Thousands pray for Pakistani student slain at Texas high school

Photo by Ahmed Sharma

A prayer service was held prior to the funeral for Sabika Sheikh. 

By Ahmed Sharma
ASAM NEWS

SUNDAY (May 19) was a dark and dreary day in Texas. Rain poured heavily as cars raced to attend the funeral services for Sabika Sheikh, a Pakistani exchange student who was one of 10 killed during last week’s school shooting in Sante Fe, a small town outside Houston.

Thousands of Muslims gathered at Masjid As-Sabireen mosque in Stafford, a city about 19 miles away from Houston, to pay their respects. The overflow crowd prayed outside on the sidewalk.

As the prayers began, voices clamored to delay services a few more minutes so other people could find parking and join in. Despite a majority of the participants not knowing Sabika Sheikh, even the rain and scarce parking did not deter people from coming to pray for her.

Directly after the services, Sheikh’s body was carried to a hearse and taken to the airport, so that she may be buried in her hometown of Karachi, Pakistan.

SABIKA SHEIKH

A majority of the attendees did not know Sheikh but one volunteer said, “she has no family here except her host family and it happened here in our city so of course we will pay our respects. It is [part of] our [faith] and she is our daughter and our sister in Islam.”Among the attendees were dignitaries like Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Texas Rep. Al Green.

A crowd formed inside the mosque as well to hear from Sheikh’s host family and friends. According to the host parents, they began fasting with Sabika Sheikh during the month of Ramadan. One of the daughters of the host family, Jaelyn Cogburn, fought through tears during her eulogy: 

“When I first started school, I didn’t know anyone. And I met Saika, and she didn’t know anyone either. And we became very close…She was so loyal to her faith and her country. And she loved everybody. She was the most amazing person I’d ever met, and I will always miss her.”

“Sabika’s case should become an example to change the gun laws,” Aziz Sheikh, Sabika’s father, told Reuters.  “I want this to become a base on which the people over there can stand and pass a law to deal with this. I’ll do whatever I can,” he said from Pakistan.

“One should not lose his heart by such kind of incidents,” he told the Associated Press. “One should not stop going for education to the U.S. or U.K., or China, or anywhere. One must go for education undeterred. But controlling such incidents is the responsibility of the respective governments.”

Sabika was in the U.S. as an exchange student under the YES program sponsored by the U.S. State Department.

Former Houston City Council member, M.J. Khan emceed the eulogies and prefaced by reminding everyone of the other nine children that were killed in the Santa Fe shooting and to offer prayers for them as well: 

“When you offer your prayers today, I know each and every one of you is mourning. Remember Aaron McLeod. Remember Christopher J. Stone. Remember Jared Black. Remember Christian Riley Garcia. Remember Angelique Ramirez. Remember Shauna Fisher. Remember Kimberly Vaughn. And the two teachers: Cynthia Tisdale and Glenda Perkins. And remember our beloved daughter, Sabika Sheikh.

After the Houston services, her body was sent home to Pakistan. Her father was at the Karachi  airport today (May 23) to receive her.

(Views from the Edge contributed to this report.)

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