Mufti Menk – New Zealand Shootings

			Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.
		

			smilla rahmanir rahim al hamdu Lillah wa salatu salam ala rasulillah, who Allah Allah, he was happy.
		

			We praise Allah subhanho wa Taala we send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam, his household, his companions, we ask Allah Subhana Allah to Allah to bless them, to
bless every one of us to grant us every form of goodness, to open the doors of mercy.
		

			To open the doors of forgiveness for every one of us, I mean, my brothers and sisters,
		

			remember, we are all created from the same source.
		

			Today, we sit next to each other, we work with each other, we see people across the globe,
		

			we forget,
		

			we forget that we are actually from the same source, we are from the same family, your father and my
father, at some stage was one man, one man.
		

			As time passed,
		

			we became many. And Allah subhanho wa Taala says this in the Quran.
		

			Yeah, or you
		

			call upon a COO,
		

			coo
		

			Isla Lita,
		

			oh people I have created you from a single male
		

			and the female. And I have made you into different tribes and people so that you can recognize one
another so that you can know one another.
		

			Now,
		

			your right to be on earth is exactly like mine.
		

			Your life is as sacred as mine. The life of the one whom you hate is as sacred as yours, you need to
know that
		

			his right to live on earth is exactly yours, we share this globe, it does not belong to any
particular person, it belongs to the maker alone. So if you think that you are the only person who
has a right to be in a certain place on Earth, or to be on Earth, then you are wrong. Because the
richest of the lot and the poorest of the lot both have exactly the same right to be on Earth.
		

			The lines that we find dividing us up political lines.
		

			What that means is the countries and their borders have been created later on.
		

			They're there for political reasons. And if you'd like to cross over, you have the right to
crossover on condition that you meet a few basic requirements.
		

			But where you were born, that is your place. SubhanAllah your right? To live as a human being.
		

			Your identification as a human being is exactly equivalent to my right.
		

			People forget this, whether you're Muslim or not, whether you're Christian or not, whether you're
Jewish or not, whether you are Hindu or not, whether you have a faith or not, whether you like hot
bread, or hotter party, whatever it is, you have exactly the same rights as the others
		

			to be what you believe, is correct, no one has the right to hit you to harm you to attack you based
on the fact that you've chosen a religion or you like something different from them.
		

			But if you harm someone, they have the right to defend themselves.
		

			If you are threatening to attack someone, they have the right to plan their own defense.
		

			And they have the right perhaps, depending on what authority they have, they have the right to deal
with you in a manner that would solve the problem.
		

			If I have a problem with you, I need to know that I don't have the right to harm you to hit you to
kill you, or your people.
		

			know Do you have the right to do that to me.
		

			We all have to understand that we belong
		

			to the same maker. We come from the same family. In fact, I want to take it all the way to those who
don't believe in a maker. Those who don't believe that they were created by a god. The one thing
they do believe is that the human species all come from one source. They all came from
		

			The same source or whatever source they want to believe is different from what I believe. Nothing
gives me the right to go out and harm them, and kill them and hurt them. So much so that when I
disagree, I should disagree with respect.
		

			When I want to challenge their ideology, I need to challenge it with respect, not where the hate, I
don't need to call people, dogs and cats. I don't need to insult people while I'm disagreeing with
them.
		

			That's not what we're taught as human beings. You must be respectful. When Allah speaks about
discussing the differences between us and the People of the Book made up of the Jews and the
Christians. He says, when you are discussing with them, make sure that you only engage the most
beautiful and the best way while to Johnny Lu Lang. Kita be in urbinati Hiya, sun, don't ever
discuss matters or engage in the discussion with the People of the Book except with that, which is
the most beautiful methodology. In another place. Allah says, who do Mila Sabina b cabanel hikma
when you call towards your Lord called with wisdom? If I stood in front of you, and if we had a
		

			major problem of drugs and we do, or alcohol and we do or gambling and we do and I were to swear in
the masjid to say those who are engaging in this, they are this and that using the worst words the
most derogatory swear words etc. Do you think you would be seated here? Would anyone want to sit and
listen to someone who is spewing hate? No. But when someone lovingly corrects you to say, you know
what, you're a respectable human being you were created by Allah, you're a really good person, what
you need to know is that what you're doing will not help you because of x y Zed, now we're talking
that the man or the woman may smile, and they will probably learn they will feel like changing
		

			because I have proven to them that what I am saying is more valid than what you are. But I want to
tell you something. My brothers and sisters, sometimes when we are discussing with someone, we are
wrong, and they are right.
		

			And we are convinced that we are right, and they are convinced that they are right. Now what do we
do?
		

			You leave it to Allah. You don't ever become so passionate about what you hold that it leads you to
violence, it leads you to hitting someone to attacking them. You don't ever become so passionate
about what you're saying that it leads you to killing.
		

			You don't have to do that. If Allah wanted, he would not have created them in the first place. How
why would Allah create people and tell you now you kill them? For what? He's the giver of life.
		

			Movie One moment, he's the one who gives life. And he also takes that life away. So for us to be
people who respect life is something absolutely important. Unfortunately. This morning, we heard in
the news that a barbaric attack took place in New Zealand, so barbaric, that an immigrant decided
that other immigrants were less entitled than him forgetting that he himself was not from there.
He's not originally from that place. He comes from somewhere else. But because his color was white,
he decided I'm going to kill these Muslims because they came later on, I am more entitled to this
place than then
		

			imagine if the if the Maoris or the original people of New Zealand decided that we're going to kill
everybody who came here because they stole our land from us.
		

			People would say it's absurd. Well, it is equally absurd to say that because you came 20 years after
the other. That's why you are more entitled than the other to be in that place. Remember this, all
of us. We've come from somewhere.
		

			We don't know where our forefathers might have been.
		

			I know Adam alayhis salam was not in Zimbabwe. I know that there wasn't the Zimbabwe at the time,
but he wasn't on this part of the globe. But he was on the blue. That's what it is.
		

			So people cannot discriminate against someone else to say you're originally from Malawi, or you're
originally from India. So we hate you, or you don't have a right to be here. Because you know what
if we were to search the lives of those who are claiming that they too, would probably not be from
that place. I'm just giving you an example. The reason why I'm saying this is we definitely
		

			condemn the violence that happened this morning. Not violence. It was terrorism, an act of terror.
The man walked in with a gun into the masjid, while people had just completed the
		

			Prayer, automatic gun and started shooting everyone who was there, everyone who was there this
morning.
		

			Then he went into the other section shot again. And this happened at two mosques at the same time.
		

			And what did he say? He said, I am revenging. And I, these people who have come here are not
supposed to have come these immigrants are all extremist Muslims who have come etc. That's not true,
not at all, because of people's comments over a long time,
		

			in the media, and elsewhere, and on social media, against Muslims, painting all Muslims with the
same brush yet, it's a small number of Muslims who perpetrate crimes in the name of Islam that you
and I know, are not a part of Islam. Because we're all being painted with the same brush. It gives
rise to people who feel that we should be killed, because of the kinds of others.
		

			Imagine if there is someone who committed a crime somewhere in America, he happens to be a Muslim,
and his crime is against the teachings of Islam and against what you and I stand for. And people
come to attack me Who are you? Who were actually dead against what that person did, and we condemned
his act. And we even said, it's not a part of this and in our own lives, let's be honest, all of us
who are here this afternoon? Have we not reached out to the Christians? And the Jews? And the Hindus
and the others? Do we not have people we grew up with? Who are people of all sorts of faiths? Was it
ever a problem to live in the midst of people with diverse faiths, it was never a problem.
		

			To this day, we have people who work with us who work for us, who are around us who teach perhaps us
or our children, we have people who live in our societies, beautiful people who happen to be of
different faiths, some of them don't have a faith. But what is the connection between us, they are
still part of the human family. Remember that? Their father, my father, some time back was one
person, Adam alayhis salam.
		

			So it is absurd for someone to think that you know what, I should attack these people because of
what happened overseas somewhere.
		

			That is wrong. The people are innocent. A lot of the Muslims who were killed today were
professionals, people who delivered to society they served communities, irrespective of the faith of
the people, their doctors and accountants, perhaps lawyers and teachers, and so many others, charity
workers, those who are very good neighbors to their non Muslim neighbors. As the days pass, we will
find out more about these victims, the individuals and the loss was for the society and community of
New Zealand to begin with, and thereafter for humanity at large. And the only reason I speak about
it today is to show number one solidarity, to stand in solidarity with the victims. And to tell you
		

			that New Zealand is an absolutely beautiful country. It is a very peaceful nation. The people of New
Zealand do not stand for what happened today.
		

			Just like if something were to happen in our place, may Allah forbid. Does it mean we stand for that
violence? No, it doesn't. So let's not think that the people of New Zealand are bad, they are
actually good, not 99% of them, but more than 99%, almost 100% because of the acts of a few it does
not make everyone bad. But my brothers and sisters, that's exactly what we are saying about Islam,
to say that you see these acts that are being perpetrated, they are using our name, they are saying
we are Muslims across the globe, killing fighting. Some Muslims believe that non Muslims don't have
a right to exist. That is a deviant ideology. That is wrong. Some Muslims believe that you've got to
		

			kill the non Muslims, the number who believe that is very small.
		

			percentage wise it is probably less than naught point naught naught something percent. But don't we
all get blamed for it? When people look at you? And they see you're a Muslim, they start saying,
hey, these guys are terrorists. I believe around us, our brothers and sisters of other faiths and
their leaders need to talk about the good that Islam has. Sometimes intentionally people have come
to me and told me that in our churches, we heard how horrible Muslims are. And I think to myself, in
our mosques, we don't ever talk about how horrible others are because we speak the truth. We don't
have anything wrong within us to say you know what, Christianity also has a lot of goodness. in it.
		

			We we have the 10 commandments that we share, but we differ in X, Y and Zed and when we speak we
speak respectfully.
		

			So I call on church leaders, and religious leaders to understand to explain just like I called
Christians and Jews and everyone else, our brothers and sisters in humanity
		

			I have not heard them calling the Muslims, our brothers and sisters.
		

			It needs to happen. Because we need to combat this. When you find killing, because of hate, it has a
root in the statements of some people, it has a root.
		

			If I were to start with you today, and every day, I tell you how bad a certain group of people are,
it will be such that within a few years, you will want to eliminate those people because you now
think that this person doesn't even have the right to exist. Sometimes you have a problem. And that
problem goes down generations and you don't realize, you know what, I've got a problem because of
someone else's little issue, but they brainwashed me into believing that these people are really bad
people.
		

			We need to be very careful how we think of others. Today, our biggest enemies are not the non
Muslims.
		

			The biggest enemies are actually people who say the same Shahada as us, you and I don't deserve to
live according to some people who claim to follow the Quran and the Sunnah. They say, this person
doesn't belong to my ideology, my sect, we will eliminate him very, very soon, they start saying
that you are perhaps
		

			an apostate.
		

			A merchant, they use that word. What does that mean? When they use that word, they are encouraging
their followers to kill you. That's all. Because you and I know that deep down somewhere, one of the
rules under certain conditions, where they say a move that should be killed, although it's not
applicable here, right now. They want it to apply, without giving you any form of benefit of the
doubt or without acknowledging the difference of opinion. If there is a grave, and I refuse to
worship it, they would call me a martyr, and they would encourage people to kill me. It's happening.
		

			It's happening. We are victims of it.
		

			But you don't realize, if someone has chosen not to do that, leave him. He's only going to live for
70 to 80 years, then he's going to go back to Allah who's going to judge him? Why do you need to
harm him? Why do you need to kill him? For what if you want to discuss the matter and you really
have confidence in your intellect and in your faith, you will keep on trying to explain to them
look, what you're doing is wrong because of x y Zed minimum, you will pray for them if you cannot
talk to them.
		

			We as Muslims are taught that when you see people who hate you who dislike you who are far away from
religion, who are very, very deviant according to you.
		

			Never resort to harming them, brother. Number one, pray for them. Number two, keep trying with them.
A day will come when they will come to the goodness if Allah wills, if not, they will die and Allah
will judge them. That's what we are taught.
		

			If we were taught to kill people with different with, we wouldn't be in this machine. Because our
forefathers would have been killed a long time back by those who differed with them.
		

			See, so don't let anyone brainwash you to harm others.
		

			When you want to harm someone, it is a reflection of the low intellect you have
		

			no intellect you don't have confidence in yourself. If I sit with you Like right now, after what's
happened in New Zealand, I promise you, the Muslims are going to be in the spotlight. It's your time
to shine
		

			to show people what you're all about.
		

			Right now, there are so many non Muslims who have reached out to the Muslims as well in New Zealand,
saying you know what, and not just in New Zealand, in Australia, in other places, saying we don't
agree with this ideology, we stand with you, we will help you we will support you, you know, the
hijab that the women are wearing, they are targeted as a result of what they look like because
they're Muslim. So the non Muslim girls and the others are saying, you know what, if you feel
frightened or afraid or insecure walking on your own, we will work with you. We will work with you.
These campaigns. I didn't start the campaign, the campaigns were started by non Muslims. So we have
		

			been dealing with the matter for years on end. It's about time that the white supremists and the
others people of other faiths also deal with this crisis for a long time. For many years, we have
actually been trying to tell people not to be violent not to let your dislike of something that
someone is doing make you harm them make you become violent against them. Not to kill people not to
harm people. But we have not heard those voices coming from others. It's mainly the Muslims who keep
on telling their followers don't harm others. Don't kill others. Reach out to others, be kind to
others be good to others. The Muslims are the most charitable people in the whole world.
		

			They reach out to me
		

			What else? While they are struggling, Muslims are being killed by all different types of people.
Like I said, Our biggest enemy is within those who are saying their Shahada in Nigeria, Boko Haram
people who also say the Shahada What are they doing? They are busy killing and kidnapping and
destroying the lives of those who also say the Shahada they also Muslim in
		

			you look at in Pakistan, what's happening for example, may Allah grant them safety and security.
		

			The fighting is within
		

			I hope that it has declined right now and inshallah it will be eradicated. But up to very recently,
people who say their Shahada were killing others who are saying the Shahada.
		

			Look at Afghanistan, for example, people who are saying the Shahada were killing others who are
saying the Shahada, whatever excuse they used becomes irrelevant. These are your brothers. These are
your sisters in humanity, at least, the prophet SAW Selim lived in the midst even right at the time
of his passing.
		

			They were Jews and Christians in Medina living with the Muslims.
		

			But we don't know that do we?
		

			They live so securely, that later on at one stage in Aqsa inputs in Jerusalem, they were actually
crying for the Muslim rule to come back saying that, you know, we were living in full justice under
the Muslims.
		

			So amazing. So let's remember who we reach out. Yes, we will continue to promote kindness and
goodness. But remember one thing, don't let the act of someone else make you react in a way that
will create a bigger disaster.
		

			Today we face the big challenge May Allah never let that happened to us imagine we are sitting in
Jumeirah. It needs one. wisecrack. It means one. deviant to walk in with a gun and start shooting
people. That's what happened this morning in New Zealand one. In fact, I think they arrested four or
five people if I'm not mistaken, I think four. But these are a small number. Like I said, the
country is one of the most beautiful countries just a few days ago. I was telling someone when they
were saying which is the most beautiful country on Earth. I said as far as I've read It's New
Zealand so panel and today, we are hearing that New Zealand. This is what happened. It doesn't make
		

			the people bad.
		

			This inshallah is only a one off incident have hope, live with hope. Number one those who've passed
on a martyrs visa bill in law. They passed away immediately after Salatu. Juma May Allah give them
genital fair dose. May Allah make it easy for their families, pray for them and pray hard. It's not
a joke.
		

			May Allah make it easy for them and their families. For them, Allah give them Jenna,
		

			this is a one of incident community has been shaken because those people have served in their
societies in their countries, large chunks of people, Muslims and non Muslims. And today they were
killed for being Muslim, nothing else.
		

			Let's never react and retaliate in a way that makes
		

			the problem bigger.
		

			Recently, there was an escalation of political issue between India and Pakistan. And I'm mentioning
this simply because there is a beautiful lesson for us to learn in this. The Prime Minister of
Pakistan decides, you know what, we don't want this war. We don't want to create problems. We didn't
do anything bad. You know, as a gesture of goodwill, this man that we have captured, we're going to
release him, it was easy for them to say we're going to hold him and to hold him ransom and to do
whatever else. But he said let's Be the bigger person we solve the problem the moment he released
that man, he became the true hero who the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Why? Because he did something
		

			unexpected. He did something that is really an Islamic teaching. Truly when I sat and thought about
it, I thought the prophets of Salaam would have probably done something like this. Amazing what
happened as a result, there was a de escalation automatically. Today, there has been an escalation
in New Zealand, the de escalation will happen when we reach out with kindness with love. We are in
desperate need of healing. Healing comes with love with goodness with forgiveness, with
understanding it doesn't come with revenge and retaliation, and it doesn't come with brutal killing
as a result of one killing.
		

			May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant us a deep understanding. I pray that those who have perpetrated
the crimes today are brought to justice and it is served to them. They are indeed terrorists of the
highest level.
		

			My brothers and sisters, there is one more thing I need to mention before we close for today.
		

			lives have been lost in Mozambique.
		

			Totally different cause
		

			the way
		

			The Cyclone. These lives are as sacred as the lives that were lost in New Zealand. These are our
brothers, our sisters, their homes were destroyed because of weather conditions. We have weather
reports
		

			that show that this negative weather is coming in our direction.
		

			Number one, we pray for the victims and those who've lost their lives. Number two, we ask Allah to
help those who are still alive and struggling and displaced, and they've suffered loss. Number
three, we ask Allah to come that entire Cyclone down so that neither us nor anyone else is affected
negatively by it's a I mean,
		

			you see today, the clouds. What was predicted was heavy rainfall Alhamdulillah we haven't yet had
that. And remember, the weather predictions are not prophecies, they are only an experts idea of
what may happen based on certain patterns. But they had the what will happen ultimately is in the
hands of Allah.
		

			So we ask Allah to calm that down. We ask Allah to bless every one of us. We ask Allah to open the
doors of goodness for us. I'm sure every one of us, we have our own struggles. We have our own
issues. We have our own matters. For each one of us. Those matters are so important to remember. Be
Be humble. Be kind, be soft on others, they are all going through something help someone alone will
help you say a good word to someone alone will assist you minimum don't harm another person and
Allah will open the doors of success for you. Aku kolyada was Allah Allahu wa salam ala nabina
Muhammad