Remembering the victims of the Christchurch Massacre
On 15 March, Friday, during the Jummah prayers, a terrorist attacked Christchurch Mosque gunning down 50 people of the Muslim community and injuring dozens of others. There have been a lot of media coverage of the terrorist in regards to this event and the way he live-streamed this heinous act, but now we focus on the lives lost and the families devastated by this act of extreme hate and racism. This act destroyed the lives of men, women, children alike and showed how hate can end the lives of innocent people.Mucaad Ibrahim was just a three-year-old kid who was in the mosque with his father and brother to pray the Jummah that afternoon. His brother, Abdi, said Mucaad was “energetic, playful and liked to smile and laugh a lot”. Atta Elayyan was a Kuwaiti born goalkeeper, who played for the Futsal Whites. Naeem Rashid and Talha Rashid were there for their Salat with Talha’s brother and Naeem’s son. Naeem was originally from Pakistan and used to teach at Christchurch. Talha, His son was just 21 years old, planning to get married very soon.Daoud Nadi, a 71-year-old, was born in Afghanistan but came to New Zealand in the 1980s. He was a great supporter of migrant groups and a Community Leader in his area. Farhaj Ahsan was an Engineer from India who had two very young kids, a Three-year-old and a Six-month-old.Hosne Ara Parvin was a Bangladeshi born woman, who went to the mosque with her paralyzed husband and was killed while searching for him when the shooting started. Sayyad Milne was a fourteen-year-old boy whose dream growing up was to become a football player. This is just a portion of the numerous lives lost in the massacre. Our prayers and heartfelt Du’a go out to them and their loved ones. May Allah SWT grant them peace and prosperity in Jannah. Ameen.
