28 LISTENER MARCH 14 2020
its own sense. I attend Friday prayers after
work and there’s a bit of stress in finding a
car park, but sitting down and being with the
community in that moment has a massive
impact on your well-being. It is quiet, or you
can hear people supplicating in the corner –
there is something so moving about being
there and being with the community in that
moment.”
For Muslims, he says, that inclusivity is
crucial, although not always reflected in
the architecture. “When I talk with my
parents about the way we build mosques
like these opaque fortresses, they agree it
is not presenting the right image – there
is all this mystery about how people of
non-mainstream religions practise and
that opaqueness makes room to create that
negative narrative, whereas if you operate in
a transparent way in the way you worship,
then there is nothing to hide.”
Like many family members of those killed
in last year’s mosque attacks, Alayan is unsure
about the need to mark the anniversary. He
will attend if his family goes, “But in terms
of the pageantry of commemoration, as a
family and probably as a community we are
less interested in that. For me and my family,
there’s that guilt about being over-exposed.
You do see pockets of the New Zealand public
being uncomfortable with the amount of
attention this event has garnered – maybe
those comments stem from a racist angle,
but we need to be sensitive about the way we
commemorate things. I know it is something
we are dealing with as a nation – this didn’t
just shake the Muslim comm unity, it shook
the core of the nation and the Christchurch
community as a whole – but I would not
mind having less, or at least doing things in
the most simplistic way possible.
“For my family, the policy changes and
the progress made in regard to racism in
general have been a major step forward in
addressing immigrant issues, but there are
still indigenous issues waiting to be solved
meaningfully, so hopefully this is a step for-
ward in becoming a better society, rather
than a better society for Muslims.” l
THE HEALING PROCESS
F
or Muslim families,
especially those who
have lost loved ones,
this year will be dif-
ficult. Already, two
weeks before the anni-
versary service, a threat
on an encrypted chat app accompanied
by a photograph of a masked man in
a car outside the Al Noor Mosque in
Christchurch was posted anonymously
to more than 2000 followers.
On Wednesday, Canterbury police
searched a Christchurch address in
relation to the threat and a 19-year-
old man was charged on an unrelated
matter. Canterbury district commander
Superintendent John Price said the shar-
ing of the image was causing significant
distress and anxiety within the commu-
nity. “This type of imagery has no place
in Aotearoa New Zealand. It is abhorrent
and will not be tolerated.” He said the
image had been referred to the chief
censor to ascertain whether it should be
classified as objectionable material.
Anjum Rahman, spokesperson for the
Islamic Women’s Council of New Zea-
land, says they were expecting this “and
possibly worse things”. She says racist
and xenophobic extremists had been
“emboldened” by the March 15 attack.
As well as the one-year anniversary
this month, the royal commission of
inquiry is expected to finally deliver its
report in April and the man accused of
the shootings will stand trial in June.
“So, this year will be a traumatic year
for the community,” says Rahman.
“We understand why [the anniversary
events] need to happen, but it is more
for the wider communities; it is more
of a national collective grief. For a lot
of Muslims, it is not something we do –
people have passed; reliving that is not
something [people] feel comfortable
with.”
Even for people who have been
coping reasonably well, says Clare
Shepherd, project leader for Mana Ake, amental-health and well-being programme
for schools, “The anniversary, the trial- sometimes these are trigger points for
some people.” Although some people
needed immediate help to settle and
realign themselves, “We don’t know what
to expect or how often people will need
to access support over time. So let us just
watch and learn and be ready.”
A Canterbury District Health Board
review of international literature on mass
shootings, particularly in the US, Finland
and Norway, shows about a third of
children and young people exposed to
a life-threatening event will experience
symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder
during the first two years, with level of
exposure, emotional sensitivity, lack of
expressive ability, gender, immigrant status
and poor family and social supports all
contributing to the risk.
But the situation in Christchurch is
unique. The perpetrator live streamed
the attacks on social media, thereby
multiplying the number of “witnesses”.
The victims were targeted in mosques, a
venue normally associated with peace and
security; and there was a delay for families
to receive the bodies of those killed (rapid
preparation of bodies for burial is integral
to Muslim funerals).
Many of the survivors also have a
history as refugees. “So they were reliving
trauma they have already had,” says
Rahman.
And it took time to build the required
cultural competency and gender balance
in the health workforce. Psychiatrist, GP
and Muslim mental-health researcher‘It is like putting salt
on the cut again’
Her three-year-old
daughter has been told
her father is in “God’shouse”. “We don’t tell
her anything about [theshootings]. We can protect
her from that information.Growing up in
Christchurch, Alayan
experienced the physical
and spiritual environment
of the mosque as a
kind of “third space”.