The terrorist attack in Christchurch on March\n15 needs no introduction; 50 Muslims died from such a tragic event. Much has\nbeen said on the cause of the tragedy; some have blamed it on White supremacism\nand others relate it with the religion of Islam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The agenda as written in “The Great\nReplacement” manifesto are to bring environmental justice and social\nharmony to society. It aims at upholding workers\u2019 rights, a responsible market\nand an addiction-free community and also calls for anti-imperialism, ethnic\nautonomy and protection of heritage and culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the question is: Why did it end up with\nthe mass killings of innocent and harmless worshippers in mosques? How could\nsuch an attitude and brutality against Muslims be justified? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is mentioned that Muslims would not\nbe killed if they stayed in their homeland. The targeted victims were Muslims\nwho had migrated to the European lands and likewise, the White people or\nEuropeans who had become Muslim reverts. These Muslims are labelled as\n\u201cinvaders\u201d and \u201ctraitors\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike the Europeans, Muslim groups are\nto be held responsible for the world\u2019s overpopulation and the negative impact\nit has on the environment. Hence, killing these \u201cinvaders\u201d who are currently overpopulating\nthe world and occupying the Europeans lands is part of the solutions to save\nthe environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Indeed, there are a few things we can\nlearn from the Christchurch attacks. First and foremost, it is very clear that\nthe concept of Islam as an organised religion is still being misunderstood by\nmany. To some extent, the media has not played the roles to bring the truth and\nproject the right image and understanding of Islam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Islam has been portrayed negatively by the\nmedia for obvious reasons\u2014readership and profit. The news and constant exposure\nhave reached to a point where the public fail to differentiate between Islam\nand Muslim. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ideally, Muslims would be the lens for\nanyone to understand what Islam is, as they represent the identity to the\nIslamic teachings and values. But one needs to understand that as ordinary\nhuman beings, Muslims are subject to all forms of weaknesses, such as the\nindividual ego, prejudice and lack of commitment to fully embrace Islamic rites\nand values. In other words, any Muslim may live with imperfections or even a bogus\nIslamic identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other hand, there are many\nnon-Muslims who live their lives in line with Islamic values. A study has shown\nthat most Muslim majority countries did not conduct their governance, legal,\npolitical, social, financial and economic affairs according to Islamic\nprinciples. Instead, it has revealed that\nmany non-Muslim majority countries were more \u2018Islamic’, with New Zealand and\nLuxembourg ranked the top of the list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In sum, Muslims are those who confess\nthat they believe in Islam. However, the universal Islamic values can be\npractised by all, regardless whether one is a Muslim or non-Muslim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next thing to ponder is whether the\npresence of Muslim societies is a threat to the world? The data by Pew Research\nestimated that there were around 23% of Muslim population in 2010 and it was\nprojected that the number would continue to increase to 30% globally in 2050. Hence,\nit is very unlikely that non-Muslims will be outnumbered by Muslims in the next\nfew decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even if Muslim families continue to grow\nas the biggest population on earth, there is no compelling reason for them to\nbe a threat to non-Muslims. Islam has made it clear that there is no compulsion\nin religion (Quran 2:256), diversity means to learn from each other (Quran\n49:13) and \u201cAll mankind is from Adam\nand Eve; an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any\nsuperiority over an Arab; also a White has no superiority over a Black nor a\nBlack has any superiority over a White\u2014except by piety and good action\u201d (The final\nsermon of Prophet Muhammad SAW).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the journey of truth-seeking and\nsoul-searching process, a number of White people have found their inner peace\nwith Islam. Some struggling Muslims have migrated to other countries either as\nrefugees or by taking up new job opportunities. It is disheartening to see them\nliving in fear just because of their religious identity. Islam after all, puts\nhigh values on the family, holistic community as well as natural environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The best lesson from this Christchurch massacre\nis for the world to understand who Muslims are and what Islam really stands for.\nIn addition, the ecofascists also have to realise that environmental\nsustainability is incomplete without human solidarity and spirituality. Let us\nfind ways to bring back unity in diversity; not social disunity and spiritual displacement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, thanks to the Kiwis and Maoris\nfor showing the world that Muslims are still welcomed as part of their\ncommunity in the Aotearoa land. Salaam <\/em>(peace)\nto everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The terrorist attack in Christchurch on March 15 needs no introduction; 50 Muslims died from such a tragic event. Much has been said on the cause of the tragedy; some have blamed it on White supremacism and others relate it with the religion of Islam. The agenda as written in \u201cThe Great Replacement\u201d manifesto are to bring \u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-straits-times","category-139","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}