Yassar Yaqub RIP

Reading the recent headlines about Yassar Yaqub,following the story on social media..here are my thoughts.

• I feel very sorry for his family. Seeing his mother sobbing on television made my heart hurt. I have lost people close to me so I can emphasise with her suffering. I pray to God to give her peace and allow her to handle the pain she is experiencing.
• On following the Justice For Yassar Facebook page: The racist, abusive messages about the deceased, the pingpong disgusting interactions between Facebookers with differing views on the page..OMG. What is the need for them to use this page to attack each other?. Everyone has an opinion, off course, but why are some people unable to articulate their views without resorting to namecalling and slurs?. 
• I did not know Yassar. The two images of him that come to my mind after media watching for a week are: A dangerous criminal, a low-life drug dealer who terrorised his town,then one day he was accidently killed in a planned police encounter? or a loving, law abiding spoilt son who was shot down in a premediated murder by racist Yorkshire police officers?. 
• If he was a danger to society then he should have been arrested that fatal evening, they should have put him before a court for sentencing. But maybe the police did not get a chance to follow this path, they tried to intercept him but failed so had to react in a pressurised situation so they had no choice but to shoot. An ambulance was on the scene so it is possible that they had tried to save his life.
• Yassar’s death has made me question my views on the UK police. Since childhood I have always seen them in a positive light, I think I wanted to be a police woman once as well but didn’t pursue this as in my desi family it is not an “honourable” job for an asian girl..only suitable for boys. The police in this country are not corrupt,they uphold the law, they are fair, they don’t take bribes like the police in Pakistan..this has always been my view. But now I am frightened, thinking that are the police anti-muslim and anti-asian?when they look at me will they see a British born and bred Asian girl or a rotten Muslim, another oppressed Pakistani?. 
• Only God knows what really happened, I always hear people saying when your time is up it’s up..a desi saying I have heard countless times is “Death becomes an excuse, a story to tell”. So Allah had written for his life to end, alone and in those circumstances on that tragic January evening?or did he write his own story by his actions which led to his death?, could there have been an alternative ending?. This always confuses me, Muslims believe that Allah has set the date of death on the day we are born, so how could Yassar have been saved when his story had been pre-set?
• I pray that Yassar’s soul is at rest. I hope justice is served for him if he was wronged. 
•  Most of all I pray for Peace, Unity and love in this world because my personal belief is that Black, White,Brown or Green..the colour of our skin does not matter. If we cut ourselves the blood is always Red, the blood that runs through our veins will always be Red. So underneath all our colour coded labels, we must not forget that we are one in God’s eyes.