PART 15: Saviour Hands


Following interview of Batul Abdeali Electricwala about her late father Mulla Mustafa Shakir (Mulla Roshanbhai Kanchwala Khambati) by Sakina Sh Noman Miyajiwala and Mudar Patherya

We were staying in an old building in Deira (Dubai). It was one of those days around lunch when my parents - Roshanbhai and Fatemabai - were alone at home. Since my mother was not keeping well, my father warmed the food to serve lunch. On this particular day, he put the food to warm on the gas and got busy with other things.

Suddenly he smelled something different. Looking up, he saw that there was a fire on the stove and the table, extending to the runner tube coming from the cylinder. If the speed with which this had sparked was not controlled, it would threaten the kitchen and the house.

My father was sitting on the ground 15 ft from gas. Since he was arthritic it would have taken him 15 seconds to reach the stove and if he moved at this usual speed, the fire would spread fast. This was going to be ‘make or break’.

At that instant, his first recall was ‘Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin Saheb’.

Suddenly my father saw two hands – just two hands, no arms, no body - closing the regulator of gas cylinder. He called his neighbours for help and soon the fire – inexplicably controlled - was extinguished.

My father always recalled the glory of Huzurala with this incident.

Moves faster than a thought, he said.

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