Rep. Ilhan Omar announced late Monday that her father had died of complications from the coronavirus.
"It is with tremendous sadness and pain that I share that my father, Nur Omar Mohamed, passed away due to complications from COVID-19," the Minnesota Democrat said. "No words can describe what he meant to me and all who knew him."
Surely we belong to God and to him shall we return.
It is with tremendous sadness and pain to say goodbye to my father, Nur Omar Mohamed. No words can describe what he meant to me and all who knew and loved him. pic.twitter.com/gb7q0gMXG2
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) June 16, 2020
Many congressional colleagues, including Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), shared their condolences online:
My dear sister @IlhanMN I pray the love of Allah enfolds you during this painful & difficult time. May the remembrance of your father's embrace & love, comfort you today & always. As a nation, we remain grateful to & for this special man from whom your light & strength derives. https://t.co/lO6Vl5QSEN pic.twitter.com/83UMZ79Vit
— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) June 16, 2020
Omar came to the U.S. as a refugee from Somalia in 1995 with her father, who raised her with her grandfather after Omar's mother died.
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In 2019, Omar shared a photo on social media of her father arriving in Washington, D.C. to attend her swearing-in ceremony when she became the first Somali-American to be elected to the U.S. Congress.
23 years ago, from a refugee camp in Kenya, my father and I arrived at an airport in Washington DC.
Today, we return to that same airport on the eve of my swearing in as the first Somali-American in Congress. #Hope #Ilhan pic.twitter.com/jVeP3DOipN
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 2, 2019
Omar's daughter, 17-year-old climate action leader Isra Hirsi, also shared a photo of her grandfather on Twitter on Tuesday.
love you forever and always Awoowe. miss you already. pic.twitter.com/nfVnfoNhZL
— isra hirsi (@israhirsi) June 16, 2020
More than 116,000 Americans have now died of the coronavirus, including more than 1,300 in Omar's home state of Minnesota.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have also lost siblings to the coronavirus pandemic over the past two months.
