Women in New Zealand wear hijab in solidarity with Muslims, hashtag #HeadScarfForHarmony trends

By
JKR Staff
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Days after New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wore a hijab to meet the families of the Christchurch terror attack victims, her act has inspired hundreds of thousands of women in the country to follow suit. Yesterday was the first Friday since terrorist Brendon Terrant mercilessly killed 50 Muslim worshippers. Women in New Zealand decided to show their solidarity with Muslims and the victims of the terror attack.

New Zealand

Soon, hashtag #HeadScarfForHarmony gained popularity as women up and down New Zealand began to post their pictures of themselves wearing scarves. Several TV anchors and reporters covering the memorial event of the terror attack decided to carry out their journalistic duties by donning the Islamic headscarf.

One of them was The AM Show news anchor Amanda Gillies, who was quoted by Arab News, “There’s no way a week ago that I would have, because I would have thought it would have been deemed inappropriate, not right, that I was insulting the Muslim community.”

She added, “I’ll be honest – I did angst over it today whether I should wear it, because I didn’t want to be inappropriate or offend the Muslim community. But I know that they are so welcoming and accepting of it, and I know that a lot of women will wear it today because it just shows that we are united – the solidarity is there, the love and support is there.”

Among those who wore hijab at work in an extraordinary act of solidarity were police officers, office goers and students.

Hair stylist Gemma Skye Woods was quoted as saying, “At work in our hair salon today took part in #headscarfforharmony we are from #Christchurch, NZ and our hearts broke when the attacks happened last week on our mosques. We had scarves for clients to take for free if they wanted to take part and many did.”

User Kaya Ko from Germany wrote on Twitter, “Today we all have to stay together, we are one❤ in solidarity with all Muslims.”

One user Asrul Muzaffar posted several photos of women posing in scarves while working at an office and at a pharmacy.

One user Jin Russel tweeted, “My husband dropped our boys off at daycare. Our littlest has three teachers in his room, and today, two of the teachers were wearing a headscarf in support of the third – a young muslim teacher (who is incidentally my little one’s fav). NZ, you are amazing #HeadScarfforHarmony.” User @IndieKiwi wrote, “#HeadScarfforHarmony We support our Muslim brothers and sisters”

User Beth Wise tweeted a photo of herself with one of her Muslim friends and wrote, “Standing in solidarity with our brothers and sisters today. We love ALL New Zealanders. Kia Kaha #HeadScarfforHarmony #scarvesinsolidarity.”

Twitter has been flooded with similarly moving photos of solidarity shown by women in New Zealand. Meanwhile, Dubai’s iconic Burj Khalifa painted the world-famous structure with the photo of New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern with the Islamic greeting ‘Salaam (peace).”

Dubai’s ruler His Highness Sheikh Mohammed wrote on Twitter, “New Zealand today fell silent in honour of the mosque attacks’ martyrs. Thank you PM @jacindaardern and New Zealand for your sincere empathy and support that has won the respect of 1.5 billion Muslims after the terrorist attack that shook the Muslim community around the world.”

The terror attack on mosques in New Zealand on 15 March had killed 50 Muslim worshippers. The New Zealand Police had later arrested the terrorist, an Australian national. The government in New Zealand later changed its gun laws, banning the sophisticated military assault rifles.