Sheikh Fozol Miah died just hours before he was meant to be celebrating Eid with his family
Tributes have been paid to a businessman from Oldham who suddenly died on Eid. Sheikh Fozol Miah was rushed to hospital after being found unconscious at his home.
The 47-year-old had suddenly fallen ill and was suffering from kidney failure, according to his family. He was taken to the Mount Adora Hospital in Bangladesh, and despite the best efforts of health professionals, he sadly passed away on Monday (March 31), the same day he was supposed to be celebrating the end of the month of Ramadan with his family.
Once a very well-known businessman in Oldham, Sheikh had moved to the town in the early 2000s where he worked in the food catering industry. After marrying his wife, Helen Miah in 2006, the couple decided to move back to their native Bangladesh where they have since settled and ran multiple businesses together.
Known affectionately as Fozol, he still has links to the UK with multiple family members in Greater Manchester and Nottingham. One of those is brother-in-law, Afruz Miah who spoke to the M.E.N about the devastating news.
“He was a local businessman in the area and well known in Oldham.” Said Afruz. “When he decided to go back to Bangladesh my sister followed him and they settled there, they have businesses there.
“Recently, my father was with them and he fell ill. Fozol looked after my father so well, people were saying they’ve never seen a son-in-law treat a father-in-law that way.
“That just shows what sort of human being he was. Before he died fell ill at home and he was found unconscious with a high temperature.
“They took him straight to hospital and within 24 hours his blood pressure dropped, his kidneys failed, and he was gone in 24 hours. There were at least 10,000 people at his funeral.
“He died on the day of Eid, which for Muslims is a beautiful thing, we may be crying here but for him he’s hit the jackpot.”
Afruz, also from Oldham, is well known in the town for his fundraising efforts. In honour of Fozol, Afruz has begun a campaign to build a mosque in his late brother-in-law’s memory.
“We know that every prayer that people perform in the mosque will go to his reward. Traditionally people give food after the funeral, but I’ve told them not to do that.
“That’s not going to benefit him, and we want to do something that’s going to benefit him. Building a mosque for him will do that.
“We’re going to build it where there is a need for it. If it means Uganda, Malawi, Yemen, or Syria. Wherever we feel the need and wherever it will maximise his rewards.”
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