News Desk |
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and other New Zealand women appear wearing hijab for Friday sermon in a bid to express solidarity with Muslims. Thousands of mourners gathered outside Al-Noor mosque, Christchurch, the place that witnessed bloodshed of 50 Muslim worshippers in a week ago mass shooting.
New Zealand women donned in headscarves made up the large part of the mourners, while PM Ardern dressed up in a black dress and hijab read out the Hadith of Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH): “According to the prophet Mohammed… The believers in their mutual kindness, compassion, and sympathy are just like one body. When any part of the body suffers, the whole body feels pain. New Zealand mourns with you, we are one”.
https://twitter.com/KhaledBeydoun/status/1108913471805186048
She further stated that “New Zealand mourns with you” to the Muslim community.
One of the women, Ashman attending the gathering stated, that, “I wanted to say, ‘We are with you, we want you to feel at home on your own streets, we love, support and respect you.”
The New Zealand women appearing in headscarves has been immensely appreciated by the Muslim community.
“Why am I wearing a headscarf today? Well, my primary reason was that if anybody else turns up waving a gun, I want to stand between him and anybody he might be pointing it at. And I don’t want him to be able to tell the difference, because there is no difference,” said Bell Sibly, another woman attending the gathering.
Hijab has been a topic of contention in West, where many western thinkers hijab, face veil, headscarves are a sign of female oppression. The New Zealand women appearing in headscarves has been immensely appreciated by the Muslim community.
On the other hand, the Muslims communities around the world have been making calls for a Nobel Prize for New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who has shown remarkable leadership skills that have overshadowed bigotry, racism and anti-Islamic sentiments in the last few days.
Read more: NZ terror attack: PM Ardern pays tribute to Naeem Rashid
People from all walks of life have expressed solidarity with the Muslims in their own way in New Zealand.
https://twitter.com/JeromeTaylor/status/1108988355839033346
Television news in New Zealand tonight 🇳🇿 🧕 📺 pic.twitter.com/IfGhtHrZfK
— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) March 22, 2019
https://twitter.com/JesseMulligan/status/1108927334420119553
The cover of Christchurch’s main newspaper, @PressNewsroom, today: Salam, peace pic.twitter.com/idMrAb90Od
— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) March 21, 2019
From wearing Hijab to performing Haka, a ceremonial cultural dance for the victims of Christchurch shooting, New Zealand has won hearts of Muslims with the kind gestures.