Staff and students at Kildare College came together in solidarity, by holding a Prayer Vigil as a mark of respect for those who lost their lives in the terror attacks in New Zealand.
We were fortunate to have Nurhayati from the Muslim Women’s Association of South Australia to speak to the students. We would like to share her beautiful words.
Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
This beautiful greeting contains a central teaching of Islam which I am sure is consistent with the teachings of Christianity as well. It is a greeting of peace. By saying “Assalamualaikum”, we wish peace for others. And today, I want to wish peace for each and every one of you, not just peace in our surrounding as we commonly understood, but also peace in our heart and our mind.
When this right to be in a state of peace is being destroyed for anyone, any human being in this world, be it Muslims, Christians or anyone else, we all should feel deeply saddened by it. And what you have done today is a beautiful manifestation of this. It is, therefore, an honour for me to be part of this beautiful solidarity session to remember and honour the lives lost in the recent New Zealand attack. And I sincerely thank Ms Emma and Kildare College for this. This is exemplary indeed.
While we mourn with the surviving victims and families that were left behind, we also learnt about strengths and resilient and hope. Their response to the attack are full of acceptance and calmness. I read about their amazing responses and feel that it is important for me to share here.
One of the victims, a university student who was shot on both legs was not hateful, instead he said, “We trust in God, don’t be afraid to go to the mosque and school.” He also points out an important message that terrorism would serve its purpose if it made people afraid – our fear is their victory.
Another young man who saw a young father and his child were shot and was being shot twice himself, mentioned without anger and with strong faith that the prophets of God were tested more severely.
These are responses from young people like you. They and other surviving victims and families share the same message that we do not respond to hatred and evil with the same hate and evil. Fire cannot put out another fire. Love will demolish all hate.
Speaking about love, there is a saying in my culture ‘Tak kenal maka tak cinta’ - which means, if you do not understand and learn about each other, it will be hard for love to come into our hearts. Which is exactly what the communities in New Zealand is doing and I think as young citizens of this country, I believe this is something concrete that we can do together. We bridge the understanding of each other’s culture and religion so as to build the bonds of love between our hearts.
So, I am hopeful that you, our young today and our leaders of tomorrow, have a more critical view of the world today. I believe you do seek to understand the reality and the truth, and not just take things at the superficial level. And I believe, the future leaders that I am seeing here today desires to see every single human being in this world have the right to the central teaching of all religion, including Islam and Christianity - and that is the right to peace.
Bring Love & peace into your heart,
For this is where it must start.
Thank you and Salam to all of you.
Nurhayati binte Mohamed Rahim
Muslim Women's Association of South Australia
