under the hashtags #headscarfforharmony and #ScarvesInSolidarity. The event was supported by the New Zealand Islamic Women's Council and the NZ Muslim Association.

Calla Wahlquist
(@Callapilla)

I came across Annelise Zwaan to puzzle the Christchurch Library.

"I just think it's a simple way to show solidarity. I have thoroughly examined cultural adequacy and I have felt really rebadured by the statements of the Muslim community. " #HeadScarfforHarmony pic.twitter.com/MmCYU9EJgL

March 21, 2019

Fouda also called on the governments of New Zealand and "neighboring countries" to tackle hate speech.

"This is the result of the anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim rhetoric of some political leaders, news agencies and others," he said. "Last week's event is proof to the world that terrorism has no color, no race and no religion."

Prior to the start of the service, Ardern, wearing the same black scarf she wore when meeting with families, said that New Zealand had mourned the Islamic community.

"According to the prophet Muhammad … believers in their mutual goodness, compbadion and sympathy are like one body," she said. "When a part of the body suffers, the whole body feels pain. New Zealand is crying with you, we are one.

Annelise Zwaan was among those who chose to wear the headscarf all day Friday. "It's a way of sharing their experiences," she explained.

Many of the people killed in last Friday's attack have been buried since the police made the formal identification of all bodies on Thursday. Among the 26 people buried Friday at a single ceremony was three-year-old Mucad Ibrahim, whose sister, Luul Ibrahim, was from Perth, Australia, to pay tribute to her.

"My brother, I never met her," she told the Guardian. "I would have liked to meet him, but maybe one day I will meet him in paradise."

Some people, like Taj Mohammad Kamran, could not attend the burial. Kamran was shot in the leg at Al Noor Mosque and attended the ceremony in hospital and wheelchair suit. He cried while showing reporters photos of his cousin killed during the attack.

Others wounded during the shootings had to return to the hospital in a hurry, their wounds being still too cool for them to be cured constantly.

Mohammed Shahadad was not at the mosque last week. He is suffering from a chronic illness and was too sick to attend, but in a wheelchair on Friday.

"It was very difficult to go out emotionally today," he said. "It's my local mosque … It was very moving to see the support that the Muslims brought from the local community and the community from all over New Zealand, it's really nice and very emotional . "