Seven months passed after the death of Muhammad Yusuf and his family couldn’t be traced. Staff at the Manchester Royal Infirmary worked with Michael Kennedy Funeral Services in Blackley to arrange what they thought would be a rather small funeral, but they couldn’t have been more wrong.
Siddiq Diwan, the Imam who conducted the service, spoke to his peers about the funeral and news soon spread on social media. As a result over 400 strangers attended the Muslim service at the Southern Cemetery in Manchester.
Funeral Director Pauline Dawson said: “No one even knew Mr Yusuf’s name until the funeral started, when they could see it engraved on his coffin. It was absolutely amazing to see the community coming together for the funeral of someone they didn’t know, it really was quite overwhelming.”
