Imam: Families must take care

Imam Shiraz Ali, officiating at the funeral service for the teenager at the Nur E Islam Masjid in El Socorro, implored mourners to not let his death be in vain.

“Let us ask ourselves, ‘How am I living my life?’ Are we getting closer to the Creator and learning about Islam?” Ali said believers should recognise that Allah was in control of their lives.

“It belongs to Him. Our soul belongs to Him,” Ali said.

“We must have that conviction in our hearts despite the tragic circumstances. We must have faith despite the sadness we feel.” Muhammad, 15, of Moonstone Crescent, Edinburgh 500, Chaguanas, was gunned down last Thursday while playing cards at a shopping plaza in the central Borough.

Reports are that around 10 pm, Muhammad was with a group of men at Village Plaza, Edinburgh 500, when an occupant in a white AD wagon began shooting at the group. The card players fled the scene but Ali slumped to the ground.

A report on his autopsy, performed at the Forensic Sciences Centre, St James, revealed the teenager was shot 11 times in the head and upper body.

Muhammad’s father, Kameel, also met a tragic demise, one year ago, after, he too, was gunned down outside of his home in William Trace, Aranguez.

The teenager reportedly began acting out after his father’s killing.

Investigations are continuing.

Yesterday, Muhammad’s mother, Stacey Standard, other family members and friends, hugged one-another and wept openly as they celebrated her son’s too-short life.

Several of his sullen-faced schoolmates at the Carapichaima West Secondary School were among those who filed past the white coffin bearing their friend’s remains.

“I am just holding on as best as I can under the circumstances,” a teary-eyed Standard told Sunday Newsday after the funeral service.

Imam Ali told mourners that death was inevitable.

“Every soul is going to taste death,” he said.

Ali said Muhammad’s death must bring families closer together.

“Look out for each other.

What we can do now is get close to the family and offer support,” he said.