Sanjida Jaman Neha and her newborn daughter Noor e Omar - named after the father she will never meet, and the mosque where he died. Photo / Janneth Gil
Sanjida Jaman Neha and her newborn daughter Noor e Omar - named after the father she will never meet, and the mosque where he died. Photo / Janneth Gil
A baby girl born this week has been named after her father who was killed in the Christchurch mosque attack.
Noor e Omar, who arrived on Tuesday, has been named in memory of the father she will never meet, Mohammad Omar Faruk, and the city mosque Masjid Al Noor wherehe was shot dead on March 15 this year.
She is the first child of shooting victims to be born since the attack.
"This girl is very special," says a University of Canterbury PhD student who has taken in mother Sanjida Jaman Neha and another Bangladeshi widow since the tragedy.
His 20-year-old wife Neha, living back in their native Bangladesh, was four months pregnant with his child.
Days after the massacre, Neha flew to Christchurch to figure out first-hand just what happened, piece together her husband's final moments, and explore what her future holds.
"We were so excited and happy. We had so many dreams together, for our family," Neha earlier told the Herald.
They got married in Bangladesh on December 29, 2017.
Omar Faruk died at Masjid Al Noor in Christchurch during the March 15 shootings. Photo / Supplied
Faruk had been working in Christchurch as a welder since 2015 with plans to bring his wife and child out to New Zealand to build a home together.
Neha didn't think her husband was at Masjid Al Noor on Deans Ave when news came through about a mass shooting.
On the morning of March 15 – late at night for her, with Bangladesh six hours behind - Neha kept calling her husband.
"I was very restless that night," she told the Herald in July.
"I kept calling him until very late. Finally he asked me nicely that I should go to sleep."
Faruk had expected a long day working outside at a construction site on a moody autumn day.
At around lunchtime, it started to rain and his boss said he could knock-off early.
Faruk hardly ever got the opportunity to attend Friday prayer at the golden domed mosque across Hagley Park as work came first and his religion allowed that. He would usually just pray in his own time.
"He would have been very excited to go to the mosque that day. He was a very pious and humble man," Neha says.
He arrived at the mosque at around 1.30pm and caught up with some mates.
When the shooting started shortly after, Faruk and his friends also tried to escape.
Chaotic scenes with family members trying to reach loved ones after the March 15 shootings in Christchurch. Photo / AP
As they ran for their lives, Faruk was shot in the back.
Another friend Motasim Billa was wounded in the thigh. Monir Hossain had a close shave, with bullets slicing through his T-shirt but missing his body.
In the rush and terror, Hasan Rubel couldn't get out of the mosque's main hall in time and was shot in the stomach and legs. He'd spend six weeks in hospital.
Faruk was not so lucky. Neha was later told he died on the spot. But it took her an age to find out if he was alive or dead.
It wasn't until the next afternoon – more than 24 hours after the attack - that she got the fateful news: Faruk was dead.
Neha says she wants to stay in New Zealand and raise her child here.
"I want to give her a better future. That was Faruk's dream too," she says.
