In the past two months I’ve traveled to India three times, to attend the funeral and other events after the passing of Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (ra). This quite shocking story happened in the Fort area of Mumbai, which is quite close to where I spent much of my time and is considered one of the better-developed areas on the city.

Barely a few hours after arriving in the city, a homeless psychopath attacked a 57-year-old Frenchwoman near Sterling Cinema in Fort around 7 pm Thursday, repeatedly slashing her face with a sharp object, before he was caught by passersby and handed over to police.

The victim, Caroline Claudon, had also arrived in the city in the morning, and checked into Salvation Army Red Shield Guest House in Colaba, after spending around four weeks in Gokarna, a temple town in Karnataka.

While [the attacker] was caught within seconds of the attack, two men, Idris Sathalia, 32 Husain Saylawala, 34, who were on their way home after attending a Dawoodi Bohra rally at Azad Maidan, rushed a bleeding Claudon to St George’s Hospital.

As the article says, the two men are members of my Bohra community and were attending the rally in support of Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin (tus) at Azad Maidan nearby. I think I speak for all Bohras when I say that they exemplify the values of compassion and civic duty that both Syedna Burhanuddin (ra) and Syedna Saifuddin (tus) have taught by example.

A followup article shows that Mrs. Claudon also is quite a remarkable individual – undeterred from the attack, she intends to visit India again and expressed compassion for her attacker, who was found to be mentally unstable. Surely her positive attitude also has something to do with her guardian angels:

The two good Samaritans, who had rushed to French national Caroline Claudon’s (57) rescue, paid her a surprise visit on Friday morning at her guesthouse in Colaba. A day after being attacked by a deranged man in Fort, Claudon said she will only take back the positives from her month-long visit to India.


“I hardly slept, but woke up to find the two of them here,” she said about Hussain Saylawala and Ibris Sathalia who came to enquire about her health with flowers and fruits. “It was a very kind gesture,” Claudon said. “I was scared and bleeding in the middle of the road when they helped me and took me to the hospital,” she said. The duo had rushed Claudon to St George Hospital.

Claudon said the incident did shake her but did not scare her. “I am a world citizen who loves to travel. One such incident cannot deter me from visiting India again,” she said, adding that it was her sixth visit to the country.

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