Walking into the mosque in Oxford, a small vase of flowers sits on a table, a gift from another member of the Oxford community. 

According to MSA advisor Naeemul Hassan, many members of the community have sent flowers, reached out and sent emails. The effects of the New Zealand shooting that killed 50 people and wounded 50 others worshiping at two mosques in Christchurch has impacted our community 8,157 miles away. 

“Most of the members of our community have always been self-aware, given the rise of Islamophobia in today’s world,” Muslim Student Association member Norah Daghestani said. “But too now have more fear generated for Muslims to attend to their own sanctuary, has been a very difficult circumstance for Muslims, and it pains us deeply.”

The Mississippi Muslim Association and the Muslim Student Association at Ole Miss have released statements regarding the attacks in New Zealand. 

The Mississippi Muslim Association offers steps that they plan to take if they become aware of an imminent threat to their community here in Mississippi. They remind people to be on alert and to look out for suspicious behaviors.

“Report anything I mean anything to Law Enforcement,” Mississippi Muslim Association’s statement states.

“We have heard opinions from one student who shared concern about security,” Hassan said. “So he suggested if it is possible to kind of collaborate with the Oxford Muslim Society and request the police department have extra security during the Jumu’ah or the weekly prayers.” 

In MSA’s statement, they go through a series of “You and I” statements that call the community to be joined together. 

“There are so many Muslims and non-Muslims coming together to support one another in a time of utter sadness,” Haghestani said. “I have chosen to turn my focus more than anything on remembering the victims; by their names, their faces, and their beautiful stories that are told. I want to be inspired from who they once were, and learn from them to be a better human being.” 

The Muslim community here in Oxford works to foster relationships with people in the city. They welcome guests on Fridays, work with the religion department on campus and host different events. 

“We work the community in different activities,” Oxford Masjid Imam Khaled Elhawy said. “People are always scared by what they don’t know. I am encouraging people to listen to Muslims not listen about them from others.” 

Elhawy also speaks about making sure that people are careful about how they use their word.

“We should make our talks more peaceful and productive than destructive,” Elhawy said. 

He stated that if hatred was in the heart of people, then they can create damage with anything. 

“Being a religious leader, it abhors me that someone would go into a house of worship and harm innocent people,” Methodist Rev. Eddie Willis said. “It also makes us think about our humanity. Sometimes Oxford is in the news, and this is something that could very well happen to us. Hate is everywhere.”

The massacre in New Zealand has been the first mass shooting since 1997 states the article “New Zealand Went More Than 20 Years Between Mass Shootings” published in The Atlantic. 

The fact that people attack houses of worship is not a new idea. In an Associated Press article, “A Look at Attacks on Houses of Worship Over the Last Decade,” the article chronicles the different attacks across the world. 

Brenton Harrison Tarrant, the shooter in the terrorist attack, has been charged with murder. He also wrote a manifesto with anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim ideas. 

President Trump was named in the manifesto, but the White House has publicly condemned the attack and denies any link between President Trump and the shooting. 

Elhawy stated that he believes the concerns about President Trump occur because he is one of the biggest country’s presidents who started his term by banning people from traveling seven Muslim countries. 

Trump’s ban “suspends the issuance of immigrant and nonimmigrant visas to applicants from the Muslim-majority countries Libya, Iran, Somalia, Syria and Yemen — plus North Korea and Venezuela,” according to the article “Trump’s Travel Ban: How It Works and Who Is Affected” in The New York Times.

“Whatever people say affects others and affects their decisions and behaviors, so we really need to be concerned about these things,” Elhawy said. 

Feature Photo Taken From Google Maps