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A Muslim woman who initially lied about the cause of her husband’s death to protect his memory after he took his own life has launched Doncaster’s first Muslim Wellness Conference, aiming to tackle taboos around suicide and depression. Ayaz, from Doncaster, died in 2019, but his wife Akeela Mohammed initially told family and friends he had died of a heart attack. However, she said she had later realised that people needed to talk more about their mental health and seek help. Ms Mohammed said Muslims were brought up to believe that taking one’s own life was forbidden.
Ms Mohammed hid the true cause of her husband’s death for six months because she felt people would not understand that he had mental health problems. Speaking about Ayaz, Ms Mohammed said: “On the surface he looked a really strong person, a happy person, but in the end these demons got him.”
The event was held in Doncaster on November 23rd, with Imam Habeeb Minhas from the city’s Sultania Mosque among the speakers. He said: “There’s a lot of stigma around mental health, especially in our Muslim community. It’s a very taboo subject and not spoken of.” Ms Mohammed’s aim was to improve access to support for people suffering from mental health problems so they would not have to go through the same experience as her husband.
“When you think your community are going to think you’re crazy, or they don’t want you to talk about it openly – you’re going to hide it, and that’s going to make it more difficult,” said Mohammed. She added that “There’s not many organisations dedicated to helping Muslims in our community with depression and even fewer that provide specialist support around the issue of suicide.”
Earlier, Ms Mohammed said she wanted to reduce the stigma about depression among Muslims. “It doesn’t make you a lesser Muslim if you are struggling with your mental health problems.” she said. While what happened to Ayaz was deeply painful, his widow hopes that something can come out of this tragedy to help encourage other poor souls who are struggling with mental health issues
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