A Muslim father forgives

A tragic accident in Sydney brings out the best in Islam

Michael Cook | Nov 10 2017 | comment

This week Sydney was shaken by a tragedy – the accidental deaths of two eight-year-old boys. A 52-year-old mother of four drove a Toyota Kluger through the wall of a Year 3 classroom at Banksia Road Primary School in the suburb of Greenacre. A number of other children were injured.

Many Muslims live in Greenacre and both the driver, Mrs Maha Al-Shennag, and the family of one of the two children were Muslim.

Police are still investigating how the accident happened. It’s possible that the woman may have dropped a water bottle and accidentally stepped on the accelerator, sending her vehicle careering across the car park into the wall of the school.

What is remarkable is the forgiveness shown by the father of the Muslim boy, Jihad Darwiche, who was buried on Thursday. (The other boy’s name has not been released.)

In a moving Facebook video, the father, Raed, spoke through a friend who was driving him to the burial in a hearse. The friend, Ahmad Hraichie, says that despite loose talk in their community about retaliation, Raed had forgiven Mrs Al-Shennag.

“The father says, all this stuff happening about the threats to this lady and the abuse is not from them. No retaliation is coming from the family of the boy, they have forgiven. If anything, they want to sit with this lady and talk with her and tell her, we forgive you.
“But as you know, right now, it is a hard time with funeral and all the people that are visiting. But, inshallah, once it’s over, she is welcome to come and sit with the family, to have a meal and to talk about how they can move forward with this problem, what’s happened.
“So please brothers and sisters, nobody abuse the school. The school had nothing to do with it. This is the will of the creator, he has ordained this, this was written.”

It was just an accident, says Mr Darwiche. “an honest mistake, it could have happened to any of us.”

Most people in Western countries know very little about the spirituality of Muslims. This heart-rending tragedy gives an insight into Islam at its best. “This is the way a proper Muslim acts in a time of calamity and tribulation,” says Mr Hraichie in the video. “You heard it from the father himself: When a calamity hits you, you say ... to Allah we belong, to Allah we return.”

Michael Cook is editor of MercatorNet.

November 10, 2017

The mass shooting in Texas last Sunday has inevitably stoked the gun debate. Although the aftermath of such terrible events is witnessed worldwide, it is difficult for people outside the United States to understand the attachment of Americans to private gun ownership. However, our associate editor Zac Alstin has thought hard about this question and has come to a startling conclusion -- that America may need more guns, not fewer. Sheila Liaugminas for her part is grieved that a common expression of sympathy has been politicised.

For another perspective on untimely deaths check out the story we ran on Wednesday on opioids, which are now the top cause of accidental death for all Americans under 50, outstripping car crashes, HIV and guns. How does a boy grow into a young man who destroys himself, or other people? We have to answer that question, as well as control the drugs and guns.

And for inspiration, see Michael Cook's note about the deaths of two young boys in Sydney as a result of a driver losing control of her car -- and the marvellous forgiving attititude of a Muslim family who lost a child.

Among other articles: Shannon Roberts highlights how an Orthodox Patriarch inspired a baby boom; Peter Kopa writes passionately from Prague about the need to finally free ourselves from Marxism; and Jennifer Lahl gives a thorough run-down on the sordid truth about surrogacy contracts. Is the new Murder on the Orient Express is worth seeing? this review might help.