| |
 Print
Christchurch Shooting: Baby Girl Named after Father She Will Never Meet
9-04-2019
A baby girl born this week has been named after her father who was killed in the Christchurch mosque terrorist attack, becoming the first child of shooting victims to be born since the attack, NZ Herald reported.
Mohammed Omar Faruk, 36, tragically left behind his pregnant wife when he was killed at the Christchurch city mosque Masjid Al Noor on March 15.
A University of Canterbury PhD student has since taken the young mother and another Bangladesh widow in since the tragic scenes unfolded in March.
“Neha [the mother] remained very upset throughout her delivery time and kept on crying for Omar. New Zealand owes a lot to this little one,” the student said.
Noor e Omar was born on Tuesday, August 27. The unique name pays tribute to the father she will never meet (Omar) and the mosque where he lost his life (Al Noor).
Faruk arrived in New Zealand on a skilled migration visa three years before his death after years working in Singapore.
He was working as a welder in Christchurch as the family’s main breadwinner and was hoping to bring his wife to New Zealand when he was shot.
“We were so excited and happy. We had so many dreams together, for our family,” the 20-year-old mother said.
Terrorist Brenton Harrison Tarrant killed 51 Muslim worshippers in March-15 attacks as he targeted Al Noor and Linwood mosques.
Islam in New Zealand is adhered by about 1% of the total population. Small numbers of Muslim immigrants from South Asia and Eastern Europe settled in New Zealand from the early 1900s until the 1960s.
Large-scale Muslim immigration began in the 1970s with the arrival of Fiji Indians, followed in the 1990s by refugees from various war-torn countries. The first Islamic center opened in 1959 and there are now several mosques and two Islamic schools.
Footnotes:
|