{"id":7277,"date":"2019-05-16T14:48:58","date_gmt":"2019-05-16T02:48:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/?p=7277"},"modified":"2019-05-16T16:07:37","modified_gmt":"2019-05-16T04:07:37","slug":"%ef%bb%bfreflections-of-a-muslim-student-60-days-after-new-zealands-darkest-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/?p=7277","title":{"rendered":"\ufeffReflections of a Muslim Student 60 Days after New Zealand\u2019s Darkest Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This reflection was written by AUT PhD candidate Najmah Usman with her\nhusband Kusnan Sayuti.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 15 March 2019, two mosques were attacked. 50 people died that day, with one more person dying after two months in the hospital. Among the dead was a child, Mucad Ibrahim (3), who passed away when he joined his father and older brother to pray on Friday at the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I said to\nmy husband that it was lucky we would finish our study soon, otherwise we would\nbe a target of hatred here. Honestly, the terror broke my belief that New\nZealand was the safest country in the world. I had enjoyed that belief for over\n3 years during my study. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One week\nafter the terror, my scholarship officer Margaret Leniston informed me that my extension\nhad been approved for an additional 6 months of study. I took a break for a few\ndays. I said to myself: this is a chance for us to inform the world of what my\nfamily feels, sees, hears, and observes after this darkest day in New Zealand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I previously\nwrote a reflection<\/a> one week after this tragedy. Now, reflecting after 60\ndays, I have thought about three main things: 1) the power of reflection; 2) being\nfree of prejudice; and 3) moving from sympathy to empathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Books about Islam and reflection notes on the wall in AUT Library <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Power of Reflection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

People recognize\nme as a Muslim very easily as I wear a veil (hijab). As far as I know, the common\nunderstanding of the hijab in the West (though not for all) is of a \u2018prison of\nfreedom\u2019 for Muslim women. There is no doubt that in some war-torn or\nextremist-led Muslim countries, media have portrayed Muslim women deciding to\nuncover their hijab after (for example) the ousting of the Taliban.\nUnfortunately, this promotes the generalization that all Muslim women wear the hijab\nbecause of cultural or religious pressures, not by choice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, I\nchoose to wear the hijab based on my understanding and internalization of my\nIslamic teachings. I\nobserved how supportive Kiwis were of #headscarfforharmony in my university, on the bus, and on social media, on\nthe\nFriday one\nweek after the tragedy. The world saw how the power of reflection could engage many people in learning about Islam from people\nsurrounding them,\nnot just from\nthe\nmedia, who often\nportray the hijab as a prison. My supervisor\nSharyn Graham Davies wrote in\nan article<\/a>:\n\u201cTo\nthose who say feminism valiantly fought for the right of women not to cover\ntheir hair, I say feminism fought, and still fights, to enable women to have\nreal choices.\u201d This is me, and other sisters, who choose the hijab as a part of\nour understanding of Islam, without putting negative judgments on other Muslims\nwho make different choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I realized\nhow this power of reflection taught many Kiwis to feel what Muslims feel. By\nwearing headscarves, they showed the world that Muslim culture is a part of\nKiwi culture, and that every Kiwi has the power to protect all humans and all\nreligions. Even some of my friends and scholarship officers asked my permission to use my pictures with the hijab for their\nactivities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A flyer on campus<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We need to inform the world that ‘Islam is one religion in many cultures’ \u2013 a message promoted on the AUT campus in the aftermath of the attacks through a beautiful flyer. Islam, like other religions, teaches kindness, good deeds, justice, and love; however, understandings of Islam and other religions may differ across cultures and communities. People outside of Muslim communities can reflect by observing Muslim people around them, visiting mosques, and also wearing the hijab to overcome misconceptions about Islam worldwide, particularly related to global terrorism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being Free of Prejudice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have reflected\non the world\u2019s move from cultivating Islamophobia to destroying Islamophobia in\nrecent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wonder\nwhether, if we talk of Islamophobia in relation to this terror in Christchurch,\nwe imply that Muslim communities should be blamed even though they were\nvictims. For instance, Australian politician Fraser\nAnning wrote<\/a> that \u201cthe real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today\nis the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New\nZealand in the first place.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, I have learned about how New Zealand implements the ideas of being free of prejudice; destroying stigma and discrimination; stopping bullying; and focusing on the problem, particularly in relation to justice, law, and human rights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world\ncan see after this tragedy how the Prime Minister of New Zealand exemplifies being\n\u2018free of prejudice\u2019. We never heard Jacinda Ardern discussing the terrorist\u2019s\ncharacteristics. His name, nationality, the colour of his skin, his race, and\nhis sects or religion went largely unmentioned. Even the picture of the\nterrorist was blurred in the media here, and online media in New Zealand\ndecided not to show the video of the terror attacks. The Prime Minister said\nthat she did not want to give the terrorist notoriety in New Zealand. Every\nterrorist will be punished under New Zealand law, and she will protect every\nvictim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I imagine that\nif the terrorist had been Muslim and from the Middle East, as is the common\nperception of terrorists, this great leader would have done the same things. She\nwould have made sure that the majority of Muslims in New Zealand were safe, that\nhatred of Muslims was minimised, and that the terrorist was punished without\nmentioning their background, religion or race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned\nhow Kiwis are working to bring down Islamophobia and hatred, and cultivate love\nfor everyone through the education system, not only at University level but\nalso in primary schools in Auckland. Our kids\u2019 teachers taught these values in\ntheir school for a whole month after this tragedy. My kids learned to always\nremind their mother that \u2018we should be kind to everyone\u2019. Four weeks after the\ntragedy, I attended one remembrance event at Parnell School. I noticed how\nteachers, parents, and students transferred their positive energy to embrace\neach other; to acknowledge that every kid is unique and special; and to embrace\nMuslim sisters and brothers too. My kid and her classmates sang\na nice song<\/a> about kindness, and started their performance by saying \u201cbe\nkind everyone.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Video about kindness in Parnell School, on a Friday four weeks after the tragedy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Moving from Sympathy to Empathy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have\nnoticed how Kiwis have smiled at me during my walking to my university; talked\nto me while I am waiting for a bus; and showed their respect to me. Some of\nthem say \u201cAssalamu\u2019alaikum\u201d (may peace upon on you). Because I am a woman using\na veil, people recognize that I am a Muslim. I feel how after this tragedy,\nthey have moved from sympathy to empathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost 60\ndays after the tragedy, on 13 May 2019 (during Ramadhan), a security guard visited\nus during our fast-breaking. She said hi to us and told us that she never puts\na bottle of water in front of her desk in the library, as she respects Muslim\nsisters and brothers who are fasting. Then, as we were walking through AUT, we\nsaid hello to two men who sat on Hikuwai Plaza. One of them said spontaneously:\n\u201cRamadhan Kareem\u201d (Happy Ramadhan).  We said:\n\u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For my\nfamily, we felt safe in Auckland as of three days after the terror attacks. At\n60 days after the darkest day, we feel loved and have learned a lot from this\ntragedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We owe much\nto New Zealand about these lessons of life for our own journey after we return\nto our beloved country, Indonesia. Thank you New Zealand, thank you to my\nscholarship providers, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand,\nand thank you AUT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Najmah, kids, and AUT scholarship officers <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This reflection was written by AUT PhD candidate Najmah Usman with her husband Kusnan Sayuti. On 15 March 2019, two mosques were attacked. 50 people died that day, with one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25761,"featured_media":7280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,22],"tags":[46,36,49,175],"class_list":["post-7277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-authentic","category-research-relief","tag-aut","tag-diversity","tag-international","tag-student-voices"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/Najmah-2.3-Schols-office.jpg?fit=2048%2C1365&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p83npQ-1Tn","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/25761"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7277"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7286,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7277\/revisions\/7286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}