Loved ones and strangers united in grief Monday at the funeral of a 6-year-old Chicago-area boy who was killed because he was Muslim, officials say.

Wadea Al Fayoume was stabbed 26 times Saturday by his family’s landlord in Plainfield Township, Illinois, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said.

His 32-year-old mother, Hanaan Shahin, also suffered more than a dozen stab wounds, the sheriff’s office said.

Shahin’s serious injuries prevented her from attending her son’s funeral, said Ahmed Rehab, executive director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Chicago office. In accordance with tradition, deceased Muslims are buried as soon as possible after death.

The mother “will be feeling Wadea’s loss more than anyone, but she is forced to mourn alone rather in the warm embrace of family and community at this time,” Rehab said, adding she “is fighting serious bodily injuries at the hospital, not to mention the mental trauma of the gore she experienced and witnessed.”

The attack is now being investigated by the Department of Justice as a hate crime.

“This incident cannot help but further raise the fears of Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian communities in our country with regard to hate-fueled violence,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

The boy’s parents are from a village in the West Bank, Rehab said. Wadea’s mother moved to the United States 12 years ago, his father moved to the US nine years ago, and Wadea was born in the US.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker was among the mourners who attended Wadea’s funeral Monday, his office said.

“To take a six year old child’s life in the name of bigotry is nothing short of evil,” Pritzker said in a statement. “Every single Illinoisan – including our Muslim, Jewish and Palestinian neighbors – deserves to live free from the threat of such evil.”

Source: CNN

BDST: 0953 HRS, OCT 17, 2023
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