Ibrahim Faraji still carries the marks from trying to save his baby. His legs and arms are scratched, a mix of injuries from trying to rescue 6-month-old Marian Omar from her burning bedroom and from his wife trying to keep him out of the flames. emailprint 5
With a group of men of the Islamic community, Sidi Mwalimu prays over the casket of Marian Omar, the 6-month-old infant who died in the deadly fire on Dudley Ave. Sunday morning in Utica. The funeral took place at cemetery owned by the Bosnian Islamic Association on Cosby Manor Road in Deerfield Monday, March 10, 2014.Tina Russell / Observer-Dispatch | With a group of men of the Islamic community, Sidi Mwalimu prays over the casket of Marian Omar, the 6-month-old infant who died in the deadly fire on Dudley Ave. Sunday morning in Utica.
The funeral took place at cemetery owned by the Bosnian Islamic Association on Cosby Manor Road
The Utica Fire Department responded to a structure fire at 1508 Dudley Ave. at about 10:10 a.m. Sunday.
A 6-month-old infant, Marian Omar, was trapped and died in a second-f…
UTICA
Ibrahim Faraji still carries the marks from trying to save his baby.
His legs and arms are scratched, a mix of injuries from trying to rescue 6-month-old Marian Omar from her burning bedroom and from his wife trying to keep him out of the flames.
“I lost a child, but I thank God I have everyone else,” he said, speaking through an interpreter. He, his wife and four other children escaped Sunday’s fire that claimed Marian and their second-floor apartment at 1508 Dudley Ave.
“God gives to me and God takes away,” he added.
Sunday came and went in a whirl of flames, smoke and grief. But with Monday came the aftermath: The time-sensitive burial, prayer and mourning.
Somali-Bantus from places such as St. Louis, Texas, Vermont, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts drove hours to help comfort Faraji and his family through the ordeal.
Monday morning, cars lined the long driveway butting against the mostly-empty Islamic cemetery owned by the Bosnian Islamic Association of Utica on Cosby Manor Road.
The men — some who had traveled more than a dozen hours overnight to be there — exited to bury Marian while women stayed in the cars following Islamic custom.
A small grave was dug in the frozen ground at the edge of the fenced-in property, small enough to fit Marian’s coffin — a fraction the size of an adult’s.
Mohamed Ganiso, a Utican and member of the Somali-Bantu community, said much of Faraji’s family drove from St. Louis overnight. That family is not just by blood and marriage. Ganiso said that Somali-Bhantus gather from across the country for two different reasons: weddings and funerals.
“You don’t need money. You just need family,” he said.
Imam Adan Hersi led the prayers, asking Allah for forgiveness, praying for Marian and themselves, Ganiso said after the ceremony.
Others not in the Somali-Bantu community expedited the burial to fit Islamic customs. Instead of a full autopsy, traditional after such a fatal accident, a more Muslim-appropriate examination was done to determine the cause of death only hours after the body was recovered. Imam Najeeullah, president of the Muslim Community Association, said County Executive Anthony Picente was elemental in that process.
The only other Somali burials Ganiso had attended at that cemetery were two children that died too young, he said. One died at birth, and another after being born premature.
When children die, “we like to say God did not put your life here, it is somewhere else,” he said.
The scene at 310 South St. was different: Rooms filled with Somalis gathering together, pots stewing with food on stoves, occasional laughter.
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