Hawzah News Agency- A gym teacher at an Islamic school in Brussels, Loubna Lafquiri was dedicated to teaching children respect for others, self-confidence, perseverance and forgiveness, all with a love and appreciation for Islam.

School officials, and her students, were surprised when she did not arrive for class on Tuesday.

They later learned she was one of the victims of the attack on the Maelbeek subway station. Ihsane Bari, a woman who identified herself on Facebook as Ms. Lafquiri’s sister, confirmed her death on Thursday night.

She called Ms. Lafquiri, the mother of three boys, “an exemplary teacher” who had been “torn from her family by cowards.”

“She was an exceptional woman,” Mohamed Allaf, the school’s co-founder told CNN. “She represented the true values of Islam with generosity and caring.

“She’s an energetic woman who smiles all the time,” he added.

Hamid Bachir, Ms. Lafquiri’s brother-in-law, posted a brief message on Facebook on Thursday: “She is not on the list of survivors.” His page was soon flooded with a traditional Islamic condolence message: “We come from God and it is to Him that we return.”

Mr. Allaf questioned how the attackers could act in the name of Islam.

“It’s simple,” he said. “Whoever supports these people who harm so many others, who paralyze the lives of those around them with fear, is not a human being. We must not support these people, we must report them.”