Farewelled under a line of gum trees
His tiny body, fragile as a bird, barely filled half an open coffin.
Mucaad Ibrahim, 3, was carried aloft in a shroud, almost weightless, by 10 of his Somali family wearing long dark robes. Some of them reached in for a last embrace.
The youngest victim of the Christchurch terrorist attacks, he was buried after a combined funeral at Memorial Park yesterday.
Ibrahim, a brown-eyed boy described by family as constantly smiling, was born to a Somali family who had fled fighting in their home country 20 years ago. He was killed after becoming separated from his father in Al Noor Mosque, the first mosque to be hit by the gunman.
“Verily we belong to God and to Him we shall return,” his brother Abdi said after his short life was ended last Friday.
In all, 26 victims of the Christchurch terrorist attack were buried over two hours. A 27th, Mohamed Elmi, who died in a car crash after grieving with victims, was buried with them.
It was mourning on a scale rarely seen before in this country. A line of hearses 100 metres long were parked opposite the cemetery.
Five thousand mourners filled the grounds — the equivalent of a 10th of New Zealand’s Muslim population.
“We don’t do this every day,” an announcer said over the loudspeakers.
“We don’t bury 27 of our loved ones in a day, so please understand we are going to do things differently.”
The shrouded bodies were buried five at a time, with only six or eight family members allowed at the grave side because of space.
After a short prayer, they were held above heads to their graves and had dirt thrown over them by male relatives and friends. There was little time for ceremony, and another five bodies soon followed.
Indian Arifbhai Vora, 58, was buried alongside his son Ramiz Vora. Ramiz’s wife had given birth to a girl less than a fortnight before his death. They were killed in the tiny mosque in Linwood, where the second shooting occurred.
Ghulam Hussain and Karam Bibi, and their son Zeshan Raza, from Pakistan, were buried centimetres apart. They had been visiting their son in
We don’t bury 27 of our loved ones in a day, so please understand we are going to do things differently.
Announcer
Christchurch for the first time when they were gunned down in the Al Noor Mosque.
Naeem Rashid became one of the heroes of the terrorist attack after footage emerged of him trying to wrest the assault rifle from the gunman. He was buried yesterday alongside his son Talha, 21.
There was also Husna Ahmed, who was shot when she returned to the Al Noor Mosque to rescue her disabled husband.
The victims came from Palestine, Egypt and India. From Somalia and Pakistan.
And their days ended in a quiet corner of Christchurch’s eastern suburbs, under a line of gum trees.