Waikato Muslim Association president, Dr Asad Mohsin with the banner outside Hamilton's Jamia Masjid Mosque today. Photo / Lucas Tainui
Waikato Muslim Association president, Dr Asad Mohsin with the banner outside Hamilton's Jamia Masjid Mosque today. Photo / Lucas Tainui
Waikato Muslims are urging Sri Lanka to stay strong in the wake of the Easter terror attacks that left more than 300 people dead and hundreds more injured.
Hamilton's Jamia Masjid Mosque is expressing its support for Sri Lanka with a banner that reads "Kia Kaha, Stay Strong Sri Lanka from Waikato Muslims."
The large banner was hung outside the mosque in Boundary Road on Tuesday.
Waikato Muslim Association president, Dr Asad Mohsin told Hamilton News: "We want to give a message of support… we want them to stay strong."
"(What they are going through) is a feeling we know all too well," he said.
Sri Lankan churches and hotels were the target for suicide bombers in the morning of Easter Sunday 21 April, one of the holiest days in the Christian calendar.
Three churches, three luxury hotels and two residences were the targets of the coordinated attack that claimed so many lives.
The bombs were carried by suicide bombers during Easter services.
New Zealand's Muslim community is still recovering from the Christchurch mosque shootings on March 15 which killed 50 people with dozens more injured during Friday prayers.
The supportive messages and chalk drawings made after the Christchurch attacks are faint but still visible around the Boundary Road mosque where there was a huge outpouring of love and support after the March 15 attacks.
Waikato Muslim leader Anjum Rahman says the New Zealand Muslim community absolutely rejects the violence of the Sri Lanka bombings. Photo / File
After the large amount of kindness and love Waikato Muslims experienced, they now want to extend those feelings of love and support to the people of Sri Lanka, Dr Mohsin said.
The kindness that was felt from around the world in the wake of the Christchurch attacks is being reciprocated to the people of Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, another Waikato Muslim leader Anjum Rahman, spokesperson for the Islamic Women's Council of NZ has responded to comments suggesting that the Sri Lankan bombings were retaliation for the Christchurch attack.
In a social media post she said, "If this is true, the perpetrators should know that the NZ Muslim community absolutely rejects their violence, their "retaliation", the murders they have committed in our name. The #chch victims have shown a better path. Our faith does not condone the killing of innocent people."
