How the Farook brothers ended up differently
Print Edition
ONE brother liked to party and chase girls. After high school, moved by what he saw as his patriotic duty, he enlisted in the United States Navy and received two medals recognizing his contributions to “the global war on terror”.
The other was deeply religious and became increasingly intolerant, ultimately nursing a growing hatred that led him, along with his wife, to open fire on a San Bernardino holiday party last week, in what law enforcement officials have termed a terrorist attack.
Syed Raheel Farook and his younger brother Syed Rizwan Farook grew up in the same house, attended the same high school two years apart and, as teenagers, often socialized together. But as they grew older their paths diverged.
Rizwan is now dead, gunned down by police in Southern California after joining with his wife in killing 14 people and injuring 21. Raheel is alive and left to wonder what went wrong.
The contrasting lives of the Farook brothers, described by friends, neighbors and former classmates, is a disturbing tale, in part because there are so few clues to why they turned out so differently.
Those who knew the brothers say that by high school, their differences were apparent and growing. “Most people here go to mosque to please their parents,” said Shakib Ahmed, who attended mosque with the Farooks.
Raheel was that kind of kid, Ahmed said. He went to prayers, but he also liked to drink and had a girlfriend in high school who wasn't Muslim.
Rizwan was quieter and more serious — and far more religious. Only with his older brother, friends said, did they see Rizwan lose his temper.
Soon after graduating from high school in 2003, with the US invasion of Iraq just months old, Raheel joined up and went off to boot camp in Illinois, according to naval records. In 2004, he was assigned to serve on the USS Enterprise as an information system technician.
Back home, Rizwan, a bright boy, finished high school a year early according to school records. In the years that followed, friends and neighbors say, he quit wearing jeans and polo shirts and donned robes.
In 2006, the boys’ mother, Rafia Farook, filed for divorce. In court filings, Rafia cited multiple instances of domestic abuse, asserting that her husband was “mentally ill” and threatened “to kill himself on a daily basis.”
Gasser Shehata, a friend of Rizwan's from a San Bernardino mosque, said that Rizwan talked to him in recent years about his religious issues with his dad while growing up, and how he came to side with his mother in their disputes.
When Rizwan joined the dating site bestmuslim.com in 2013, his profile described how he spent much of his free time “memorizing the Quran and learning more about the religion”. He was looking, he wrote, for a woman “who takes her religion very seriously and is always trying to improve her religion and encouraging others to do the same”.
Attendees at Rizwan’s wedding reception last year said Rizwan seemed to enjoy his brother’s easy and relaxed manner with the guests, even though he said little and seemed withdrawn. At one point, Raheel even teased his younger brother, calling him “Rizi,” which Rizwan took in good humor.
Rose Aguirre, a neighbor of the family for years, said Raheel was “more personable, more Americanized” than his brother.
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