His mosque was attacked. His answer was love. | Gamal Fouda | TEDxChristchurch

On March 15th, 2019, a terrorist walked into a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, and started firing. He ultimately killed 52 people and wounded 47 more. In a talk overflowing with grace and dignity, Gamal Fouda, the Imam of that mosque, talks about his journey from Egypt to New Zealand, from student to Imam... and, ultimately, from fear to love. Gamal Fouda is the Imam of the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, which was attacked by a white supremacist on March 15. 52 people died, including 44 from Al Noor.

A week after the event, Fouda led Friday prayers in Christchurch's Hagley Park, declaring that evil ideology will never triumph over love and unity.

He has since welcomed luminaries such as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Prince William, and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to the mosque, to discuss the Muslim community's response to the attacks and to hate speech.

Gamal’s work to unite religious communities started before the Christchurch attack; he has previously liaised with Martin Shulz and the German Social Democratic Party; the Grand Imam of Alazhar—the highest religious figure in the Muslim world; His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi; and the Secretary General of Muslim World League.

Gamal is originally from Egypt and moved to New Zealand in 2003. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Kia ora! Shalom. Tēnā koutou.

Frieden. 和平 Hépíng. Shaanti. Pyeonghwa.

Hello everyone my name is Gamal Fouda.

I am the Imam, or the Religious Minister

at Deans Avenue mosque
in Christchurch, New Zealand.

I am honored to address you today, and it
is my pleasure to share with you my story

and my journey when I first
came to New Zealand in 2003.

I went to Al Azhar University
in Cairo, Egypt.

I studied Islamic Theology,
and graduated in 1998.

For two years, I worked as an Imam,
or Religious Minister

in the ministry of
Religious Affairs in Egypt.

Then the president of
the Muslim Association

of Greater Rockford in
Illinois in the USA,

came to know about me from a friend,
who visited the USA.

He called me in Egypt to see if
I will agree to become an Imam

in their mosque in Rockford.

The congregation of that
Islamic center interviewed me

after one of the Ramadan
night prayers in the USA time.

It was early morning in Egypt.

The interview went very well and
they decided to offer me the job.

Few days later, the president of
the association flew to Egypt

and came to my village to visit me

and we went together to the Minister

of the Religious Affairs in Egypt to
actually get the approval and finish

the process and probably
get a visa to the USA.

Unfortunately, this was directly after
September 11th attack on New York.

It was early 2002.

The Egyptian officials told us that

it is not safe to send such a
young man to the USA.

Instead, they said they were
going to send me to

one of the safest countries in the world.

It was New Zealand.

We all thought it would be safe.

I searched the internet about
New Zealand, and unexpectedly,

I found it in the bottom of the world.

Initially, I thought that it must be
close to Holland or Switzerland in Europe.

I got really disappointed because
I am going to be sent to a country

in the bottom of the world which is very,
very far away from my home country.

Anyway, I started the process of my
posting to New Zealand as an Imam

in Palmerston North, in the lower
North Island of New Zealand.

I arrived in Palmerston North
in January 2003.

It was really hard for me to start my job
there as an Imam who

needs to address people in English.

I did not have long experience enough to
understand the Western mentality

so that I can address people
in the right way.

There was something else which
made me very anxious.

It is the feeling that people assume
that Muslims are bad people.

This stereotyping was the norm
of the day for many people

in the world at that time,
especially after September 11.

Sadly, it is still the norm today.

I felt very frustrated and
anxious at the same time.

When I arrived in Palmerston North,
believe it or not,

I stayed in the mosque
for around 4 months!

I never went out.

Frankly speaking, I was so scared
to go out and meet people out there.

I was very frightened to walk in the
street wearing the Imam uniform

because people will recognize me
as a Muslim, and they might harm me.

After 2 months, I started to go out
of my room and cautiously stood

by the gate and read the Holy Quran.

Whenever I hear any noise of a
car coming towards the mosque,

I quickly run inside to save my life.

I thought that if someone recognizes me,
he would kill me instantly.

You might wonder how I got my food then.

Well, people from the mosque
used to do shopping for me,

and sometimes generously
cook food for me as well.

One day I said to myself let me wear
a shirt and trousers,

so that people can not
recognize me as Imam.

The first person I met in the street
approached me and said, “Hello, bro.”

I asked myself, "What is this man saying?"

Later on, I asked a person
in the mosque who

lived in New Zealand for quite some time
about what the man said,

and my friend told me that this
is a short form of, “Hello, brother.”

I said to myself, “This is nice. People
here must be very peaceful then…”

Ladies and gentlemen:

On the 15th of March, 2019,

a terrorist walked into our mosque

when I was delivering my Friday speech.

One of our worshippers went up
to the man and said,

“Hello, brother.”

The terrorist killed him in cold blood,

along with other 51 people.

He wounded 47 more.

On March 22nd, one week
after the 15th of March terror attack,

I addressed thousands
of people in Hagley Park, and said,

“Hate will not divide us,
and love will redeem us.”

A week later, I visited Berlin Wall
and the Checkpoint Charlie, which was

a crossing point between East Berlin and
West Berlin during the Cold War.

I paid a historic visit to the
biggest Synagogue in Berlin,

where I addressed some
students and preachers.

I told them that Muslims
and Jews are siblings to each other.

The Jews felt the pain of
discrimination by Nazis.

Now Muslims are passing through
the same path of agony and disgrace.

After September 11, when many countries
participated in the “War on Terror,”

Islam and Muslims have frequently
been treated as public enemies,

and hate speech against them
has been widely normalised.

People assume that Muslims
and Jews are enemies.

But we are not.

Judaism and Islam and Christianity
are religions from God,

and God told us to love each other,
and work together

for the benefit of the people around us.

Religion is there for people
to learn how to love.

It is not there to build a wall between
you and the people around you.

Islam as many other religions in our
world teaches us to love each other

and to care about each other
and for each other.

Any religion that teaches violence
is not from the true God.

Who created you and me,
because God loves us.

He created us.

He cares for us.

We are from him.

He is our Creator.

He gave us everything.

He gave us our hearts, our eyes,
the power, the abilities,

the health and wealth.

Everything we enjoy is from God.

And it is His wisdom to make us different
from each other

in colour, in language, and beliefs,
so that we can enjoy this Earth together.

If you want to be a doctor and I want
to be a doctor and everyone

wants to be a doctor, who is going
to be a teacher

or a builder or a hairdresser?

If everyone wants the same tomato,

we end up killing each other for a tomato!

But it’s up to us, we need
to make good choices.

To work with each other
and to cooperate with each other,

and to care for each other.

Though we are different but we can still
enjoy each other and love each other.

New Zealand and the New Zealanders
have set a role model for the world

to emulate in peace and
harmony among its people.

New Zealanders must retain
and strengthen this beautiful image.

We are very proud that we
are together, we are not broken.

We have taught the world how to
care for and love our people.

We still have lots of work to do to
eliminate racism in our country.

We are not angels.

We are not perfect.

There are people there who
still need more education

to learn how to tolerate others
and understand others,

and accept others who
are different to them.

In 2038, half of New Zealand
will be immigrants,

which means that one day, we will
probably have an immigrant Prime Minister.

I have moved from my home country
to New Zealand, and now this is my land.

It is my place.

It is the place of my family.

It is the place of my children.

It is my tūrangawaewae.

I love this soil.

I love this place.

I love these people.

I love us, because we are one.

Diversity is the superpower
of any nation.

When people love and care for each other,
the whole nation

will be very strong and powerful.

When we hate each other,
the nation becomes weak and shattered.

The prophet Muhammad said,
“The believers are like one body.

When any part aches,
the whole body will feel the pain.”

I believe that when any one of us aches,
we all feel the pain.

That is what happened
on the 15th of March.

The whole nation felt the pain.

It was an attack on all of us,
not only against Muslims.

The Honourable Pope Francis,
the head of the Catholic Church,

and sovereign of the Vatican City State.

Dr. Ahmad Al-Tayyeb,
the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar in Egypt,

is the head of the vast majority
of Muslims around the world.

They together signed a historic
document on Human Fraternity

for World Peace and Living Together.

In this document, they invited
all people of good will,

believers and non-believers,
to reconciliation and fraternity.

They appealed to every upright conscience
to reject violence and blind extremism.

They reminded us of the greatness of
faith in God that unites

divided hearts and
elevates the human soul.

And they declared that God has created us
to understand one another,

cooperate with one another, and live
as brothers and sisters

who love one another.

We have been through a
terrible thing in this country.

The only way we can heal
is to love one another,

and to continue the role model
we have set to the whole world.

Hate will not divide us

if love unites us.

Thank you.