Nothing fishy about ‘Allah’ markings! (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Nothing fishy about ‘Allah’ markings!

12:10pm Saturday 14th April 2012 in Bradford By Kathie Griffiths, T&A Reporter

You could be forgiven for thinking that something fishy was going on when Allah’s name suddenly appeared on the side of a Keighley family’s pet.

Brothers Shazad and Shiraz Sulman, aged ten and five, were stunned when days after buying the goldfish from the local market, they claim the name ‘Allah’ appeared on its scales written in Arabic script.

Their father Mohammad said he spotted it first and now mum Shazia Bi says her family are blessed and she would not part with the scaly pet even if she was offered £1 million.

“I have thought about it. My husband asked me that question, but we were blessed with it so we’ll be keeping it,” she said.

“We wouldn’t give it away or sell it, not even for £1 million. It’s ours for keeps.”

She added: “We really believe it’s a miracle. When they boys came home with it from the market stall, it had nothing on it, it was just a normal goldfish, but then the markings just appeared from nowhere.”

Mrs Bi said family, friends and neighbours in Emsley Street where they live had all been to see it for themselves and were all agreed it read ‘Allah’.

Allah’s name appearing on a fish is not unheard of – in 2006 a similar incident is said to have taken place at a pet shop in Waterfoot, Bury, when it was noticed that markings on the scales of a two-year-old albino fish mimicked the Arabic script for ‘Allah’.

The apparent miracle was compounded even more by the discovery that the other side of the fish appeared to be inscribed with the word ‘Muhammad’.

Within hours the fish, called Oscar and originally from Singapore, found hordes of locals, photographers and national television news reporters peering into his tank.