ONE of the Fijian victims of the Al Noor mosque shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand has been described by his family as a “loving and caring” man who never missed any prayer at the mosque.
Ashraf Ali died after he was shot while praying at the Al Noor mosque during Friday’s terror attacks.
His son-in-law Rizwan Ali yesterday paid tribute to a man he said was “humble, kind and always generous”.
Mr Ali, formerly of Nakasi, had been living in Christchurch for the past 20 years.
Around 12pm last Friday, the 62-year-old retiree decided to go to the Al Noor mosque to pray — something he did every other day. “He goes there every day,” Rizwan said.
“After 1.40pm last Friday, our family members started calling us and when we were calling him, he wasn’t answering his phone, that’s when we panicked.
“My father-in-law was a great man. There are really no words I could use to describe him.
“He was always on time to the mosque every day. He never missed any prayer.
“We are all grieving right now, but we are coping.”
Mr Ali was one of the 50 members of the Muslim community in Christchurch who were gunned to death by a gunman who stormed the Al Noor mosque and the Linwood mosque on Friday.
His brother Shabir Ali last met Ashraf when he visited them at their Nakasi home in May last year.
“His son called us on Friday that he couldn’t find his father,” said an emotional Shabir.
“This is the first time this has happened in our family. He was a very decent man.” Shabir hopes to finalise all his travel documents this week to travel to NZ for his brother’s funeral.
