LOCAL Muslim man Ishmail Saidi has condemned this week’s terrorist attacks, claiming they don’t represent the majority of Muslims.
“I am so upset by this (the attack); it is terrible to think these inhumane terrorists call themselves Muslims,” a distraught Saidi said.
“They are not Muslim, they do not represent anything that is Muslim.”
The Afghani refugee, who has settled in Swan Hill after fleeing his war-torn homeland, also offered his sympathy to the people of Paris.
“The people of Paris are my brothers and sisters,” he said.
“I am an Afghani refugee and we (his countrymen and women) have spent many years being attacked by terrorists who claim to act from the Koran.
“The Koran teaches that if you kill just one person, it is the equivalent of killing the whole world. Their actions are not respecting the Koran.”
Saidi said many of his Muslim friends on Facebook had changed their profile pictures to the French flag as a mark of respect.
” I do worry that people won’t understand the differences between Muslims,” he said.
“And terrorists do not represent the majority of Muslims. We are all humans, all brothers and sisters. We do not support violence or acts of terrorism.”
Saidi left Afghanistan in 2010 to embark upon a three-year arduous journey to freedom. He left behind a wife and four young children. His route took him to Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia and then Indonesia.
He spent a year in a refugee camp in Indonesia where he did not have access to a telephone for several weeks to advise his family he was alive.
He was released under a refugee card which allowed him to leave the camp but remain in Indonesia.
Eighteen months later, he then made the trip to Australia and finally felt safe.
For more on this story, grab a copy of Friday’s Guardian (November 20).
