CAIRO – Salah Farah, a heroic Muslim teacher and father of five, has passed away affected by injuries he sustained when he saved Christians from Al-Shabaab attack last month.

“We hoped to save his life so he can live as a testimony and a teacher of being a brother’s keeper,” Cleopa Mailu, the cabinet secretary for Kenya’s ministry of health, told The Star.

“The hospital did its best but unfortunately the brave soul succumbed to complications from the injuries on Sunday night. We share our sorrows, and pray for the strength to the family so as they can bear with loss.”

Farah, 40, died on Sunday night at the Kenyatta National Hospital after being admitted for three weeks.

He worked as the deputy headmaster at Mandera County Primary School and a student at Maasai Mara University.

He was injured last month when he was on a bus with 60 other passengers which was stopped by Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Shabaab group.

He was one of several Muslims who refused to allow them to separate the passengers into Christian and Muslim groups, saying “Kill us all or leave them alone”.

In an interview with BBC following the attack, Farah, a father of five, revealed that the gunmen had initially offered him an escape.

“They told us if you are a Muslim, we are safe. There were some people who were not Muslim. They hid their heads,” he revealed.

Later in January, Farah told Voice of America News that Muslims and Christians can live peacefully together as neighbors.

“We are brothers. It’s only the religion that is the difference, so I ask my brother Muslims to take care of the Christians so that the Christians also take care of us. … And let us help one another and let us live together peacefully,” he said.

Farah’s brother, Rashid, said he hoped his example would encourage Kenyans to live as one community and promote religious harmony.

Joseph Boinnet, the Inspector General of Police, told the Standard Farah was a “true hero” and that the government paid to fly his body home to his family in Mandera for burial.