Abdullah Ozkan, a retired imam from Turkey, was preparing to travel to Mecca for Umrah. He was dressed in ihram and accompanied by about 180 pilgrims. Before the journey began, he led them in prayer at the airport.
As he recited the kalima, the talbiyah and salutations to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), the 68-year-old imam suddenly fell ill and collapsed. He was taken to hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
It happened at Konya airport in Turkey. Ozkan lived in the Beyşehir district of Konya province. Besides being a retired imam, he ran the Beyşehir branch of a company that organises Hajj and Umrah trips.
The group reached Konya airport at about 2am on 6 November. After check-in, everyone was gathered in one place. Ozkan introduced himself, gave the pilgrims the instructions they needed and then led them in prayer.
Ismail Gümüş, who worked with him for 15 years, described what happened. Ozkan first prayed beautifully, he said, then recited the kalima and the talbiyah, and finally began the salutations to the Prophet. He recited the first two normally, but on the third his voice grew weak. At one point he leaned forward and fell to the floor.
Airport medical staff rushed to him and gave him first aid and CPR. Emergency workers then took him by ambulance to the Selçuk University Faculty of Medicine hospital, but doctors could not save him.
Gümüş said Ozkan had shown no sign of illness beforehand and everything had seemed normal. His sudden death left colleagues and pilgrims in mourning.
Beyşehir’s mufti, Enes Aktaş, also expressed his grief, remembering Ozkan as a respected religious figure who had long served the people of the area. He said there was as yet no medical confirmation of the exact cause of death. Turkish media reported a heart attack, but the cause has not been officially confirmed.
Ozkan’s funeral prayer was held after Friday prayers at Beyşehir’s central Çarşı Mosque, and he was buried in a local cemetery. Family members, relatives, colleagues, religious figures and many local people attended.
After many years as an imam, Ozkan had set out in retirement with the dream of performing Umrah, but his life ended before he reached Mecca. His death, in ihram and while leading pilgrims in prayer, has been widely discussed in Turkish media.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report