Shaikh Mohammad Salamouny

Shaikh Mohammad Salamouny was attacked a few weeks ago just after praying Fajr at his mosque, Islamic Cultural Centre, Regents Park. A man repeatedly punched the 58 year old Shaikh in the head. It seems that he was intent on killing the Shaikh as the attack went on for at least half an hour before the Shaikh was rescued. By that time the Shaikh was bleeding heavily and had to be rushed to hospital to have emergency treatment on both eyes.

When I initially heard the news i was devasted. The Shaikh is a lovely man, very knowledgeable and of a very noble character. He has helped me on a number of occasions with a few issues and has taught my children memorisation of the Quran. As you can imagine i was heart broken to hear of the attack. I couldn't understand why someone was so brutual to a harmless soul? What did the man achieve by being so callous in his ways? What satisfaction did he get for leaving a man half dead? What went through this individual's sick mind?

I could not stop thinking of the Shaikh. He was all alone in the mosque, no security guards, no collegues. That poor man, what must have gone through his mind during the attackm? The pain he must have suffered and is still suffering, that poor poor man. I cried in anguish everytime i tried to picture his what he went through, the agonising torment, inna lillahi wa inna ilahi rajioon, To Allah We Belong and To Him We Shall Return.

Alhamudu'Lillah, yesterday i managed to visit the Shaikh in hospital. He is at the Western Eye Hospital in Marylebone, London. I went there with my husband and friend Aminah. Aminah as you'll know if you've been reading my blogs is a 5 month old revert to Islam. Aminah and I visited the Shaikh at the mosque once and sat with him for sometime. As this was the first Shaikh she had ever had the pleasure of meeting, she too was very upset to learn of this brutal attack. Thus she accompanied me to the hospital.

I walked up to the receptionist and asked to see the Shaikh, he looked at me and as though he could read my mind before finishing my sentence he said, ' You're here to see the Shaikh, if you'd just like to take a seat with the others, his son will be down shortly'.

'Others?!', I thought. I looked around me and realised that i wasn't the only one that loved the man!

Aminah is going through a shall i or shan't I phase with her hijab. She wasn't wearing her Hijab upon arrival at the hospital but decided that she couldn't face the Shaikh without it on. She didn't feel comfortable without it. I could sense she was longing to wear it but she was afraid of what the surrounding people may think of her since they saw her walk in without a hijab. I advised her to wear the hijab if she wanted to and not to think of what other people may think. This is something that she will have to do for herself and for the Sake of Allah insha'Allah. She then slyly said, ' Oh i can't, I have no saftey pins!'

I smiled at her and showed her the pins in my bag. She laughed, took a deep breath, took the pins,got up and walked over to the ladies loo. She came back with a black hijab neatly pinned on. Honestly, she looked super!

It was our turn to see the Shaikh.

All three of us were nervous as we walked towards the unexpected. As we approached the Shaikh's room, his son't came out to greet us. They were very pleasant. We waited outside the room for a few minutes before we were told to go in. My husband went in first followed by me then Aminah.

The first thing we noticed was that the Shaikh was blind. Unfortunately the attack had blinded him. I do not know whether this will be temporary. He had a patch on one eye, the other eye was bare. I wasn't sure whether he would remember Aminah and I.

He sat in in his grey ghalabi surrounded by men. There was a doctor from chicago, a translator from syria, a friend from Egypt, and his two sons.

My husband's hand was placed in the Shaikh's hand, ' Assalamu Alaykum Shaikh, my name is Khalid, How are you?'

The shaikh, Alhamdu'Lillah was full of spirit, he smiled a wide smile and said, 'Walikumus Salaam'

'I am the husband of Aisha, whom you've met'

'Ahhhh Aisha, Subhan'Allah', His voice lifted as he heard my name, he was so pleased to hear from me, ' Assalamu Alayum, How are you?'.

Well, i at this point was truly honoured that he remembered me, i had a massive smile on my face and tears in my eyes as i knelt down slightly, put my hand on my heart, lowered my head and said in a voice full of emotion, 'Walikumus Salaam dear Shaikh, I'm well, I was so sorry to have heard about the attack and just wanted to come and see you, I have brought Aminah with me'

'Ahhhh, Aminah, where is she. I remember you Aminah'.

Aminah at this point couldn't believe the Shaikh remembered her. They had only met once and yet the Shaikh remembered the conversations they had had that day.

Believe me, you could not tell that the Shaikh had recently suffered such a terrifying attack. He was in such good spirits, full of sabr masha'Allah. He spoke to all three of us so beautifully. He was extemely grateful that we had come to see him.

Aminah then said, 'Shaikh, you know that day i came to see you and i was meant to take my shahadah inorder for you to provide me with a certificate?'.

'Yesss!', said the Shaikh listening very carefully.

'Well, if it's ok with you, i'd like to take the shahadah right now with you?'.

'Subhan'Allah', He said. He was overjoyed to hear this news. He spoke to all of us in the room and said that this would be a great time to witness a shahdah. We only need two witnesses but alhamdu'Lillah we have people from all over the world here today. He asked Aminah why it was she wanted to become a Muslim. He wanted to know whether this was something she wanted for herself and why?. Once Aminah answered the questions the Shaikh then gave the Shahdah and Aminah duly repeated the words after him in both arabic and english.

And me? Well, i was desperately looking for a tissue, my tears were rolling down and i was worried my eyeliner may sumdge. The atomosphere in the room was humbly electrifying! There was so much emotion in that room it's hard to explain. Everyone was smiling and crying...thinking back it brings tears to my eyes, this very great man who was nearly killed sat full of sabr and shukur on his seat and never once frowned, no complaint was uttered from his lips, he was full of nobility, humbleness and kindness. May Allah grant him jannat-ul firdous. Ameen.

Once Aminah had compleded the Shahdah, the shaikh's son' gave out chocolates. The shaikh then proceeded to give glad tidings to Aminah, whom at this point was on cloud 9, as she later told me. The Dr from Chicago gave Aminah a few books on Islam and Science as gifts and the Shaikh gave her some more books on Islam. We gave him a box of belgium biscuits to which he said, ' Why did you burden yourself from carrying something so heavy?'. Sweet!

We stood up to leave, my husband shook his hand. I too be honest was speechless. I had just experienced so much in just half an hour. We said salaam to the Shaikh and his family. His son's could speak limited english but the managed to grin and say congratultions to Aminah. The Shaikh's wife was also present, we hugged her and said that we would pray for her and her family insha'Allah.

We left the hospital full of uplifted spirits, we went in not knowing what to expect and came out feeling the presence of Almighty Allah's mercy.

May Allah reward the Shaikh abundantly for all of his good deeds, Heal him in this duniya and grant him the best of jannat ul firdous. May Allah also grant peace, sabr and happiness to the Shaikh's family insha'Allah.



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