Christchurch shootings: As more are buried, emotional prayer service planned in New Zealand

Updated Date: 3/21/2019

Category: Clebrations news

Six funerals took place on March 21, including for a teenager, a youth soccer coach and a Muslim convert who loved connecting with other women at the mosque.

Thousands of people were expected to come together for an emotional Friday prayer service led by the imam of one of the two New Zealand mosques where 50 worshippers were killed in a white supremacist attack.

Six funerals took place on March 21, including for a teenager, a youth soccer coach and a Muslim convert who loved connecting with other women at the mosque.

Imam Gamal Fouda said he is expecting 3,000 to 4,000 people at Friday’s prayer service, including many who have come from abroad to be with members of Christchurch’s Muslim community and to attend funerals.

Mr. Fouda said he has been discussing plans for the prayer with city officials and lawmakers and expects it will take place in Hagley Park, a city landmark across from Al Noor mosque, where at least 42 people were killed. Members of the Linwood mosque, where the gunman killed at least seven people, also would attend the joint prayer, he said.

Al Noor workers have been trying feverishly to repair the destruction at the mosque, Mr. Fouda said. They will bury the carpet,” he said. “Because it is full of blood, and it’s contaminated.” Mr. Fouda said that he expects the mosque to be ready to open again by next week and that some skilled workers had offered their services for free.

 The support we have been getting from New Zealand and the community has been amazing,” he said.

During Friday prayers last week, Mr. Fouda had just finished the Khutbah, a sermon delivered in Arabic, and was translating it into English in when the gunman burst into the mosque and methodically gunned down worshippers.

Mr. Fouda said his sermon had been about cooperating with each other, doing good and stopping evil.