Thousands of Muslims have attended the funeral for two men killed in a car crash on New Year’s Day in Hong Kong, offering prayers for the deceased and condolences to the families.
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The ceremony was held at the Masjid Ammar and Osman Ramju Sadick Islamic Centre in Wan Chai on Friday for Ihtsham Ali, 30, and Mohammad Faisal, 34, who died in the early hours of Wednesday, along with a third victim, Mohammad Nadeem Adalat.
“For their families, every new year for the rest of their lives will just keep reminding them of this,” said Aizaz Khan, a 31-year-old who went to the same secondary school as Faisal. “It is very sad and heartbreaking.”
Now a professional cricket player for the Hong Kong team, Khan recalled playing the sport against Faisal and remembered his former schoolmate as “nice and soft-spoken”.
The funeral started after Asr, one of the daily Islamic prayer times, with the two bodies laid out on stretchers being carried to the centre at around 4.40pm.
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Many of the Asr attendees chose to stay for the Janazah prayer, a special ceremony to seek pardon and send blessings for the deceased.