‘We have finally laid our brother to rest’ – £7,000 raised in memory of crash victim

Sohale Mahmood, aged 20, from Darnall, died on Saturday, September 7 after the motorbike he was riding crashed into a bus on Staniforth Road.

Since then, hundreds of people have been donating to a fundraising page set up in his memory in accordance with the Islamic tradition of sadaqah.

The fund - which has just passed the £7,000 mark - will be used to build eight water wells in four parts of the developing world - Ghana, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The man who set up the fund, Sohale’s close friend Aasim Khan, said: “As Muslims, we believe that these acts of charity - sadaqah - will benefit the person who is now in the afterlife.

“Alongside that, we will be helping hundreds, if not thousands of needy people who struggle to gain access to clean and safe drinking water.

“It’s been a tough time understandably for Sohale’s family but this has lifted their spirits and they are taken aback with the amount of support they have been getting from people as well as the large amount of money raised.

“Sohale was a friend to all of us and being a part of this project makes us feel as though we have finally laid our brother to rest. We would like to thank everyone who donated.”

In the immediate aftermath of his death, hundreds of people posted tributes to Sohale on Facebook, many of them describing him as a ‘credit to his family’.

One, Emma Forshaw, said: “I can’t believe it. I’ve seen you grow into a young man with your life in front of you. You always made time to talk and was always so polite. My heart is truly broken.”

Police are still appealing for anyone who saw what happened or has information about the crash to contact them on contact 101 quoting incident number 695 of September 7.

To find out more about how the money raised for Sohale will be used or to donate click here.