“That’s not our faith” is the message from the Muslim community condemning the terrorist attack this week at the Countdown in New Lynn, Auckland.
Shock waves have been sent through the community and for many it's resurrected trauma, especially from the Christchurch terrorist attack on March 15, 2019, that’s still fresh in the memory of many New Zealanders.
“When (this event) happened, immediately the phones started going, it resurrected all the trauma, it resurrected all the feelings that we had of the loss,” chairman of the Federation of Islamic Association NZ Abdur Razzaq said.
He added, “we are very mindful of those workers at the Countdown, the bystanders, they’re obviously feeling trauma. This trauma will last for a while because we see our March 15 victims still suffering”.
March 15 survivor Temel Atacocugu, who was shot nine times at Al Noor mosque, said when the news broke that a terrorist was behind this week’s stabbings it brought "flashbacks" for him.
“When I found out, I thought it was totally going to be March 15 again,” Atacocugu said.
A 25-year-old Muslim women’s advocate, Fatima Mohammadi, living in New Lynn said the community is still in shock.
“This isn’t something you’d expect here in Auckland or even in New Zealand, it’s still hard to process that it actually happened,” Mohammadi, an Afghani refugee who’s lived in New Lynn most her life, said.
The community is a tight knit one, she added.
With the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, Mohammadi said this terrorist attack in New Zealand may have made it worse for the community here trying to get refugee status for their families fleeing the Taliban, especially given the terrorist, Aathil Samsudeen, was also given refugee status here after fleeing Sri Lanka in 2011.
“What we need to understand is that these people who are escaping Afghanistan are escaping from the exact same people like that man in Countdown, and even worse than him,” Mohammadi said.
The feelings have been made worse with the community receiving hate on social media after the ISIS inspired attack.
Razzaq urged those people that “this is not the time for hate-mongering, this is not the time for raising the temperature of the issue, this is the time basically when we have to look at the welfare of those victims”.
Social media has been flooded with many posts condemning the events.
Comments include that “the terrorist is not one of us”, that he was a “lone wolf” and had “nothing to do with our faith and our beliefs”.
Some even apologised for the attackers' actions and was met with an outpouring of love from people online saying, “NZ does not blame you”.
On Saturday, the timing of a pre-planned webinar aiming to dispel myths around extremism was uncanny given the terror attack.
“The Quran has strongly condemned this trend and teaches that everyone must respect others' religion, others' religious feelings and abstain from any act that leads to reactive agitation or violence,” said one of the panellists in the webinar - Bashir Khan,the President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
Another panellist, Imam Mustenser Qamar, said that in order to educate people on radicalisation, “it is best that the scholars of Islam get together, talk about this topic and publish things to tackle this misunderstanding".
Right now the message from many in the Muslim community is to think about the victims' right now. Seven have been injured, three critically.
“Our first and foremost thoughts are with the victims, their families, their friends and we pray for their early recovery,” Razzaq said.
The Muslim Association of Canterbury has even set up a Givealittle page for the victims of the attack and more than $20,000 has already been raised.
“Our heart is with them, and they must know we are with them, and we are praying for them, for a speedy recovery. Kia kaha, I will say to them, we are one, we are with them, we love them,” Atacocugu said.
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