By Phil Helsel / NBC News
U.S. Rep. Ilham Omar said Monday that her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, had died from complications from the coronavirus illness COVID-19.
“No words can describe what he meant to me and all who knew him,” Omar, D-Minn., said in a statement.
Omar, who asked for privacy, said her father died Monday. She did not provide information about her father’s age or any previous medical conditions.
The lawmaker, elected in 2018, is one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress.
In the statement, she wrote, “Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’cuun,” which translates to, “Surely we belong to God and to Him shall we return.”
The coronavirus disease has sickened more than 2.1 million people in the United States and has been linked to more than 116,500 deaths in the country, according to an NBC News count.
At least two other members of Congress have lost relatives to the illness. In May, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said that her older sister died.
The older brother of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., died from the coronavirus in April.
In May, Annie Glenn, the widow of astronaut and U.S. Sen. John Glenn, died of COVID-19 complications.
Several members of Congress have contracted COVID-19. On Monday Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C., said that he, his wife, and their son have it. Rice said in a statement, “we are all on the mend and doing fine.”
Source – NBC News
