A Muslim restaurant owner in Birmingham has been labeled a hero after he intervened to disarm an attacker who targeted a pregnant woman outside his restaurant with a “big stick”.
Idris Harris, owner of Al Qamar restaurant in Birmingham, stepped in after a man armed with a large stick began attacking a guest outside the restaurant during what had been a peaceful birthday celebration.
Speaking about the incident, Harris said: “We were holding a 60th birthday party. I was in the kitchen, and I saw they were just finishing the meal. We had a really great night, and I saw a bit of a commotion.”
Harris said he went outside and found a man attacking Eric, the husband of the woman whose birthday was being celebrated. “I saw this guy with a big stick, and Eric struggling with him,” he said.
“So I went over, grabbed the stick, grabbed this gentleman, pushed him against the wall, and we were able to take the stick off him.”
The situation then escalated further when a second man emerged from a nearby pub and confronted the attacker.
Harris recalled: “A gentleman came from across the pub, and was saying, ‘Why have you hit that lady?’ He had a bit of a disagreement with him, and then the guy pulled out a big sock, and out of the sock came a big, at least 18 to 20-inch knife.”
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The confrontation intensified when the man from the pub re-entered the restaurant, grabbed a knife of his own, and attempted to attack the armed man before the situation was eventually diffused and the attacker fled into a nearby park.
Harris said he immediately called the emergency services and returned inside to assist a pregnant woman who had been struck with the stick.
Police arrived promptly, though the attacker had already fled by that point.
Harris, who has operated Al Qamar for nearly a decade, said nothing like this had ever happened before. “Approaching nearly 10 years, there’s never been anything. We’ve never had any issues here,” he said.
“That’s the first we’ve ever — I mean, it wasn’t in the restaurant, but it was the first we’ve had even outside by the restaurant.”
The incident has drawn attention to Harris’s willingness to put himself at risk to protect his non-Muslim guests, with many praising his bravery and swift action in a dangerous situation.
Bravery and instinct
Speaking to 5Pillars, Harris said he had intervened out of “natural instinct,” adding that when he sees someone in distress, it is human nature for him to step in.
Harris, who is of Jamaican heritage and a revert to Islam, said: “I was a human before Islam. But a superhuman after I came to Islam. So I would have always done this regardless of faith.”
He also noted that his restaurant guests, who were Christians, intervened to help him diffuse the situation — highlighting the cooperation between people of different faiths on the night.
Al Qamar restaurant has operated in Birmingham for nine years, serving fully halal food which Harris describes as “love cuisine.” He said: “We don’t attach a nationality to our cuisine. We just call it love cuisine.”
