In the shadow of Turlington, they prayed.
They knelt and bowed, only the melodious chants of the Quran heard early Friday evening.
It was a daily observance of Muslim prayer, but that night it had a different meaning.
The prayer was a prelude to a UF vigil for the three victims of the Chapel Hill shooting. Students and UF faculty arrived at 6:30 p.m. on Turlington Plaza to pay their respects to Deah Barakat, 23, his wife, Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, and Abu-Salha’s sister, Razan Abu-Salha, 19.
Craig Hicks, 46, reportedly shot the three University of North Carolina students over a parking dispute — but for many in the Muslim community at UF, it’s viewed as a hate crime.
“Deah could have been me,” Sameer Saboungi, who organized the vigil, told the crowd. “How can these regular Americans like me lose their lives so suddenly because of their religion?”
For Saboungi, 20, a UF international studies junior, the vigil was a way for the UF community to come together and reflect on what happened.
“This tragedy is not going to go away quickly,” he said. “But this vigil was a way to express our condolences and frustration. We had to do this to remember.”
More than 100 candles were lit and distributed to the participants. As they listened to Muslim community members read passages from the Quran and speak about the shooting, many cupped the flames with their hands to protect them from the cold wind.
Shan Ahmad, a UF materials science and engineering junior, spoke about meeting Barakat when he visited his brother at UNC Chapel Hill. He said his brother, Asad, called him at 3 a.m. after Barakat didn’t attend an intramural basketball practice.
“He was extremely pious, very kind,” Ahmad, 20, said. “This wasn’t a guy who would fight over a basketball game, let alone a parking space. To boil it down to a simple dispute is a dishonor to them.”
While roughly one-quarter of the crowd wore hijabs, Matt Epstein was one of many non-Muslim students who attended the vigil in support of their Muslim friends.
“I came to show support for humanity. Hate is hate, and it shouldn’t be toward anyone,” said Epstein, a 19-year-old UF philosophy sophomore. “But it’s beautiful to watch — that something so terrible can produce something so beautiful.”
The support of the non-Muslim community was appreciated, said third-year UF dental student Nora Abdel-Rahim.
“This was the best way to show our support, to show our solidarity as a school, as one voice, as one community,” Abdel-Rahim, 23, said. “You don’t have to know them to feel sorrow.”
By 7 p.m., the candles were blown out. As friends hugged good-bye and bystanders walked off, a group of 15 stayed behind.
In the shadow of Turlington, they prayed.
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 2/16/2015 under the headline “UF community comes together to remember Chapel Hill"]
A group of people gather to participate in a vigil on Turlington Plaza on Friday night in memory of the victims from the Tuesday shootings in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
