Islamic associations president reacts to Christchurch Mosque shootings

Friday, 15 March 2019

The President of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand, Mustafa Farouk, spoke to Stuff soon after hearing the news of the attacks in Christchurch. These are his words:

I was in the mosque, praying, so I wasn't aware of what was going on. When I got to my cellphone, that was when I found out. We work very closely with the police, so the moment I opened the phone and I saw there was a call from one of them I called him back right away.

It's not something I thought about at all when I got up this morning.

When I went to the mosque I wasn't thinking that anybody would ever come to the mosque and try to shoot anybody in the mosque. This is not New Zealand.

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People are worried about what happened to the people that were shot in Christchurch, how many of them are seriously affected, how many might have lost their lives. These are the immediate worries of the community.

Every Muslim who is in New Zealand will be shocked and surprised by this and absolutely disappointed in what happened.

We go around the world we tell people we are living in the most peaceful country in the world, the most beautiful country in the world, and we want to keep it that way.

So when something like this happens, we are doubly shocked, we are also worried about the reputation of our country which is going to be tarnished by somebody who is a coward, took this action and spoilt it for everybody.

It doesn't change my opinion about New Zealand being one of the best places to live on earth. It's just unfortunate that this person decided to do this in this beautiful country.