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WARMINGTON: Muslim street preacher foils potential stabbing outside Eaton Centre

· Toronto Sun

Somebody should give this Muslim street preacher a hero’s award or a key to the city for stopping a man armed with a knife. And a shout out to the guy who helped him stop a would-be stabbing of potentially two more innocent people outside the Eaton Centre on Friday.

Videos show that if not for this Muslim street cleric’s quick action preventing a man with a knife lunging toward someone preaching the Christian gospel at Yonge and Dundas Sts., who knows what today’s headline would be?

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Aiman Ibn Ashraf feared it may have been something along the lines of a Christian street preacher stabbed by someone upset about Islam being insulted.

On Good Friday of all days. Praise God that this was not the headline thanks to this Good Samaritan, who posts videos at various locations around Toronto standing next to a table of Islamic reading material.

This time he was on the southwest side of Yonge outside the Eaton Centre, where some Muslims preach the benefits of Islam while trying to convert new followers. At that corner, there are often Christian preachers on microphones as well and while they don’t agree on religion, there is a grudging respect for each other for the most part as they debate.

They traditionally don’t fight with each other, but sometimes other people react to what is being preached there.

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Quick thinking helped save the day

This seems to have been one of those times. Multiple videos show a man, appearing to be armed with a knife, rocketing toward a man espousing the Christian gospel before chasing another man.

It happens so fast, but afterward the video shows a man in traditional Islamic clothing, identified as Ashraf, trying to calm the enraged person down and then tackling him with the help of another man wearing a pink hoodie. They pin him on the sidewalk until Toronto Police arrive to make an arrest.

Both did a great job administering a citizen’s arrest. High fives to them.

Look closer during the video and you will see that Ashraf saved the day here. By putting his arms out and grabbing a shoulder to slow this alleged attacker down as he got within two steps of the man on the microphone, he may have prevented something even more horrific from happening.

Within a split second of that, you then see the man allegedly chasing after another man who frantically flees by a slim margin. Soon after, the video shows the armed person falling at the front door of the Eaton Centre and Ashraf moving in to “tackle” him.

This was a brave move. An appropriate move. A needed move. A risky move. This was close to a disaster. It’s not hard to conjure the notion that this could have been catastrophic if he didn’t do that.

Preacher feared for public’s safety

In a social media video clarification of what transpired, Ashraf explained that the man with the knife was complaining about what he was hearing from the microphone, which he interpreted as disrespect for the Prophet Muhammad.

Ashraf said he urged the man to not pursue his grievance further, but then he saw the knife.

“This is going to be front-page news,” he said of what his thoughts were at the time, adding it was “not a good look for us.”

Worried about a possible stabbing or a “child being trampled,” he said he dove into action and “tackled the man” to protect the person at the microphone, the public at large and “for the sake of Allah, (for) what Islam teaches me.”

A lot of courage was shown there. It prevented disaster.

Man in his 20s charged by cops

Toronto Police spokesperson Shannon Eames said the incident occurred on Friday just after 6 p.m. and that the accused had a knife in his hand and was allegedly “chasing an individual” before tripping and dropping the knife.

Eames added that a “passerby grabbed the knife from the accused” and that “police arrived on scene quickly and arrested the individual involved.” Eames said there were no injuries reported and a male in his 20s was charged with possession of a weapon.

The Toronto Sun has also asked police to search for the identity of the accused, whose charges have not been tested in court. At this point, there is no evidence leading to him being involved directly with street preaching. But what we do know is if Ashraf was not there, the outcome of this could have been more traumatic.

This is not a religious story. This is a humanity story – as in people helping another person from potentially being harmed.

Ashraf and the unknown man in the hoodie deserve pats on the back for that – or maybe even a medal.

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