A Wellington-based Imam condemned the heinous and utterly inhumane attack in Auckland on Friday, saying such actions are “completely against the teachings of Islam”.
Mustenser Qamar told Q+A that Islam “does not permit terrorism or extremism under any circumstances and anyone who claims otherwise acts against the teachings of the Holy Quran and contrary to the noble character of the Holy Founder of Islam”.
He says discovering the terrorist was inspired by ISIS was “difficult to digest”.
“It’s a double whammy kind of thing because firstly it’s a horrendous attack, any innocent person is being attacked is horrendous to hear about it, and then on top of that someone who’s done it in the name of our faith makes it more difficult to digest. It’s almost like saying well out faith teaches this whereas we know, and I’ve studied this in a lot of detail, Islam does not permit this at all.”
Mustenser Qamar agreed that New Zealand’s current anti-terrorism legislation is not fit for purpose and he thinks that, like other countries, we should have laws that enable authorities to prosecute people for planning an attack.
The Iman says that he’s comfortable with intelligence services monitoring what is being said in mosques.
“I think it’s important to know that the mosques are not, you know, giving out any extremist messages.”
That’s in line with the position of Caliph Mizra Masroor Ahmad, who has taken a similar approach in the UK.
“I would be comfortable with it … I’ve got nothing to hide. Our views on Islam are very clear, even these misconceptions out there on jihad and stuff, our vies are very clear about those so I’d be very comfortable with it.”
In the wake of the March 15 attacks Mustenser Qamar was one of two imams running a nationwide #MeetAMuslim campaign, which led a group of youth across the country in an effort to "educate the public on the true and peaceful teachings" of Islam, and build lasting friendships between Kiwi Muslim and other New Zealanders.
However, the Imam says more effort needs to made countering extremist messages online.
“A lot of people who are radicalised are unfortunately radicalised on social media so maybe we need to be doing a bit more efforts on highlighting the correct understanding on social media in particular.”
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