- The New Zealand massacre and ISIS crimes are two branches of the same tree that is watered with hatred, violence and extremism.
- It is high time for people, in the East and the West, to stop repeating the lie of ‘Islamic terrorism’.
- This massacre is brewed by a savage and barbaric mind that cannot be affiliated with Christianity, though the perpetrator may claim to be a believer in Christianity.
- There is great difference between religion and religious tolerance and between those who manipulate religions as traders in politics and arms.
- It is the Muslims alone who pay the price of right-wing extremism as well as extremism that is falsely attributed to Islam.
- Islamophobia and xenophobia should be criminalized and any political or religious cover for them should be pulled away from their proponents.
Full Statement of the Grand Imam, His Excellency Dr Ahmad al-Tayyeb Shaykh al-Azhar On the terrorist attack on worshipers in mosques in New Zealand
I followed in great pain and deep sorrow the news of the terrorist attack that targeted peaceful worshipers in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, during Friday prayers, leaving about 50 casualties and a similar number of injured persons, including many children and women. This horrific massacre should affect the hearts and the living conscience of all people around the world. It involves a violation of the sanctity of the infallible human life, and a taking of inviolable lives of innocent people who were praying to the Lord in reverence and reassurance.
This despicable, terrorist massacre, which executors were keen to record and live stream to the whole world, is not very different from the horrific videos of the decapitation committed by the criminal ISIS gangs. They are two branches of the same tree, which is watered with hatred, violence and extremism; while tolerance and humaneness are plucked from the hearts of its perpetrators. They would not have been so brutal in this horrendous way had it not been for narrow political and racial calculations that turn a blind eye to their crimes and allow them to spread and become brutal.
Perhaps those who kept attributing terrorism to Islam and Muslims would stop repeating this lie, after it has been proven to every fair and impartial person that today’s incident, with all the pain and ferocity it involved, has not been designed by a person belonging to Islam or Muslims. Rather, it is brewed by a savage and barbaric mind, whose motives are not known; nor is his deviant faith that induced him to commit this abominable crime. Yet, we – the Muslims, despite our heart-rending tragedy, cannot utter a single word condemning Christianity or Christ, peace be upon him, though this sinful murderer may well claim to be a believer in Christianity. For we perceive the huge difference between religion and religious tolerance, on one hand, and manipulators of religion as traders in politics and arms, on the other. Likewise, we cannot understand how there is a difference between a terrorist act committed by a person affiliating with Islam, in which case terrorism is immediately imputed to Islam and the Muslims, and a terrorist act committed by a follower of any other religion, in which case the perpetrator is immediately described as a right-wing extremist. We do not understand how the latter is not described as a terrorist act, but is only said to be a crime!
I wonder, what does ‘right-wing extremism’ mean? Why do Muslims alone pay the price of so-called ‘right-wing extremism’ and the so-called Islamic extremism, through the shedding of their blood and the loss of their lands? Isn’t it high time that the people in the East and the West stop repeating the lie of ‘Islamic terrorism’?
The phenomenon of Islamophobia and xenophobic sentiments against foreigners and migrants in the West have not yet received sufficient attention, despite their gravity and their frequent transformation into acts of abhorrent violence and hatred. This necessitates swift and effective action to incriminate and block them, and to pull away any political or religious cover from their perpetrators. This should be accompanied by efforts to promote the values of tolerance, coexistence and positive integration based on equality of rights and duties, and respect for religious and cultural particularity.
It is also important, in this painful moment, to recall what was stated in the ‘Document of Human Fraternity’ signed by Al-Azhar and the Vatican, last February. It stressed the need for ‘adherence to moral values and upright religious teachings’ to ‘confront individualistic, selfish and conflicting tendencies, and combat radicalism and blind extremism in all forms and expressions.’ It also confirmed that ‘terrorism is deplorable and it threatens the security of people, be they in the East or the West, the North or the South, and disseminates panic, terror and pessimism. It is not a result of religion, even when terrorists instrumentalize it. It is, rather, a result of an accumulation of misinterpretations of religious texts and of policies causing hunger, poverty, injustice, oppression, and overbearing.’
My sincere condolences go to the families and friends of the victims, to all the Muslims in the world, and to the people of living conscience. I supplicate to the Lord, Glorified and Exalted is He, to shower the deceased with mercy and to grant speedy recovery to the injured. I also ask Him to grant tranquility and reassurance to the hearts of those terrified by this abominable crime.
Ahmad al-Tayyeb Shaykh al-Azhar
15 March 2019
