The bravery and selflessness he showed with death staring him in the face is a source of inspiration for people across the globe.
During the July 1 terror attack at Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka, 20-year-old Faraaz Ayaaz Hossain refused to desert his friends and was brutally killed by the terrorists.
His sacrifice is now being recognised all over the world.
Yesterday, he was posthumously awarded Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice 2016 at a ceremony at the JW Marriott, Sahar, Mumbai.
Faraaz’s mother Simeen Hossain and elder brother Zaraif Ayaat Hossain received the award at the main banquet hall of the hotel. Everyone present at the programme stood up and welcomed the mother and son with a round of applause.
Former Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai and Mother Teresa’s disciple Sister Priscilla handed over the award to Simeen and Zaraif.
This is the first time the Harmony Foundation gave the award to a foreign hero posthumously.
Earlier this month, the Harmony Foundation named Faraaz, son of Simeen and Muhammad Waquer Bin Hossain, for the prestigious award.
Receiving the award, Simeen said, “I wanted to raise my son as a good human being.
“Faraaz did not leave his friends, the people he loved, and he did not act like a coward.”
The audience burst into applause, as she said, “For you, Faraaz, I am the proudest mother in this world.”
Faraaz was the grandson of Transcom Group Chairman Latifur Rahman and Shahnaz Rahman.
During the bloody siege at the upscale Gulshan café, the terrorists particularly targeted foreigners dining there. The gunmen were looking for “infidels,” taking a test as to who could recite verses from the holy Quran and who couldn’t.
Faraaz, a student at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in the US, recited from the holy Quran, and was given the chance to walk out of it all.
But he chose to stay with his friends — Abinta Kabir, a Bangladesh-born US citizen and a student at Emory University, and Tarishi Jain, an Indian student at the University of California, Berkeley — with whom he had gone to the café on that fateful night.
At one point during yesterday’s programme, former Indian union minister for new and renewable energy Farooq Abdullah and noted Indian filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt went up on the stage and talked to Simeen.
Trying to hold back his tears, Farooq told Simeen that she had indeed raised Faraaz as a true human being.
He then told the audience, “Let’s come and take an oath by holding hands that we will win the battle against terrorism. We would not use terrorism against terrorism; we’ll change hearts. This should be our pledge.”
Captivated, the audience took the solemn oath holding hands.
Earlier, Indian media quoted Simeen as saying, “When my son stood by his friends, including Tarishi who was an Indian, he represented true Islam while those who murdered them were monsters. I refuse to accept the terrorists were Muslims.”
Harmony Foundation President Abraham Mathai said, “Faraaz is a hero and we feel privileged to honour him.”
An audio-visual presentation on Faraaz was made towards the end of the programme. The last slide of the presentation flashed a photo of a smiling Faraaz, written beneath which were the words “He chose friends over life”.
The Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice is an initiative of the Harmony Foundation that recognises extraordinary work undertaken by individuals or organisations.
The award, instituted in 2005 in memory of Mother Teresa, is the only one in the world recognised by the institution she founded, the Missionaries of Charity, Kolkata.
Some of the past recipients are Médecins Sans Frontières, the Dalai Lama, Malala Yousafzai, Dr Mahathir Mohammad and Baroness Caroline Cox.
In July, Garden of the Righteous, a commemorative garden, was set up in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, in honour of five Muslim righteous individuals, including Faraaz.
source: Daily Star