Peace award honours mosque hero
Farid Ahmed has been spreading message of love
Aman who escaped the terror attack at his mosque in Christchurch only to go back in and help others has won an international peace award. On March 15 Farid Ahmed and his wife, Husna, were at the Al Noor Mosque when a gunman stormed in and opened fire.
Husna hurried the women and children to safety and was shot dead as she ran back in to help her husband, who uses a wheelchair.
Farid managed to get out of the mosque but went back to try to find his wife and help others.
Since then he has been speaking at events around New Zealand and the world about forgiveness and love — which he extended to the accused killer in the days after the massacre.
This month Ahmed travelled to Abu Dhabi to speak at the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies.
About 45 faith leaders and advocates of tolerance were at the sixth annual assembly, focused on the role of religions in promoting tolerance.
At the event Ahmed received an award for promoting peace.
He said he was humbled by the honour, which he said was given as an acknowledgement for his “peace messages to the world through the message of love and forgiveness”.
Ahmed said he believed mankind “is one family and therefore we must treat one another with mercy”.
That fitted with the aim of the forum, where various religions join together to spread the message of peace and unity in the world.
Ahmed felt it was his job now to promote that message, and his late wife would have wanted him to do it following the tragedy.
“Any peace initiative in this world is good and it gives us hope,” he said. “It will motivate our next generation to strive harder for peace. If all good people stand together, that will be like a light which will remove the darkness of violence, hate and killing.”
Ahmed said after the attack New Zealand had shown an “outstanding expression of love and compassion”.
He said he enjoyed spreading his message and travelling the world to do so. It kept him busy, helping him heal after the loss of his wife and made him feel he was doing good in her name. “Whatever I did after the tragedy, I did not do it for any recognition or award,” he said.
“I did it as a duty towards my fellow human brothers and sisters for a better peaceful, and loving future.
“I took [ the award] as an honour to the martyred people who lost their lives in peaceful worship.”