A Muslim worshipper, who was among the first people who lost their lives in New Zealand’s worst mass shooting to date, had greeted his attacker with “Hello, brother!”.
In the video which was live-streamed by the terrorist, the man could be overheard saying “Hello, brother!” to the assailant before he was martyred.
In just 36 minutes on Friday afternoon, 49 Muslims were martyred at two Christchurch mosques, leaving more dead than there were murders in all of last year.
Sympathisers took to social media to hail the man who greeted the attacker, as soon as latter approached the entrance of the Al Noor mosque in central Christchurch.
“‘Hello brother’ a word came out of a pure soul filled with a peaceful faith. ‘Hello brother’ was said to a killer with a rifle pointed to this greeting. ‘Hello brother’ he said thinking that he is talking to a human with soul and feelings. ‘Hello brother’ was shot dead,” said one Twitter user.
“The first Muslim man to die, his final words were ‘hello brother’. These words were uttered by a man who symbolised Islam. He had a rifle pointed at him by a man with clear intentions to kill and how did he respond? With anger? With aggression? No, with the most gentle and sincere greeting of ‘hello brother’,” wrote Aziz Helou on Facebook.
My heart is broken today.
What happened in New Zealand’s Mosque hurts me to the core.
A man greeted the TERRORIST, “hello, brother!” before getting gunned down and lost his life.Sick & twisted.
I’m praying for the victims.#NewZealandMosqueShooting
— Nessie Judge (@nessiejudge) March 15, 2019
A Muslim worshipper, who lost his life in the terrorist attack in New Zealand, greeted his attacker with the words “Hello, brother”, moments before he was shot dead.
“Hello, Brother” were the last words of the first #NewZealand victim. As he faced a rifle, his last words were peaceful words of unconditional love. DO NOT tell me that nonviolence is weak or pacifism is cowardice. I have seen the face of God. #HelloBrother#NewZealandShooting
— SharonBohn 🌊🗽 (@BookishBeachBum) March 15, 2019
#Hellobrother and the reply was three
bullets “بأي ذنبٍ قُتِلت”— ldj (@Ieendus) March 15, 2019
On the sombre streets of Christchurch, Jeremy Mitchell said it was “surreal” such a massacre could happen in New Zealand.
“I think everyone in the community is 100 per cent in support of the Muslim community and the Muslim families who have lost their loved ones.
“We want to say we have no part of that (massacre) and we don’t believe what (the gunman) believes.”
