Amanda Gillies, the AM Show news anchor said that she agonized over whether to cover her hair with a peach-colored scarf.

TV news in New Zealand on March 22. #HeadScarfForHarmony pic.twitter.com/6hn3zW7g74

— World HijabDay (@WorldHijabDay) March 22, 2019

“There’s no way a week ago that I would have, because I would have thought it would have been deemed inappropriate, not right, that I was insulting the Muslim community,” Gillies said.

“I’ll be honest – I did angst over it today whether I should wear it, because I didn’t want to be inappropriate or offend the Muslim community. But I know that they are so welcoming and accepting of it, and I know that a lot of women will wear it today because it just shows that we are united – the solidarity is there, the love and support is there.”

Rafaela Stoakes, a 32-year-old mother of two, said wearing the Islamic head covering gave her an insight into what it means to stand out and feel part of the minority.

Female Police officers and non-Muslim volunteers who were directing the crowds near the mosque in Christchurch were all wearing headscarves. In fact, all of them wore if for the first time.

“It is amazing how different I felt for the short time I was out this morning,” Stoakes told AFP.

“There were a lot of confused looks and some slightly aggressive ones,” she said.

“I did feel a sense of pride to honour my Muslim friends, but I also felt very vulnerable and alone as I was the only person wearing one,” she added.

Kate Mills Workman, a 19-year-old student from Wellington, posted a selfie on Twitter wearing a green headscarf.

“If I could I would be attending the mosque and standing outside to show my support for my Muslim whanau (extended family in Maori language) but I’ve got lectures and I can’t really skip them,” she told media.

“Obviously this is all spurred on by the terrible tragedy in Christchurch, but it’s also a way of showing that any form of harassment or bigotry based on a symbol of religion is never okay,” she added.

“As New Zealanders, we have to make a really strong stand,” she enthused.

Friday’s memorial incident boosted motivation in the Muslim women of New Zealand to take pride in their Hijab, and a courage to stand against the odds, despite the Islamophobes continue to abhor them, but all regular citizens of New Zealand stand as an extended family to the Muslim women.

The western governments just love Erdogan as he just simply knows the game and how to play it.

Here we go again, it was only a matter of time—”a new Muslim UN”, guess his Western counterparts are having a great laugh at the Muslims.

Erdogan is a very shrewd and clever politician. He uses these unfortunate phenomena in the Muslim nation and maneover with empty political speeches to gain popularity among his own people and his friends abroad.

He knows that the Muslim nation is weak and fragmented, and the Muslims are longing for a leader to unite them and to lead them out of their oppressive state and would listen and follow any fox who comes along to give them any hope.

This imposter belong to the same camp as Netanyahu, Asad and the other corrupt crooks, and deceive the Muslims to ease the tension among the grassroots which could subsequently lead to a political change.

If this man was sincere to the supporters of the Palestinian struggle he won’t in the first place host diplomatic relations with Israel and do business with this illegitimate regime.

The temporary expulsion of the Isralite ambassador from his country only comes when South Africa beat him to the game and refuse to have diplomatic relations with Israel. The exchange of words between him and his friend Netanyahu is a political set up.

See how harshly he dealt with his enemies after the attempt coup in his country.

Remember, when he shed those crocodile tears on TV and promise to send in Turkish troops to help the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar who are still being persecuted to this day by the Buddist regime? This was also a political hogwash to ease the tension between the Rohingya Muslims, the Bangladeshi army and his friend that noble “peace prize” winner.

See how he joyfully jumped on the Kashshoggi case with his non-Muslim friends in an attempt to discredited the Saudi kingdom?

See the empty talk on the case of the persecution Chinese Muslims by his Chinese friends he engages business with. Erdogan, the US or any western governments will do “jack shit” to help anyone anywhere when it comes to Muslims and Islam if it’s not in their interest.

Have Erdogan, the US government or anyone as a matter of fact helping the Palestinian women and children, the Africans in CAR from genocide, the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, so why would he help or have interest in Muslims that are not Turkish?

Muslims MUST learn to “tie their own camel” organise and protect their ourselves and communities.

The western governments just love Erdogan as he just simply knows the game and how to play it, he engage the Muslims, distract them and normalised the conflict which will soon be forgotten.

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not reflect Milli Chronicle’s point-of-view.

The Australian National Imams Council has called on Imams to dedicate this Friday’s Khutbah (sermon) to the Christchurch mosque terrorist attack.

“This is a human and an international tragedy, not only a Muslim and NZ tragedy. These acts of terror are there to divide us…and we reject this in all its forms and ways, but rather we will stay united and strong,” said PM Ardern.

“I cannot tell you how gutting it is… a family came here for safety and they should have been safe here,” she added.

She has declared a ban on semi-automatic and military-style rifles on Thursday, within six days of the massacre. Her prompt and proactive response to the terrorist attack has won global applause.

On the other hand, the bodies of victims from New Zealand’s mosques mass shooting were carried in open caskets on the shoulders of mourners into a large tent at Christchurch’s Memorial Park Cemetery on Wednesday — the first burials of the 50 victims.

The majority of the victims in the South Island city were migrants and refugees from countries like India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, Somalia, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.

The youngest was a boy of three, born in New Zealand to Somali refugee parents, while the first two victims buried were a father and son Khaled and Hamza Mustafa, who came from war-torn Syria.

“Seeing the body lowered down, it was a very emotional time for me,” said Gulshad Ali, who had traveled from Auckland to attend the first funeral.

Male mourners were dressed in long thobes, Kurta-Payjama, while female mourners wore abaya, hijaabs, and scarfs.

Heavy Police protection was granted, who stood guarding the funerals with flowers in their revolver holsters and on their high powered rifles.

Al-Noor mosque has been cleaned and is repaired for the Friday prayers, while the Muslim community show resilience to return to the mosque.

The terrorist Brenton Tarrant was remanded without a plea and is due back in court on April 5, when police said he was likely to face more charges.

Global intelligence agencies from America, Australia, Canada and Britain are building up a profile of the terrorist Tarrant.

“I can assure you this is an absolute international investigation,” Police Commissioner Mike Bush said at a media briefing in the capital Wellington.

PM Ardern visited Cashmere High School earlier this week in Christchurch which lost two students in the attack, Sayyad Milne and Hamza Mustafa.

She addressed over 200 students at the school auditorium about racism and changes in gun laws. She urged students not to mention the terrorist’s name —“Never mention the perpetrator’s name … never remember him for what he did, rather focus on victims.” she said. — Reuters

King Salman during a cabinet meeting reiterated that religions are made to sustain peace rather violence, and urged everyone to fight against those who incite hatred, SPA reported.

All the council ministers expressed utter grief over the unfortunate deaths of over 50 people during the Christchurch terrorist attack in New Zealand.

Saudi’s Information Minister, Turki bin Abdullah al-Shabana said, “The cabinet reiterated the Kingdom’s condemnation of the terrorist attack.”

“We stress the kingdom’s encouragement of respect for all religions, and we call to criminalise and fight all hate speech that can lead to terrorism,” al-Shabana added.

The Friday’s terror-act was the outcome of constant and subtle Islamophobia that went unnoticed for years in the western countries, which led a White-supremacist terrorist Brenton Tarrant to carry out horrible terrorist attack against the Muslim community of New Zealand.

He did not live his life in the glare of publicity, but more in the shadows, simply and quietly, until the manner of his death threw him into the public gaze.

My beloved father, Mohsin Al-Harbi, had cancer. He expected that the disease would end his life in the normal way. Instead, God had other plans for him.

I woke up last Friday morning to news of the savage terrorist attack at Al-Noor mosque in Christchurch. My uncle in New Zealand told me that my father had been injured. Later, the news reached us that five bullets from a terrorist’s gun had taken his life while he prayed. He was 61 years old.

At 40, I am my father’s eldest son. Hassan, my brother is 39; my sister Nesreen is 36; my other sister Eman, who lives in Paris, is 30; Ahmad, the youngest, is 27 years. Our whole family was shocked by what happened in New Zealand.

Then my father’s photo was spread all over the world, on social media. It became an icon of the attack, and people around the world started praying and saying their farewells to my father. I thank God for this fate.

It is a tragedy, not just for our family, but for a peaceful country such as New Zealand, where people from different races and different religions lived together. My father, who lived in New Zealand for 25 years, used to remark on this often.

Who was my father? He was a warm-hearted person who respected people of all races and all religions. His character was a simple one, but nevertheless he was well educated and well read. A linguist, he spoke Arabic, English, Greek, German and Hebrew.

He devoured books, especially about the history of different civilizations. He read every day, and he taught us all to do the same.

He did not live his life in the glare of publicity, but more in the shadows, simply and quietly, until the manner of his death threw him into the public gaze. He was one of the pioneers of Al-Noor mosque. He cleaned it and took care of it. I never knew this until a scholarship student told me he had seen my father one afternoon with his sleeves rolled up, cleaning. He was vice president of the Islamic community in Christchurch. We never knew that either.

In our last phone conversation, I was worried about him. I thought, what if he were to die overseas, far away from the family who loved him?

In the end, God had his own plan for my father. He was buried in Madinah, the city of our beloved Prophet. I thank God for that.

Australian Senator Fraser Anning made disgusting remarks on the New Zealand Shootings, however, I regret to have to mention his name, as he is not worthy to mention, but he took it upon himself to begin his memo by condemning the actions of the terrorist Brenton Tarrant, the sick gunman who took a video of his rifle killing Muslims in two different mosques, then he continued his memo in a fiasco of blaming Muslim immigration for this event.

Here are some of his points along with my responses:

Allegation: “However, whilst this kind of violent vigilantism can never be justified, what it highlights is the growing fear within our community…of the increasing Muslim presence.”

Response: Fraser is letting the action of a single lunatic represent the feelings of the general masses.  So he is basically saying that ordinary Australian and New Zealand citizens are no different than Brenton Tarrant.  Anyone can act out of fear, take a gun, and go into houses of worship and kill Muslims indiscriminately.

Allegation: “The real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place.”

Response: Fraser is fueling Islamophobia.  The old story of demonizing a minority is all too fimilar, governments do this in order to create a boogeyman to justify their actions of state terrorism.  Has Fraser not studied what happened to the Jews in World War II?

Allegation: “Let us be clear, while Muslims may have been the victims today, usually they are the perpetrators.  World-wide, Muslims are killing people in the name of their faith on an industrial scale.”

Response: Bring us statistics of attacks on innocent people in Australia and New Zealand, or any other Western country, and please tell us what percent of the perpetrators of all of the attacks are Muslims.  The catch here is that attacks on innocent people are terrorism by definition, so Fraser must call all such attacks as acts of terrorism, otherwise, statistics will be biased because terrorism seems to only be used when Muslims do such things.

Allegation: “The entire religion of Islam is simply the violent ideology of a sixth century despot masquerading as a religious leader, which justifies endless war against anyone who opposes it and calls for the murder of unbelievers and apostates.”

Response: Muhammad, Allaah’s praise and peace be upon him, was respected by his contemporaries and even by his worst enemies during his time.  Those who treated him and his followers the worst by killing, torturing, boycotting and so on,  were all forgiven when Muslims ultimately had the upper hand after conquering Mecca.  So please explain to us, from classical Islamic scholarship, where we Muslims are instructed to kill disbelievers indiscriminately.

Allegation: “The truth is that Islam is not like any other faith.  It is the religious equivalent of facism.  And just because the followers of this savage belief were not the killlers in this instance, does not make them blameless.”

Response: Yes, Islam is not like any other faith, it is a complete way of life based on singling out Allaah in worship without associating any partners with Him in what exclusively belongs to Him.  This includes practicing Islam both on a personal and public level.  Islam is the antithesis of secular democracy, human beings are not allowed to legislate man-made laws at the expense of divine laws.  This is not facism, rather, it is monotheism.

Allegation: “As we read in Matthew 26:52, ‘all they that take the sword, shall perish by the sword’ and those who following a violent religion that calls on them to murder us, cannot be too surprised when someone takes them at their word and responds in kind.”

Response: World War I + World War II = 105,000,000 dead.  Go back to the crusades and tell us about European Christians killing Muslims, Jews and East Orthodox Christians in the holy land.  Tell us about today’s ongoing “crusade” as described by George W. Bush, the so-called war on terror, the millions of Muslims who died in Iraq and other places around the world.

Conclusion

Fraser should know that those of religion who kill indiscriminately are not truly following God.  In Islam in particular, there are limits that a believer is to adhere to. The Noble Qur’an is full of verses with stern warnings on this major sin, for example, and this applies to all, not just the Children of Israel (Jacob peace be upon him):

“Because of that, We decreed upon the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land – it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one – it is as if he had saved mankind entirely. And our messengers had certainly come to them with clear proofs. Then indeed many of them, [even] after that, throughout the land, were transgressors.”   [Noble Quran 5:32]

Professor Wasim Ismail originally belongs to Palestine settled in Canada. He writes under his Facebook account Objective Truth Seeker.

“We condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist attack that took place in New Zealand. We condemn terrorism in all its forms, regardless of its source, and that terrorism has no religion and no homeland,” the official Jamiat statement stated.

“We strongly denounce the horrific incident that targeted worshippers in two mosques in New Zealand, resulting in dozens of people being killed and injured,” it added.

It further stated, “We express our deep sorrow and condemn the terrorist operation that claimed dozens of lives and injuries which clearly reflected one of the worst forms of inciting hatred in a world that is in dire need of the values of love, harmony and peace.”

Jamiat also condemned the ISIS and Al-Qaeda, and requested Government to impart justice and prosecute the terrorists.

“This barbaric work is added to the parallel models of the acts of ISIS and Al-Qaeda, and our league always emphasizes the importance of tackling extremism and to counter extremism. Particularly, to act upon the legislation that prevents all forms of incitement of hatred, including religious and ethnic contempt.”

“We request the government to bring those involved in this crime to justice and to prosecute them as terrorists,” it added.

The Ulema council said, “We strongly condemn the recent terrorist attacks that have targeted Muslims praying at two mosques in New Zealand which has resulted in several deaths and injuries, including children.”

“We expressly condemn, in the strongest possible terms, this brutal and savage crime carried out by radicalized terrorists,” the Ulema council added.

They appealed the global community to establish a law to criminalize racist speeches since it breeds extremism and terrorism.

The Ulema council said, “We call upon global community, organizations and institutions in all countries, to hasten to legally criminalize all racist speech as it fuels extremism and terrorism and leads to such savage terrorist attacks.”

“We are certain that standing up to all forms of racist speech which marginalizes and ostracizes the other, in an obligation. This is because such divisive speech does not serve global peace and security,” it added.

The brutal terrorist attack on Friday in New Zealand has claimed 49 innocent deaths of Muslim worshipers while 40 are critically injured. The terrorist barged into the mosque and blindly shot at anyone whom he sighted.

The first victim was a 71-year-old Afghan refugee who greeted the terrorist with a smile yet he received dozens of bullets into his feeble body.

He was the first person standing at the gates of the Al-Noor Mosque greeting the terrorist Brenton Tarrant, no sooner Nabi smiled and greeted the terrorist, he shot him down badly with a dozens of bullets in his feeble body.

Nabi was a refugee who escaped death in his country but he had to meet his fate in a coldblooded murder in New Zealand.

The Christchurch terrorist attack has shaken up the entire Muslim world drawing condemnations from the world leaders, while the Islamophobic-driven terrorist attack has taken lives of 49 innocent Muslims and over 40 are critically injured including a little girl of a Jordanian barber.

King Salman bin Abdulaziz sent a cable of condolences to the Governor-General of New Zealand Dame Patsy Reddy to express heartfelt support to the victims and their families.

Later, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also sent similar cable of condolences to the Governor-General to reassure Saudi Arabia’s collective role in combatting terrorism.

King and the Crown Prince wished speedy recovery of the injured victims and prayed for the patience of the bereaved families.

Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has also issued official condemnation through its General Secretary Dr. Yousuf Ahmed al-Othaimeen, where he strongly denounced the terrorist attack and expressed utter shock and grief the Muslims across the world are going through. He prayed God to have mercy on the slain Muslims and to impart endurance to the bereaved families.