A "beautiful" message of hope and love following the Christchurch mosque attacks has touched the world.
A Muslim woman, who goes by the Facebook name Jinghan Naan and runs a blog The Radiant Muslim, has gone viral with her powerful open letter directly challenging the man charged with murder following the massacre that claimed 50 lives and injured dozens.
It has been shared over 50,000 times, with more than 100,000 reactions.
"Appreciate that you made the effort to find out the timing of our noon prayer," Naan writes.
"Appreciate that you learnt more about our religion to know that Fridays are the days the men go to the mosques for their congregational prayers.
Rather than divide, he brought the different faiths and communities together to stand with Muslims.
People have taken part in vigils for Christchurch right across the country, including here at Te Papaiouru Marae in Rotorua. Photo / Ben Fraser
"Appreciate that you made countless New Zealanders come out of their homes to visit the mosques nearest to them with flowers and beautiful messages of peace and love.
"You have broken many many hearts and you have made the world weep. You have left a huge void.
"But what you also have done is brought us closer together. And it has strengthened our faith and resolve."
"In the coming weeks, more people will turn up in the mosques, a place you hate so much, fortified by the strength in their faith, and inspired by their fallen brothers and sisters.
"In the coming weeks, more non-Muslims will turn up at the gates of mosques with fresh flowers and beautifully handwritten notes. They may not have known where the mosques in their area was. But now, they do. All because of you.
Cashmere High School head boy Okirano Tilaia at a student vigil on Tuesday. Photo / Michael Craig
"You may have achieved your aim of intended destruction, but I guess you failed to incite hatred, fear and despair in all of us.
"And while I understand that it may have been your objective, I hate to say that after all of that elaborate planning, and the perverse and wretched efforts on your part, you still failed to drive a divide among the Muslims and non-Muslims in the world.
The post resonated strongly with many of the more than 6000 commenters.
A woman identifying as Catholic said she stood by "our Muslim brothers and sisters".
"For me to have freedom to practise my religion, I must ensure the freedom for others to practise theirs. We stood in love, in defiance of hate, at our marae yesterday, alongside Muslims, Christians, Sikh, non religious alike. We all stood for peace."
