On march 15th 2019 I laid in bed after praying Fajr before the crack of dawn.

Being my last Friday of spring break, I decided that I’d take my nephews with me to Jummah
(Friday prayer) that afternoon.
I just moved to this house so, before going back to sleep, I looked up the closest mosque. The
first suggestion I saw was “Mosque shooting NZ”. I read the articles until I got a grasp on what
happened. I looked at the date/time and saw that they were published less than 20 minutes
ago.
For those of you who may not know, a 28-yr old white supremacist loaded his car with assault
rifles, posted a 74-page manifesto online, and strapped on a POV camera live streaming as he
indiscriminately massacred innocent muslims while they prayed in an open, inclusive, and
theoretically safe environment like the one we’re in right now. All during Jummah, knowing it
was busiest then.
Because of the timing, I was able to see the stream while it was still up.
After raining bullets upon the worshippers at Al-Noor leaving almost all dead, he went back to
his car to reload and shot at the dead bodies for play. The carnage continued on his way to
Linwood killing folks along his path.
This event is not about him.

50 were killed.

I want us to reevaluate what “50” means.

This is not the first time Islamophobia has had catastrophic outcomes.
This is not the first time that those outcomes were watered down into…
a headline of an article that’s shared without reading, a conversation starter, a tool to further
an unrelated political agenda.
Whatever the form of self-indulgency is, this is not about us.

50 human beings were killed and many more were injured.

Each of those human beings belonged to a network of individuals that loved them, that were
dependent on them, that expected them to be home in the chair that they always sat in at the
dinner table.

We are here today to honor the shahid (martyrs) and the heroes.

Shahid are granted a special place in Jannat (heaven). They are washed clean of all sin. Please
join me as we recall the names of those who have transcended.

I was once told: on the day of judgement, Allah ST will call forth our last prophet Muhammad
SW towards paradise. All of those with the name Mohammad will subsequently follow and join
him. So, let us call forth
Mohammed Khan
Mohamad Mohamadosin
Muhammad Tarmizi
Our fallen sister, Karam Bibi
An MFA grad and devoted wife, Ansi Alibava
The light of her community, Linda Armstrong
A savior of many, Hosne Ahmed
Syed Ahmed
Sayyad Milne
Syed Ali
Ali Elmadani
Hussain Al-Umari
Ahmed Ghani
Daoud Nabi
Mtiullah Safi
Abdukadir Elmi
Mohsen Harbi
Ashraf Morsi
Ashraf Al-Masri
Ashraf Ali

A pious man, Maheboob Khokar

Abdullahi Dirie was only 4
A year younger, Mucad Ibrahim
Junaid Ismail
Amjad Hamid
Naeem Rashid
His son, Talha Rashid
Sohail Shahid
Lillik Hamid
Kamel Darweesh
Ozair Kadir
Abdul Qasem

A loving father, Khaled Mustafa

His 14 yr old son, Hamza Mustafa
Not related but still taken, Hussein Moustafa

Maroon Mehmood
Omar Faruk
Mojammel Hoq

Abdus Samad
Tariq Omar
Musa Awale

Mounir Suleiman
Atta Elayyan
Farhaj Ahsan left his 6 month old son

Ghulam Husain
Osama Kweik there’s more just wait

Asif Vora
Zeeshan Raza
Ramiz Vora
Zakaria Bhuiya

The man memorized the quran, Hafiz Musa Patel

All 50 dead and we live to tell the tale.

We have a responsibility to which we can’t fail

We mustn’t let thoughts and prayers be our veil

Action. Be active. Act.

Don’t sit around and marinate in the fact.
If we don’t start now, we may never react.
And that’s that.