Muslim widower forgives killer, says, “wish I could hug him”

One of the most moving reports to come out of New Zealand, which is trying to cope with the slaughter of 50 Muslims in a Christchurch mosque by a 28-year old Australian supremacist, concern a couple who had migrated from Bangladesh.

Husna Ahmed (44) was shot dead from behind when she went back into the mosque to help her husband on wheelchair. She had led a group of women and children out of the mosque to safety before rushing back, unaware that her husband had wheeled himself out and was hiding behind their car parked outside.

Farid Ahmed’s account has been resonating in international media since then because he was quoted by New Zealand Herald as saying that he bore no ill will for the killer, that he had forgiven him, that he wished he could hug him.

Ahmed (59), a quadriplegic since 1998 when he was hit by a drunk motorist, said he could simply ‘ not hate’ the killer.

'I was asked ''how do you feel about the person who killed your wife?'' and I said 'I love that person because he is a human, a brother of mine''',' he told the New Zealand Herald.

Mr. Ahmad said he had forgiven the gunman and believed that good would eventually come from the killing. “This is what Islam taught me,” he said, reported The Daily Mail.

“What he did was a wrong thing, but I would tell him that inside him, he has great potential to be a generous person, to be a kind person, to be a person who would save people, save humanity rather than destroying them,” Mr. Ahmad said. “I hope and I pray for him that he would be a great savior one day. I don’t have any grudge,” the report went on to quote.

'Maybe he was hurt, maybe something happened to him in his life … but the bottom line is, he is a brother of mine.'I have forgiven him and I am sure if my wife was alive she would have done the same thing.'

'I was trying to grieve and it came to me then that I wish I could give him a hug. Some people might call me crazy but I speak from my heart, I am not pretending - if I got an opportunity I would hug him,' he said.

"I believe that some people, purposely, they are trying to break down the harmony we have in New Zealand with the diversity," he said. "But they are not going to win. They are not going to win. We will be harmonious."