Dear Messenger,
As I read the words of Khadijah Ilyas, mother of Ibrahim,[in ‘In Memory of Tarek’ Messenger issue 78] my whole body filled with dread. Why? Because I have a son, the thought of losing him fills me with such sorrow, but the thought of losing him through gun or knife crime – well it doesn't bear thinking about, but think about it we must.
Soldiers… Martyrs!! Do these young people know what that really means? Oh of course they do because they know everything… they think, except the pain of losing a child. I say ‘child’ because no matter how old they are they will still be the child of their parents. This is a pain thank God I do not know, and I pray I never will.
My heart goes out to parents like Khadijah.
Tarek’s father wrote that he was living in one world while Tarek was living in another with his friend, what friends, now will they feel they have to shoot or knife another parents child to get even?!
Where does it end?
As Khadijah said just walk away please, walk away from the drugs, walk away from the knife, walk away from the gun. Do not become the dead child of another mother or father.
Name and address supplied