The thirty-sixth victim of the 2019 New Zealand mosque massacre was a thirty-six-year-old man named Junaid Ismail. Born and raised in Christchurch, the native Kiwi Muslim ran a corner dairy store with his twin brother Zahid (who thankfully survived the mass shooting that fateful day). Speaking through tears, in the aftermath Zahid told reporters “I would rather that I went than him. I’m the naughty twin; he was the better one.” Mr. Ismail’s cousin told a television reporter after the massacre: “I couldn’t find a more softly spoken, shy, beautiful personality. Whenever you met Junaid, you had to re-evaluate who you were as a person. He had that kind of effect on people.”

XREF: Connects to reporting on the 2019 Christchurch attack and the individual victims' lives, which often get overshadowed by the perpetrator's narrative.

QUESTION: The sheer number of victims in one attack is hard to register; worth reflecting on how each numbered victim had a full life.

Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Gl…, loc. 640