The Islamic holiday Eid al-Fitr is supposed to be a day of unity. For Nazim Mahmood, a British doctor, it appears to have been the day when his family rejected his being gay — with fatal consequences:

A Harley Street doctor killed himself by jumping from his luxury penthouse apartment after his mother asked him to seek “a cure” for being gay, an inquest heard. Dr Nazim Mahmood, fell four storeys to his death from the balcony of his £700,000 flat in a mansion block in West Hampstead, London, in July. An inquest at St. Pancras Coroners’ Court heard Dr Mahmood had told his mother he was gay and was in a 13-year relationship with his fiancée, Matthew Ogston, just days before his death.

The court heard Dr. Mahmood had kept his sexuality secret from his Muslim family in Birmingham, fearing they would refuse to accept it on religious and cultural grounds. But having returned to the family home to celebrate Eid, the 34-year-old revealed his sexuality after his mother asked him if he was gay, the court heard.

Mahmood’s partner recalled how the doctor’s mother had insisted that Mahmood seek psychiatric help.

“Telling someone they needed to be cured would not be the easiest thing to take,”

Ogston said.

Mr. Ogston wept in court as he told of his love for Dr Mahmood, describing him as his “soulmate” and insisting his fiancé had given no indication of any intention to kill himself. “He always wanted to help other people, always put other people first and wanted to care for people,” Mr. Ogston told the coroner. “He was quite simply the most amazing man I’ll ever meet in my whole life.”

The coroner, Mary Hassell, commented:

It seems incredible that a young man with so much going for him could have taken his own life. But what I’ve heard is that he had one great sadness which was the difficulty his family had in accepting his sexuality.

(Image via Shutterstock)



