Ras Al Khaimah: A month has passed since the tragedy at Marib in Yemen, and family members are slowly mustering the strength to cope with the loss of their loves one who were martyred.
As the two youngest daughters of martyr Mohammad Saeed Al Khatari, 43, walk from the school bus to their home, their eyes sunken in their stern faces, Fatima, 8, and Ayesha, 10, whisper softly to each other as they walk to their bedrooms and try to end the day the best way they know how.
“Everything they do these days, they do in memory of their father. The children read the Quran and pray as much as they can, but they hardly eat, and it is at times like these when your faith in Allah has to be the strongest because otherwise, it would be impossible to deal with this,” said Umm Saeed, the widow of Mohammad.
After her husband was martyred while taking part in the Saudi-led operation aimed at driving out Al Houthi rebels in the eastern province of Marib in central Yemen near the border with Saudi Arabia, Umm Saeed was left with four children to care for.
“The day before my husband left, he was sitting in the living room with our extended family members and said that if anything happened to him, the one thing he wanted us to promise was that we would not cry.”
When Al Khatari’s family learnt of his passing, Umm Saeed explained that she felt as if her heart had been ripped apart and the pain she felt was almost too much to bear.
‘Proud to be his wife’
“But I have to be strong for my children, and I did make a promise to my husband that I would not shed a single tear. I thank Allah for making a martyr out of my husband and I am very proud to have been his wife.
“He was the kindest, most generous man I ever met, and always put his family first,” she said.
“I pray all day and think of my husband all the time, and the children have been so strong.
“Instead of using their lunch money at school, they use it as sadaqah [charity] in the name of their father. My eldest son prays at the mosque every day now.
“If I could, I would take a gun and run off to fight in Yemen as my beloved husband had done,” she said.
