Humanity Is One Family, Christchurch Mosque Attack Survivor Says
He has a message of thanks. In his own gentle way, he also carries a message of strength and hope.
His thanks is to the people of Nelson for their support to him and others in the wake of the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings where his wife Husna was among the 51 victims.
The hope is the message he has taken around the country and the world – his forgiveness for the terrorist, his belief “that humanity is one family”.
Farid and Husna, originally from Bangladesh, settled in Nelson and were married in the city in 1994.
Four years later, he suffered the first of his life-altering tragedies when a drunk driver struck him as he was waiting in the middle of Main Rd, Stoke, to cross to his job as a halal slaughterman in the meat works.
Given only a seven per cent chance of survival, he pulled through but was left a paraplegic.
The couple stayed in Christchurch to be close to specialist spinal facilities at Burwood Hospital, and became part of the Al Noor Mosque. It was there on March 15, 2019 that Husna was shot and killed as she went back to find her husband who had managed to escape in his wheelchair.
Asked if he ever felt ‘why me’, he replies, typically: “I think I’m chosen. I feel special.” It’s partly a philosophical response, he said, to cope, but it’s also a mindset of trying to find a positive angle when negative thoughts crowd in.
Farid was back in Nelson last week for only the second time in the last 24 years to film parts of a short documentary about his life by Christchurch-based Frank Films.
He also met Mayor Nick Smith to express his gratitude for the compassion and support he received from Nelson people after both his accident and the mosque shootings.
Farid told the Nelson Mail how he had reached his state of forgiveness, a path that started in the “very terrible time” after being run down.
For a month he had prayed that he would die peacefully, but he woke one day realising he had more to do. He began to study from his hospital bed, the teachings of Islam and the practice of homeopathy. One became his career and the other his voluntary calling to pass on what he learned to younger people.
His underlying message that we should love one another was the bedrock for his forgiveness that emerged in the hours after the shooting when he returned home. After a house full of supporters had left and it was just him and his daughter Shifa, he asked her how she felt towards her mother’s killer.
“I wanted to check whether she and I were on the same page.” She says straight away: ‘I can’t explain it but I feel sympathetic towards him.’
“And I say give me a reason. She says I was raised with love, comfort, but I have a feeling something was wrong in his life. Otherwise if he had the basic understanding as I have, then he could not have done that.”
Farid said the pair reached that position only for themselves, but the next day when a journalist pressed him on his feelings towards the shooter, his forgiveness became public.
“The forgiveness was inside me. I did not have to do any thinking, any editing to bring it out.”
Smith told Farid that his response in the climate of shock, grief and heightened emotions that followed the shootings had been really important for the country’s healing process.
“I was just filled with admiration for the way you and the Muslim community responded with love, not hate”.
For his part Farid said the outpouring of support for the Muslim community after the attacks “made us feel we were not alone. Everybody was with us. That made me cry.”
The mayor invited Farid back to Nelson to speak “and sow the seeds of love and understanding”, as well as resilience.
Farid said he would be happy to. “I would say my life has taken good shape and Nelson has contributed a lot to this.”
Source: stuff.co.nz
