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Posted on 03/19/2019 9:43:13 AM PDT by Simon Green
A senior leader at the Deans Ave Mosque who lost his wife in the terror attack says he has forgiven the shooter.
Farid Ahmed says the extraordinary gesture to the man who killed so many of his friends is what his wife would have wanted.
The widower was first interviewed at the cordon on Friday shortly after the shooting broke out. At the time, he hadn't heard from his wife, and since then he's received terrible news.
Husna Ahmed ran classes for children at the mosque, while her husband gave sermons.
"She was probably more open than me; she could reach anyone, she was magnetic," Farid Ahmed told Newshub.
On Friday, their peaceful life came shattering down as a shooter tore through the mosque where they had served for 20 years.
"What she did when the shooting started, she organised the ladies and children to go out, she was leading them," Ahmed says.
The pair were in separate rooms, and Farid Ahmed - who uses a wheelchair - couldn't flee.
"I thought I was not going to come out, and I was prepared to die. That's why in the moment I just thought, 'No point in panicking, I'd better be calm and ready'."
Husna got the women and children together and led them to safety before going back to rescue her husband of 25 years.
"Then when they were in a safe place, she was coming back for me - and that is the time when she was coming towards the gate, that is the time," her husband says.
On Friday, waiting outside the cordon in the hours following the terrorist attack, Farid spoke to Newshub hoping his wife was okay.
"At this stage, I don't know where my wife is, she was in the ladies room," he said.
Then he got the worst news he could imagine. She had lost her life trying to save him.
On Sunday night, people have been their respects, remembering a woman renowned for kindness of her own - and despite the terrible act of hatred, Farid Ahmed has found a way to forgive the shooter.
"I love him to be honest," he says.
"I think probably he went through some trauma in his life, probably he wasn't loved... I don't hate him at all, I don't hate him at all, not at all."
Forgiveness is what Farid says is what his wife Husna would have wanted.
"She's brave, and she gave her life saving others," he says.
And despite his awful ordeal, he's has become a rock in his community
After breaking the worst news possible to his own daughter, he has spent the afternoon stepping in for his brothers and sisters.
He's been breaking in the bad news for other families who have lost loved ones, and taking on their emotional burden at the time of need.
His final message today was one we can all live by, no matter what we believe.
"If someone does bad to you, do good in return."
i agree completely.
Who’s the creature of hate? Him, or the person condemning the man who just lost his wife and is expressing his forgiveness for her killer?
You really ought to stop and reflect on the hatred you yourself are expressing towards a man you don’t even know.
That’s the point, I am not condemning anyone. We are dealing with Islam, “losing his wife” means something very different to him than it does to us. You assume that he is feeling the same feelings as we would. That’s my point, our understanding of love, hate, spouses are a product of our culture. Islam is not of our culture, it is based on hate. His wife, as a woman, is not as human being to him as our wife would be to us. We assume when this man “loses his wife” that he is experiencing the same feelings as we do, but that is merely an assumption. I am not condemning anyone just simply pointing out the facts. Sadly, many have to live among muslims or experience their hate for you to understand and sadly even then still refuse to accept what they see and know down inside.
I don’t hate the man. He is simply a product of a hateful culture.
Anyone here remember how Jesus acted towards those who were not Jews, but acted in a Godly fashion? (Remembering that anyone NOT a Jew, was considered a DOG)
Good grief, you called a man who just had his wife murdered "a satanic creature of hate". At least have the integrity to own up to what you're doing.
“Can muslim men and women worship in the same room?”
No. Women go in the basement or the upper room
Oh, no, you don’t hate anyone. You just posit that every Muslim is some kind inhuman monster who doesn’t feel anything like the same emotions as other (non-Muslim) people. Sorry, but the subtleties of your position are lost on me.
You said of him: "he has no capacity to love anyone, he’s happy to collect the life insurance and free to get another wife to abuse and oppress that is why he is happy.'
Your love for him is obvious. /s
I will believe what you say if you are a Muslim.
So why didn’t they say it like that?
Makes it sound like they were incidentally in separate rooms.
Agreed. There’s an abundance of low-life comments on here...not worthy of FR.
Post 8 was about what I was expecting. But you are right, many of the posts fall short of that, though a few exceed.
Of course. The whole thing is a ruse for open borders globalism and oppression of speech. Muslims are served by this in the long run.
Not during worship. They are segregated. A local feminist converted here after 9/11. She talked about how “freeing” it was that the women get sent to the balcony where they have to remain hidden from sight.
Post 8 was about what I was expecting. But you are right, many of the posts fall short of that, though a few exceed.
In the past few days, posts on the subject of this massacre have been roughly as follows;
25%: What a horrible tragedy.
25%: Whatever. They're only Muslims.
50%: LOL! A good start!
Y'know what? This site sucks, and I regret having been associated with it. There are some good people here, but they're outnumbered by the hateful, knuckle-dragging bigots.
I'm out of here. Zot me or not, I don't care.
To all I offended, I’m sorry. This is not about the “man” I did not say I love everyone, I love him or I hate him. Its the bigger picture of Islam. None of us know if he would have been just as happy to strap a bomb to his beloved wife and send her to her death for the cause of Allah. This event is NZ is the best thing to happen for Islam in a long time. The outpouring of support globally for Islam is remarkable. Could the man, (and No, I don’t know) love the shooter because of what this is going to do to promote the cause of Islam. His wife was sacrificed for the cause of Allah. A zealotry that Christians should have but most, including myself, lack. We all know what happened in Nigeria and has been going on for years there and all over the world. FR has documented the atrocities of Islam everywhere forever when the rest of the world looks away. Now Muslims are screaming for anti-speech laws against any thing critical of Islam world wide. This will only serve to move up the clock on worldwide Muslim domination where our wives and daughters will be nothing more than sex slaves of the Mohammadeans(sp). We all don’t think alike. Please excuse my use of harsh words and don’t succumb to the subtilies(sp) of the liberal media.
Simon Green quote:
“It’s not as if Free Republic really matters, any more than Democratic Underground does.”
Muslim apologist, atheist promoter (I know: dichotomy), you will not be missed.
Probably already has another wife, or a new one lined up no doubt.
Not while praying. The article says she taught children at the mosque, but I'm betting it was only female children. I highly doubt she'd have been allowed to teach males.
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