Muslims observing Ramadan ‘saved lives in London tower blaze’

A woman comforts a boy after a tower block was severly damaged by a serious fire, in north Kensington, West London, Britain June 14, 2017. (Reuters)

Reception centres, such as these at the Latymer Christian Centre and Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre in north Kensington, along with other locations in the area, have been receiving donations of food, drinks, blankets and clothing all day

DUBAI: Muslims living in — and near — the London tower gutted by a massive blaze early this morning were among the hero residents who saved lives, because they were awake eating suhoor.

Many residents banged on doors of sleeping neighbors and guided them to safety as the fire started to take hold of Grenfell tower, filling corridors with thick smoke, eyewitness said.

Muslims were among some of the first to notice the smoke and were able to alert neighbors, according to reports from the scene.

"If it wasn't for Muslim Boys coming from prayers at the Mosque & waking people up, a lot more people would've been dead!" #GrenfellTower pic.twitter.com/4UA8zHIwAX

— JammyDodger (@mrjammyjamjar3) June 14, 2017

One Somali man told Arab News that many lives had been saved due to the hours people keep during Ramadan. 

 

“The fast saved a lot of people, as they were... up preparing to eat before sunrise,” he said. “It saved them.”

 

Safia, a Sudanese mother who lives locally, said that residents were still awake ahead of the daylight fast.

 

“People were up… I heard somebody (wanting to rescue) their kids... a Muslim man gave him the key (to the building) to help get the kids,” she told Arab News. “We helped people out in the morning.”

 

The eyewitness said that many Somalians, Sudanese and Moroccans live in the area. “I lost two family members in there, an elderly lady and children, they are all Muslims,” she said.

 

Safia also claimed that access to the blazing building was a problem for rescue crews, and raised concerns over the fire-safety standards.

 

“There was no fire alarm,” she said. “Access is a huge problem… The fire engines can’t break through. My friend called me and said they broke some barrier to access (the building).”

 

One woman identifying herself as Rashida told Sky News that many local Muslims would have still been awake as they observed Ramadan.

“Most Muslims now observing Ramadan will normally not go to bed until about 2 a.m. maybe 2:30 a.m.,” Rashida explained. “Until they have their late night last meal. They do their last prayer.

“So most of the families around here would have been awake and I think even with the noise with the helicopters, it would have brought a lot of attention to a lot of residents non-Muslim as well that would have thought something’s going on that’s not quite normal.”

She explained that the West London community, where the vast residential tower is, was “tightly-knit,” like many areas of the British capital, and had a particularly large Moroccan population.

“It’s a very diverse area, we have all nationalities, all religions… We all live peacefully among each other, there is not much crime higher than anywhere else,” she explained.
Rashida said people were generally able to walk around safely late at night, because “we all know each other.”

Speaking to the website, BuzzFeed, Nadia Yousuf, 29, said Muslim residents were some of the first people to spot the blaze, because they had woken for suhoor.
“They saw it just after they woke up to eat,” she said.