When 18-Year-old Adam Attalla saw his neighbor’s house on fire, he immediately leapt into action to save three girls who were trapped inside.
“There was a lot of smoke. So, the two girls came down, and the little girl was still stuck. I told people. Nobody did anything. So, I tried climbing up the wall first. It did not go out well,” 18-year-old Adam Attalla said.
“So, a neighbor led me into her house, and I jumped from her roof to the second roof, and I opened the window and got the little girl out,” he added.
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Five children were inside the home when the fire started. A 15-year-old and an infant were on the main floor and were able to evacuate.
The other three children became trapped on the second floor – two managed to get out onto the roof while a seven-year-old got stuck inside a bedroom.
When asked what led him to act, he said, “It had to be done. Somebody had to do it. I just had to go up there. At least try it.”
“I did what I had to do,” he said. “It was the right thing to do.”
Heroic Action
District Fire Chief Craig Dockery described Attalla’s heroic action.
“An 18-year-old came down the road, went into the neighbor’s house. They opened the window on the second floor. The 18-year-old then walked along the roof and helped that seven-year-old get out. And then all three of the children walked along the roof and into the neighbor’s home. It is absolutely incredible.”
Adam Attalla is a graduate of the Olive Grove School (OGS), a private Islamic School in Mississauga and the school expressed their pride in their alumnus.
“OGS staff were so proud of Adam’s heroic act to save lives in Mississauga yesterday. Being an OGS Graduate (Class of 2018) is inspiring to all our students and community to transform our mottos into practice.”
“Incredible bravery shown by 18-year-old Adam Attalla who found a way onto the roof to save several children from the fire. Your heroism is truly inspiring,” said Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie.
“There was an 18-year-old from down the street…went into the neighbour’s house, opened the second story window across from the roof…managed to help that 7-year-old escape and took all three girls into the neighbour’s house…” @MississaugaFES Chief praises teen hero! @CP24 pic.twitter.com/xlWN1nNZos
— Bakari Savage (@BakariSavage) January 16, 2022
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Saving Lives
Allah tells us that “If anyone saved a life it would be as if he saved the life of the whole humanity.” Quran 5:32
What Attalla did falls in line with similar heroic acts done by some other Muslims.
In September 2021, a Muslim man in North Leigh, Oxfordshire, was praised for successfully saving his neighbors when fire started in their house.
Azz Mahmoud, a 37-year-old Muslim youth worker in Oldham, performed CPR for the first time ever to save a man’s life.
A young Muslim teenager from Brooklyn helped police arrest a man who attacked an Orthodox Jewish woman on the subway in December last year.
Another young American Muslim student showed bravery, also in December 2019, as she opened the doors of her mosque as a shelter, enabling more than 100 students to flee a high school stabbing in Wisconsin.
Republished with a kind permission from Iqra.ca.