Muslim Bus Passenger Who Stood up for Christians During Attack Has Died

A Muslim in Kenya has reportedly made the ultimate sacrifice for religious freedom.

Salah Farah, a teacher who shielded Christian fellow passengers when their bus was attacked by Islamist militants last month, has died in surgery to treat his bullet wound, the BBC reported.

Farah was on a bus traveling through Mandera in Kenya when it was attacked by al-Shabaab, a jihadi group that had previously killed Christians while sparing their co-religionists. This time, when attackers told the Muslims and Christians to split up, Farah and some other Muslim passengers refused. In the melee that followed, a bullet hit Farah.

At the time, Farah told the BBC that attackers had offered him an escape.

“They told us if you are a Muslim, we are safe. There were some people who were not Muslim. They hid their heads,” he said.

However, he recalled to Kenya’s The Daily Nation that people were told to separate but they refused. “We asked them to kill all of us or leave us alone.” Explaining his actions, he told Voice of America earlier this month that “people should live peacefully together.” “We are brothers.” “It’s only the religion that is the difference, so I ask my brother Muslims to take care of the Christians so that the Christians also take care of us … and let us help one another and let us live together peacefully.”

After his death in Nairobi, Farah’s brother Rashid told Kenya’s The Star newspaper he hoped his brother’s death would bring religious harmony and encourage Kenyans to live as one community.