Coronavirus? We all avoided this man on the train

I was heading to work during the morning and trains are usually packed but there was an empty seat. Wonderful! As I sat down, the smell was unbelievable. I wanted to say ‘the stench’ – because it was a stench. You felt you couldn’t breathe. You tried holding your breath. Are you going to throw up?

So this is why people didn’t sit close to the old man I was now sitting next to. He looked like he was in his 60s, his clothes had a cake of dirt and his feet had some sort of bandage around the shin. His shoes were unusual. In a way, he didn’t look too bad but he was the source of this overpowering smell.

Another surprise was that he was on the underground train this early in the morning. We usually see the homeless on the streets, not during the morning commute to work.

He was mumbling to himself incoherently and you quickly recognised him as one of the many homeless people you see in London. You see many more homeless people nowadays as a result of family breakdown, delays with the government’s universal credit, growing individualism which means peoples social support structures are not what they used to be as some relatives think more of themselves rather than helping their more vulnerable relatives.

We have also seen the ‘record’ rise in jobs - which hardly pay a living wage people can survive on - in a city like London. That means you can be in a job one day and due to illness, and a convergence of circumstances, you can easily find yourself without a roof or the ability to get together the deposit for a new room or flat.

His bag occupied a seat next to him, but no one was complaining. People preferred to stand than be close to the overpowering stench.

I have to admit feeling guilty, wanting to move away from the stench but remaining rooted to my seat. Embarrassed? Yes, I felt embarrassed. How should I feel as a Muslim?

How do we treat people like him? How can we help him? How does society respond?

After a few stops, other people got on, sat down near him and also quickly realised the overpowering smell.

How can a human being live a minute with this stench? How can they survive an hour? A day? Only God knows. Where is his family?

It was a sad start to the day and I’m still thinking of that gentleman and how many like him are let down by the ‘modern’ secular society we live in.

 Taji Mustafa