Ismail ibn Musa Menk The New Zealand Shootings
By Mufti Menk | 2026-01-12T06:03:34.554227+00:00 | Topic: Quran
The New Zealand Shootings - Mufti Menk
Opening and Praise
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.
(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - Bismillahir rahmanir rahim)
(الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَأَصْحَابِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ - Alhamdulillahi wa salatu wa salamu ala rasulillahi wa ala alihi wa ashabihi ajma'in)
We praise Allah. We send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad, his household, his companions. We ask Allah to bless them, to bless everyone 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. Ameen.
Unity of Humanity
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. As time passed, we became many.
And Allah says this in the Quran:
"O people, I have created you from a single male and a 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.
Equal Rights on Earth
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 are political lines.
What that means is the countries and their borders have been created later on. They are there for political reasons. And if you'd like to cross over, you have the right to cross over 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.
Respect for Diversity
People forget this. Whether you are Muslim or not, whether you are Christian or not, whether you are Jewish or not, whether you are Hindu or not, whether you have a faith or not, whether you like hot bread or hot chapati, whatever it is, you have exactly the same right 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're 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. Nor do you have the right to do that to me.
Common Origin of Humanity
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.
So 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.
Respectful Dialogue
When I want to challenge their ideology, I need to challenge it with respect, not with 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. 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." (Quran 29:46)
In another place, Allah says:
"when you call towards your Lord, call with wisdom." (Quran 16:125)
Effective Communication
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 XYZ. Now we're talking. 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.
Avoiding Violence in Disagreements
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 killed him? For what? He's the giver of life.
Al-Muhyi wa Mumit - 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.
The New Zealand Attack
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'm more entitled to this place than them.
Imagine 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.
Migration and Human Movement
Remember this. All of us, we've come from somewhere. We don't know where our forefathers might have been. I know Adam was not in Zimbabwe. I know that. There wasn't a Zimbabwe at the time, but he wasn't on this part of the globe.
But he was on the globe. 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 an example.
Condemnation of the Violence
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 their 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'm revenging and these people who have come here are not supposed to have come. These immigrants are all extremist Muslims who have come etc.
Media Portrayal and Its Consequences
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 crimes 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 or 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.
Living in Harmony
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, sometime back was one person, Adam. 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.
Victims of the Attack
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 there. 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.
New Zealand as a Nation
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.
The Same Logic Applied to Islam
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 0.00 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.
Call for Religious Leaders
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 have the 10 commandments that we share, but we differ in X, Y, and Z. 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.
Root Causes of Hatred
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.
Internal Conflicts Among Muslims
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 murtad, 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 murtad should be killed, although it's not applicable here right now, they wanted 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 murtad and they would encourage people to kill me. It's happening. We are victims of it.
The Islamic Approach to Differences
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 iman, you will keep on trying to explain to them, look, what you're doing is wrong because of XYZ.
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. Rather, 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 we differed with, we wouldn't be in this masjid. Because our forefathers would have been killed a long time back by those who differed with them.
Response to Violence and Extremism
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. Low 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've 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.
Solidarity and Support
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 Muslims.
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 walk with you. We will walk 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 supremacists 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.
Muslim Contributions to Society
The Muslims are the most charitable people in the whole world. They reach out to everyone 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 their shahada, what are they doing? They are busy killing and kidnapping and destroying the lives of those who also say their shahada.
They are also Muslimin. 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 were saying their shahada. Look at Afghanistan, for example.
People who are saying their shahada were killing others who were saying their shahada. Whatever excuse they used becomes irrelevant. These are your brothers, these are your sisters, in humanity at least.
Historical Example of Coexistence
The Prophet lived in the midst even right at the time of his passing. There were Jews and Christians in Medina living with the Muslims. But we don't know that, do we? They lived so securely that later on at one stage in Aqsa, in Quds, 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.
It's amazing. So, let's remember, 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.
The Reality of the Attack
Today we faced a big challenge. May Allah never let that happen to us. Imagine we're sitting in Jum'ah. It needs one wise crack. It needs 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, subhanAllah. And today we're hearing that New Zealand, this is what happened.
Hope and Moving Forward
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 are martyrs in the way of Allah. They passed away immediately after Salatul Jum'ah.
May Allah give them Jannatul Firdaus. 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 Jannah.
This is a one-off 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.
Lesson from Pakistan and India
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, 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 Prophet would have probably done something like this. Amazing. What happened as a result? There was a de-escalation automatically.
The Path to Healing
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 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.
Cyclone in Mozambique
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 weather, 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 calm that entire cyclone down so that neither us nor anyone else is affected negatively by it. Say Ameen.
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 expert's idea of what may happen based on certain patterns. But what will happen ultimately is in the hands of Allah. So we ask Allah to calm that down.
Final Advice and Closing
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.
Remember, be humble, be kind, be soft on others. They're all going through something. Help someone, Allah will help you.
Say a good word to someone, Allah will assist you, minimum. Don't harm another person and Allah will open the doors of success for you. I say this, and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad.