Lives cut short

The attack on Imam Zaman mosque in Khair Khana left 27 worshippers dead and 50 injured on August 25 last year.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on mainly women and children.
Khadija Mohammadi and her daughter Mariyam Moqadas Mohammadi who were praying on the second floor of the mosque were among the dead.
Khadija Mohammadi was born in a religious family in Shikh Ali district of Parwan province. She was illiterate having never been to school. She is remembered as a generous and kind woman with a heart of gold.
Mirza Husain, her husband, says, “Despite the many problems in our life she was ever smiling and urge me to be patient in the face of life’s challenges.”
His daughter Maryam Moqadas Mohammadi was born on December 4, 1999. Still a student she was learning the Holy Quran, and interpreting its decrees along with Arabic grammar. She was also taking English language courses but the attack cut her young life short.
Her sister Kawsar Mursal Mohammadi says she was at home when the TV began reporting the explosion in Imam Zaman mosque. “Since I knew that my family members would go to the mosque to pray I was very worried about everyone’s safety. I called my brother and father. My father said he, my brothers, my grandmother and my uncle’s wife were fine but he had no news of my sister and mother. My world went dark. I broke into tears and rushed to the mosque. We waited around the blast site until 5.30 pm in the hope that my mother and sister would come out and we could hug and pray in gratitude together.”
The attack on the Imam Zaman mosque lasted five hours. Friends and relatives of those believed to have been caught in the attack went to the Khair Khwah hospital where all the injured and dead had been taken.
Kawsar Mohammadi says that within minutes of reaching the hospital she met her brother. The tears in his eyes told her her mother was no more. “What of our sister Moqadas?” I asked. Her body had been taken to another hospital and it was brought home in half an hour.