Muslim surgeon stabbed outside mosque in UK forgives attacker

Kurdy forgave attacker, saying he does not represent what UK stands for

A Muslim surgeon was wounded in a knife attack on Sunday as he walked into an Islamic centre in Hale, Cheshire in UK.

Nasser Kurdy was rushed to Wythenshawe Hospital, where he works as a Orthopedic consultant, after the attack left a three-centimetre wound at the back of his neck.

A day later, the man from a Syrian-Jordanian family was preparing to head back to work as police continued investigations. “God was merciful to me yesterday. It could be a nerve, an artery, a vein, the gullet,” he said. “The neck is the contact between the body and your head, but fortunately it was just the muscle.”



Speaking about the incident, Kurdy revealed he felt a pain and blow to the neck as he entered the premises for mid-afternoon prayers and a committee meeting. "I turned around and saw this gentleman in a threatening pose. I did feel threatened, I did feel vulnerable."

Afraid the attacker may follow, he rushed inside, grabbed a chair and came outside but the attacker was gone by then. The police has arrested two suspects and were treating the incident as a hate crime.

In his statement, the vice-chairman of Altrincham and Hale Muslim Association said he had “no doubt” he was attacked because he was entering the Islamic centre.

But he also forgave the attacker, saying that he felt no anger towards him. “He is not representative of what this country stands for. I have absolutely no anger or hate or anything negative towards him. I have declared it, I have totally forgiven him,” he said. “He could be a marginalised person within his own community.”

Kurdy, who moved to the UK to study medicine in 1977, feels hate crimes against Muslims were escalating on the back of terror incidents. "The climate is very threatening, very worrying. Something could have happened, horrible, yesterday,” he said. "The atmosphere that is around has allowed for that.”

"There needs to be acknowledgement that hate crimes against Muslims are on the increase and they are becoming more physical,” stressed the man who spent days treating victims of the attack in Manchester in May. "It's not just someone saying something verbally, or somebody pulling a headscarf..., it is now taking that extra step and I think that extra step is what has started worrying and frightening people.”

"There are very senseless acts of insanity taking place, which can only fuel anger and hate.We can't hide away from what happened in Manchester, what happened around the country and the recent Tube incident. That will fuel hatred and anger.”



"People need to know there are Muslims like myself. I've worked hard, I'm a surgeon, I treat people. I have a wonderful community. My colleagues at work respect me and value my contribution.”

Kurdy said he was a well-integrated man in the community. “I get invited to sit on services in the synagogue, service on Remembrance Sunday; I'm always in the church at All Saints.”

He added that “people don't get to see that, all they get to see is those crackpots.”

Speaking about the atmosphere at the Islamic centre, he said Muslims were frightened and were reviewing security. Their spokesperson, Dr Khalid Anis said it could have been very serious.

"There were definitely abusive comments made - obviously he was in shock at the time, he had just been  stabbed, so the detail of those comments I don't know, but there were definitely abusive comments made by the attackers at the door of the mosque,” he said. "We understand it was a knife, he is very lucky."

"This is a very nasty and unprovoked attack against a much-loved local man,” said Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson.

This article originally appeared on the Independent.