This great engineer didn’t take any compensation, but then how did Allah help him?
He was an Egyptian engineer and architect who preferred to stay away from the materialistic world and remain unknown.
Dr. Mohammed Kamal Ismail 1908-2008
He was the youngest person in Egypt’s history to obtain a high school certificate, then the youngest student at the Royal School of Engineering to graduate, followed by the youngest to be sent to Europe for a doctoral degree in Islamic architecture. He was also the youngest to receive the honor of a scarf and an iron from the king. He was the first engineer to manage the construction and implementation of expansion projects for the Two Holy Mosques.
Despite repeated insistence from King Fahd and the Bin Laden Company, he refused to accept any compensation for engineering design and architectural supervision, saying, “Why should I take compensation for the work of two sacred mosques, and how will I face Allah on Judgment Day?”
He got married at the age of 44, and his wife gave birth to a son, but she passed away after childbirth. After that, he devoted himself to divine worship until his death. He lived for over 100 years, serving the Two Holy Mosques away from the limelight of the world and media.
The story of how he acquired the white marble for the Two Holy Mosques is also intriguing. It’s a stone that regulates the temperature by absorbing heat, used on the roofs of the Masjid al-Haram and in the courtyard. It was found in a small mountain in Greece. He traveled there and made a deal to buy almost half of the mountain for the Haram projects.
Leaving before the office, Kamal thought, “Why do I need to know who bought it? Allah will make the connection.” A few hours before going to the airport the next day, he received a call that provided the address of the marble buyer. He went back to the office thinking, “What will I do with the buyer’s address now after so long?”
Reached kamal when the office, the secretary gave him the address of the company that bought the marble. When Kamal saw the address, his heart skipped a beat for a moment, then he took a deep breath because the company that bought the marble was Saudi.
Kamal booked a flight to Saudi Arabia and arrived the same day. He went straight to the company’s office and met the director admin, asking what they did with the marble bought from Greece. The director admin couldn’t remember, so he checked the stockroom and said all the marble was there and had never been used. Kamal started crying like a child and told the company owner the whole story.
He gave the company owner a blank check and said, “Fill in whatever amount is required, and hand over all the marble to me.” When the company owner realized that all the marble was meant for use in the Prophet’s Mosque, he said, “I won’t take a single riyal. Allah bought this marble for me, and I forgot.” It meant that this marble was meant to be used in the Prophet’s Mosque. SubhanAllah!
