“As Long As Their Lives Are Saved,” Says Bilal Who Sheltered Non-Muslims in Surau

In the past few days, Penangnites have witnessed one of the worst floods in history as more than 30 areas were inundated. Amid this unforgiving flood, some heart-warming stories have since surfaced, and this is one of them.

Source: The Star

A bilal from Taman Free School, Georgetown has gone viral on social media after his heroic act of kindness was picked up by several news portals.

The 50-year-old man named Sapno Tukijo, rescued 70 victims of Chinese and Indian ethnicities by offering them a shelter in the surau. They are all villagers of Lengkuk P. Ramlee, which had been ravaged by the flood, as reported by NST.

Source: NST

According to Sapno, the victims were wading through chest-deep water to seek refuge at a temple at approximately 2am on Sunday.

“The temple is just a few metres across the road and I tried to bring them in by tying a rope on two electric poles.

“However, the effort was futile as the water surge became too fast and it had reached chest level, which became too risky for the victims to wade through.”

Seeing that, he invited the non-Muslim villagers to take shelter in the surau. 

“Initially, they refused to follow me to the surau as they thought it would create an issue with certain people, seeing non-Muslims staying in the surau.”

Sapno insited and assured them that it’s okay to stay there; only then did they give in and finally followed him to the second floor of the surau.

Source: NST

His kind action has garnered a lot of praise from Malaysians of all races. Even if it didn’t, he wouldn’t have cared if anyone condemned his actions.

“As long as their lives are saved, I don’t care. I would be left feeling guilty if I had just ignored their plight.

“My wife and I gave them some telekung to be used as blankets as we saw them shivering,” he added.  

After getting enough rest, the victims left the surau later the same day as they did not want to cause any inconvenience to the kind couple.

The picture of the victims seeking shelter in the surau instantly went viral and netizens praised the couple for lending a helping hand to the needy regardless of their race. “This is the true spirit of 1Malaysia! Kudos to this pakcik!” a netizen commented.

This couple should be every Malaysian’s role model! In the meantime, we hope all flood victims will receive the help they need to rebuild their homes. 

Also read: Selfless Doctor Sacrifices Seeing Dying Father One Last Time to Save Patient