February 2012.indd - World Memon Organization Pakistan Chapter

FEBRUARY 2012 Volume No. 53 Issue No. 640IMMORTALMEMONPERSONALITIES“Such a large andlasting influence onthe Memon Community”

February 2012Volume No. 53Issue No. 640Registration No. SS-03827 Community News - Hijama Therapy at MITI4 Join Hands6 From the desk of the editor7 Community News - ImmortalMemon Personalities29 Community News - GraduationCeremony at MITI32 Community News - WMOYouth Wing delegationparticipating in MUNIK III35 Community News - MemonCommunity in UAE38 Jama Masjid Mauritius42 Profile - Justice IsmailMohammed43 Thought Provoking - Choosinga spouse46 Health Matters48 Humor50 Memon Quam naBhutkalma dokio52 Na’ Bolvama Nav Goon53 Kaka Bawany56 Abdul Aziz KayanoInteqal57 Nariyal na Faida58 Hanse tenu ghar wasay59 Tak60 Prerna61 German N.G.O.Published and edited by:Umer A. Rehman for WMOPrinted by:Bilal Umar – ADK Printers

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FROM THE DESK OF THE EDITORDignified Personalities ofthe Memon CommunityMemons are known for their involvement in business, industry and philanthropic activitiesand the Memon Community is proud of the social work their members have done. Manycountries across the globe have also seen this through the many humanitarian projects theCommunity has built. Having played a major part in the building of Pakistan industry, an increasingnumber of Memons over the years, had since turned into professional occupations.In the Memon Community, we come across a number of dignified and notable personalities throughwhose concentrated efforts and burning desire, the Community has made tremendous progress insocial and humanitarian work.Nearly all the successful dignified personalities of the Memon Community were of the view thata business is not weak for the weak-willed. They hold that it should begin with a mute resignationto loss. They were in fact saying that the greatest business leaders emerge from losses of colossalproportions because they accept its reality earlier on and redouble their efforts to overcome. They trustthat relentless hard work, discipline and a positive attitude pays back and that equips them with thecourage to get up and run again.The most successful businessmen are not those who suffer losses. They are those who accept it as achallenge and work harder at overcoming it and beginning a new.This is not easy at all but it is the best training an entrepreneur can get in honing leadership skillsand attaining success. The successful entrepreneur remembers that he is bigger than the business canever be.Catastrophe in essence steers one towards introspection, towards a changed direction and a visiontowards farther horizons to explore. The world we live in today is mired with conflicts and turbulenceof all sorts. There is a high probability of success through rethinking one’s core business strategies andstarting afresh on principles of service, integrity and hard work that commerce initially began withand gradually lost to greedy profiteering.In the Memon community, we find many such master-minded Memon personalities who haveengraved their names in the history of Memons for their unstinted philanthropic activities.One such prime examples of men who made apparent misfortune work out for them was SethAhmad Dawood from Pakistan. Dawood built and rebuilt his business empire thrice in his life. Oncewhen he migrated from India to Pakistan at the time of the partition, he had to leave his flourishingtrade business behind. Then with the creation of Bangladesh, he had to let go his 60% businessholding in the former East Pakistan. Finally his biggest industrial set ups were nationalized in 1971.When he went to live in the United States during the nationalization of the 70’s, he ended up exploringoil fields successfully in the US.The man proved to be in relentless pursuit of knowledge as he learned Oracle in his eighties. In hisown words, the key to his success was hard work and working without the sense of ego.In the Memon Alam issue under review, the WMO has tried to incorporate most of the notable anddignified personalities including leaders in the Memon Community who have imprinted their nameswith flying colors in the history of Memon.Pir Muhammad A. KaliyaChief EditorMemon Alam6 MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

IMMORTAL PERSONALITIESImmortal MemonPersonalitiesPROF, ALLAMA ABULAZIZ MEMONYAmong the scholars of international repute,Allama Abdul Aziz Al-Memony’s nameranks foremost. This world famous religiousscholar, whom even the Arabs called “Ustad”(teacher) has not received due recognitionfrom his own community or country.But he has been adequately recognized bythe Arab world. It may be due to the factthat the Allama had complete commandof Arabic language, Grammar and Usageand most of his work is in Arabic, whichhas endeared him more to the Arab worldthan his own countrymen and community.His mastery of the Arabic language stunnedeven the Arab scholars who sought his guidancein the subject. His books, written inArabic, have been included in the curriculumof various Arab Universities includingthe famous Jamia Al Azhar of Egypt.At the age of 12, the Allama wentto Delhi from his birthplace Rajkot, inKathiawar and became a pupil of the notedscholar and interpreter of Qur’an andhadith, Mian Nazeer Hussain Dehlavi. Healso studied under the guidance of DeputyNazeer Ahmed. For higher studies hewent to Amroha and Rampur and learnedancient philosophy and logic from MaulanaMuhammad Tayyab Makki of MadrassaAliya, Rampur, passing his Munshi Fazilwith distinction from Punjab University. Hewas selected for lectureship in Arabic andPersian at Edward Mission College, Peshawar.Later on, he was appointed professorof Arabic and Persian Department. Heauthored simple translations of Arabic textbooksfor which he received Maulvi Fazil.In 1925, he was appointed Reader of Arabicat Aligarh Muslim University - the first non-European to be appointed to this post. Herehe wrote about 30 thought provoking books,which were all printed in Egypt and Syria.These books are highly rated in Arabicliterature.In 1928, the Allama received Fellowshipfrom Arabic Academy of Damascusand subsequently the Egyptian Academyalso offered him fellowship, both of whichwere the highest honor for the experts ofArabic researchers and scholars. At theinsistence of Mr. Mumtaz Hassan, the Allamaaccepted the honorary Directorshipof Central Institution of Islamic Researchwhen Arabic Department was establishedin Karachi University, and at the requestof the Vice Chancellor, Professor A.B.A.Haleem, he became the Head of the ArabicDepartment. He also offered his services tothe Arabic Department of Punjab Universityfor two years and later on, he was madethe Head of Arabic Department in OrientalCollege.Due to his old age, he could not continueas a full time professor and offered hisservice as Professor Emeritus at KarachiUniversity and Sindh University. The Egyptian,Saudi Arabian and Iranian universitiestried their best to acquire the services ofthe Allama, which he thankfully declined.The trend set up by the Allama continuesin the family. His son, Muhammad UmarMemon, is also a professor.The Allama was a man of principles andnever compromised on them. He alwaysbelieved in simple living and whatever hesaved, he spent on research. He had a veryvaluable collection of rare books. Once,during discussion with a highly acclaimedscholar of Islam, the Allama was informedthat the scholar was writing a book entitled“Downfall of Islam” at which the Allamawas infuriated and replied that there hasnever been any down fall of Islam in thepast and never would be in future. Downfallcomes in the lives of people and not Islam,which had remained glorious throughouthistory.When Allama went for Haj in 1957, hewas treated as a royal guest and was givena royal accord by the Saudi government.Throughout Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Morocco.Tunis, Turkey and France for research workhe was respected.The Allama donated Rs. 300,000 each toNadwatui Islam (Voice of Islam) and AligarhMuslim University: He also gave significantdonations to Darul Uloom, BinoriTown, Karachi and donated thousands ofpriceless books on different research worksto various universities.The Arabic poets of various countrieshave written poems in honor of AllamaMemony. He was also honored with thedegree of doctorate and awarded medals byvarious Arab countries. The Government ofPakistan conferred upon him the Pride ofPerformance.The special feature about the Allama washis memory, particularly about books. Hecould easily tell anyone as to which rarebook was available in which library andeven on which shelf. He spoke Arabic likea native speaker and his speeches in Arabicwere well recognized.The Allama, due to his mastery of theArabic language, was nominated on theCommittee of Arab scholars to finalize thelatest version of the Arabic Dictionary Al-Lisanul Arab.Sir ADAMJEE HAJIDAWOOD“Many parents of idle income group are reluctantto seek any assistance for the educationof their children, but he advised them,not to allow their ego to become a hurdle inthe way, of their children’s education. Theyare the Memon citizens of tomorrow andyour prosperous depends on their healthand good character. It is your right to seekhelp from the society and it is the obligationMEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012 7

IMMORTAL PERSONALITIESof the society to remove your difficulties.Even a bit of carelessness on the part of anyone will be tantamount to pushing the communitytowards a set-back to that extent”.Adamjee Haji Dawood, the founder of theMemon Educational & Welfare Society,uttered these words on 7th October 1934,while speaking at the first meeting of theSociety.Adamjee was born on 30th June 1880,at Jetpur in Kathiawar; his father HajiDawood Baig Mohammed and his motherHanifa Bai used to call him by ‘Adamjee’instead of Adam and, therefore, he waswidely known as Adamjee. Though Adamjeewas keen about education, he couldnot go beyond fourth class in Gujrati. In1895, at the age of 15, he went to Promatown of Burma, and started his career asan employee of Mr. Saleh MohammadGhaziani. His salary was only Rs. 25 permonth but after completion of one year hisemployer, in appreciation of his honestyand work, gave him a prize of Rs. 125 andan embroidered cap.In 1913, Adamjee started his firm inRangoon under the name of Adamjee HajiDawood & Co. In 1914, a branch of thisfirm was opened in Calcutta. This firm progressedwell and afterwards was convertedinto a limited company with a capital of Rs.5,000,000.Adamjee entered industrial field in 1923.He established a match factory in Rangoon.He was director of Rangoon Electric TradingCompany and Scandia Steam NavigationCompany. He took Burma Fire andMarine Insurance Company under his ownmanagement and was taken on the ManagingBoard of Bank of India Limited. Hewas a leading businessman of jute and rice.He was elected the first President of BurmaIndian Chamber of Commerce, establishedin Burma. Later, he became the Presidentof this Chamber. This was his first publicactivity.After the death of his father, when hecame back to Rangoon he found thatHakim Ajmal Khan, a great leader of theMuslim community, had arrived there inconnection with the funds for Tibia College.Adamjee donated a fairly large amount tothe College fund. He also gave a generousamount to Burma University. During thesame period he started to give scholarshipsto Muslim students in his individual capacity.He was elected president of RangoonMemon Jamat in which capacity he servedfor several years.His main line of business was jute bags,which were generally imported fromCalcutta. So, he decided to establish a jutemill in Calcutta, and he was the first everMuslim to start a jute Mill. His Scottish8and Marwari rivals created many hurdlesin his way but at last he successfully startedconstruction of a mill in December 1927at Blur, about 5 miles away from Calcutta,with a huge capital of Rs. 8,000,000. Themill started its production in December1928.Haji Dawood Baig Mohammed, father ofAdamjee, had opened a small dispensary inJetpur and was planning to convert it into alarge hospital but due to his demise this programmecould not materialize. Sir Adamjeepurchased a large plot of land in Jetpurnear station and constructed ‘Haji DawoodHospital’. He provided one lac rupees formaintenance of the hospital. He took activeinterest in Public welfare projects andextended considerable material support toAnglo-Gujrati School of Calcutta.Heavy rains in 1928 throughout Gujratand Kathiawar resulted in floods, whichclaimed several human lives and colossalloss to property. Some stalwarts establisheda fund named ‘Gujrat Kathiawar Rail RahatCommittee’ and went to Mr. M.K. Gandhiand requested him to recommend an honestand enthusiastic man who could managethe affairs. Mr. Gandhi named Mr. AdamjeeHaji Dawood as the proper person.Therefore, a delegation headed by Mr. TriBhuvan Hira Chand, a leading businessmanof Bombay, reached Calcutta and requestedMr. Adamjee to accept the responsibilitiesas Chairman of the Relief Committee. Despitehis pre-engagements Sir Adamjee acceptedthe responsibilities and successfullyhandled the job. He also donated generouslyto the Committee.Addressing a conference on the topic ofeducation, he emphasized the importanceof learning and knowledge. He focused attentionon the rapid progress in science andlearning. He cited Russia’s efforts to developthe country. Even in India, which is consideredto be a backward country, Parsis havemade tremendous progress. Hindus are alsoworking hard to achieve material progress.He deplored that the majority of the Memonsremained semi-literate. The communitywhole-heartedly responded to the call ofMr. Adamjee, and they became unitedunder his bold and dynamic leadership.Memon Educational and Welfare Societywas formed in 1933 to promote knowledgeand learning in the community.The welfare activities of Adamjee werenot confined to the Memon communityonly, he did his best for everybody. In 1934,he collected funds for earthquake victimsof Bihar and Quetta under the auspices ofthe Society and very efficiently handled therelief activities by creating a volunteer force.Adamjee had an unshakeable faith inthe leadership of the Quaid-e-Azam. Notonly Adamjee but also the whole MemonCommunity had regard for the Quaid evenbefore the well-known Pakistan Resolution.The Memons in Calcutta felicitatedthe Quaid in 1936 in a large gathering ofMuslims. In those days, the Quaid-e-Azamwas known as Mr. Jinnah. Mr. Adamjeeaddressed the gathering as the leader ofthe community, and from that moment hestarted taking interest in politics.He was also actively interested in thepromotion of sports. He was patron of thewell-known Mohammedan Sporting Clubof Calcutta and did his best for its progress.In recognition of his status in trade andindustry and selfless services he renderedfor the welfare of the masses, the BritishGovernment awarded him knighthood in1938.He reached Jetpur again in 1940 in connectionwith the marriage of his youngerson. There he built a school named ‘SirAdamjee Muslim High School’. Moreover,with a view to preserving the memory ofhis late mother he purchased a building andestablished ‘Hanifa Bai Kanyashala’ (GirlsSchool). He also formed a private Organizationand got it registered as ‘Sir AdamjeeHaji Dawood Educational and MedicalSociety’.In 1940, the Quaid-e-Azam emphasizedthe need for a press for projecting thepoint of view of the Muslim League. Heestablished a press fund in which Adamjeewas the first man to send his contributiontelegraphically. Adamjee served the MuslimLeague in a befitting manner from 1936to 1948. During this period he had closecontact with the Quaid-e-Azam, and he wasone of his reliable colleagues.The newly born nation Pakistan confrontedheavy odds in its early days. Only anominal amount was received by the Stateout of total allocation. The dispute over thebalance left the exchequer empty of fund. Inthose days Adamjee came to Karachi, theQuaid-e-Azam had a meeting with him incamera, only Mr. Ghulam Mohammad, thethen Finance Minister, was there. Duringthe deliberations, Admjee put forth veryuseful suggestions, which became the basisof a viable economy of this nascent state.In January 1948, to consult him on mattersrelating to the formation of the StateBank of Pakistan, the Quaid invited him.In those days Adamjee was a heart patient.The meeting was arranged at upper storeyof the building and there was no arrangementof elevator. He had to walk upstairswhich aggravated his heart trouble. Col.Shah immediately gave him initial treatment.He was rushed to his residence inSaddar, but he died the next day on the 27thof January 1948.MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

IMMORTAL PERSONALITIESBARRISTER ABDULSATTAR WALIBorn with a silver spoon in his mouth toa very rich family, A.S. Wali was the firstMemon Barrister. All his life he remainedan idealist and reformist. Charities of hisfather were very well known and BarristerWali inherited both the wealth andgenerosity of his father. He spent lavishlyon the causes, which were dear to hisheart. He was a fluent orator in Memony,Gujrati, Urdu, English and Persian.Eminent leaders like Mr. M.A. Jinnah andMrs. Sarojini Naidu sought his companyat public functions.The weekly “Memon Sudharak” waspublished under the editorship of the lateBarrister A. Sattar Wali, who played avery vital role in bringing reforms andawakening to the Memon community.This weekly also published regular columnsto pave the way for holding Memonconference. The magazine also inspirednew writers in Gujrati on subjects likesocial evils, and harshest possible criticalarticles were published very boldly. BarristerWali traveled extensively throughoutKathiawar to see for himself the socialand educational conditions of the Memoncommunity. He realized the need to publisha magazine for campaigning reformsand, as such, he started the publicationfrom Bombay in 1929, the leadership ofthe community at that time was mostlyhereditary. “Memon Sudharak” stronglydeplored this system and advised the communitymembers to elect leaders throughballot. In 1931, when Barrister Wali raisedthis issue in the Memon conference andmoved a resolution against the existingsystem, there was a major uproar. At theintervention of Seth Adamjee, the resolutionwas withdrawn. The contribution ofBarrister Wali was very great and unforgettablefor the reforms of the community.Elsewhere, in the book his services tothe cause of the Memons, Muslims andIndians, generally have been described. Inshort, Barrister Wali was one of the rareleaders of the community whose servicesunfortunately could not be utilizedbecause of his advanced views on reformsand adoption of democratic system inrunning the organizations. Not havingsucceeded in his mission he became frustratedand after migration to Pakistan, hedied unknown, un-honored and unsung.SETH AHMADDAWOODSeth Ahmad Dawood, was one of the topbusinessmen and industrialists of Pakistan.He was born in 1905 and has playedsuch an important role as a Memon thathis services cannot be excluded fromMemon history. He was the founder ofDawood Foundation through which heestablished Dawood Engineering Collegein Karachi. In the early days some of thesubjects taught in this College were notbeing taught in any other university/collegeanywhere in Pakistan. Even after nationalizationof this College he providedcasual financial aid to the institution. TheFoundation runs schools and other charitableinstitutions.He was the founder trustee of Al-ShifaEye Hospital to which his Foundation hascontributed more than Rs. 15 million. Hewas the main founder of United MemonJamat and has always been keen to bringall the Memons on one platform. Unfortunately,during the Bhutto regime, he waskept under house arrest for several monthsfor just being an outspoken industrialist.He left Pakistan for a couple of years duringwhich period he did exploratory workin USA in the field of oil exploration. Hewas a very daring industrialist with a foresight.In East Pakistan, due to labor unrestnobody was prepared to buy the PIDCProject Karnaphuli Paper and ChemicalMill, but Ahmed Dawood dared and continuedto run it profitably till the emergenceof Bangladesh. His main missionthat every able bodied man in Pakistanshould be provided with a bicycle to makehim mobile has not yet been fulfilled.The Dawood family started from humbleorigins when Ahmed Dawood begantrading in pre-partition India and waseventually joined by his brothers. At partition,the family opted to move to Pakistan,where the new nation created ampleopenings and opportunities for businessand industry. The family thus made thetransition from business to industry,first establishing Dawood Cotton MillsLimited in 1952. The industry expandedrapidly. With the realization that the onlyway to maintain continuous growth andenhance reputation was to expand internationally,the first international officewas established in Manchester, England,operating under the title ‘Dawood (England)Limited’. Simultaneously, seniormembers of the family, in a bid to ensurethat the education of all successive generationsbe given the utmost importance,sent their children to England to pursuetheir studies.As such, nearly the entire secondgeneration has graduated with universitydegrees from England, from where theyproceeded to the United States to studybusiness at graduate level. The familycan boast of having graduates of the bestuniversities like Oxford, Manchester, LondonSchool of Economics, Strathclyde,McGill, University of Western Ontario,Harvard, Northwestern and Columbia.The family has more MBAs than anyother family in Pakistan. The Dawoodsdecided to expand further. In 1959, thefamily purchased Burewala Textile Mills,a cotton textile mill with its own ginningfactory, and in 1969 established Dillon,which manufactured nylon and syntheticyam. Their last textile venture was LawrencepurWoolen Mills.The strategy of diversification wasmarked by the setting up of DawoodHercules Chemicals (Urea fertilizer), followedby Transpak (baby food, toothpaste,toothbrushes and other consumergoods), Dawood Yamaha (Motorcycles),Dawlance (refrigerators and microwaves),Descon Engineering (construction), andMeiji Biscuits.A move into the financial sector wasthe next step. It was put into effect withthe establishment of Central InsuranceCompany (in-house insurance), BRRCapital Modarba (leasing under the Islamicmode of financing), BRR SecoundModarba (working capital finance), andEquity International Modarba (venturecapital funding as a joint venture withIFC and Robert Flemings). All threeModarbas have since been merged intoone, namely BRR International Modarba.Other concerns include OrientInsurance Company, and the latest,Dawood Leasing Company Limited, ajoint venture among the four brothersand other renowned financial institutionsof Pakistan. Prior to the establishmentof Bangladesh, the Dawood familyalso owned and managed KarnaphuliMEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012 9

IMMORTAL PERSONALITIESPaper Mills Limited and KarnaphuliRayon and Chemicals Limited, whichutilized bamboo as raw material for alltheir products. Karnaphuli Jute MillsLtd was established in East Pakistan.With the nationalization fever in theearly seventies, when Mr. Zulfiqar AliBhutto took over the reins of Pakistan,Dawood Petroleum Limited and CentralLife were taken over by the State.Finally, when this industrial empire wasdivided among the brothers, Seth AhmadDawood, Mr. Suleman Dawood, Mr. SiddiqDawood and late Mr. Ali MohammadDawood, the industrial ventures, mentionedearlier, were amicably distributedand are being owned and managed byeach one of the brothers or descendants.ABDUL WAHIDADAMJEEEldest son of Sir Adamjee, Abdul Wahidwas born in 1908. He was educatedin a convent school in Rangoon. Heacquired deep knowledge of businesscorrespondence from his office staff tomake up for the deficiency of highereducation. He learned business managementin a systematic manner from hisfather, who appointed him to various departmentsin his large business empire.He established the largest jute mill inthe world near Dacca, which was visitedby foreign visitors including rulingPresidents and the queen of England. Inthis jute mill, all facilities were providedfor thousands of workers. The assets ofthe jute mill then were estimated to bearound Rs. 110 million. He also startedAdamjee Particles and Boards Mill,Magna Textile Mills, Aroma Tea, etc.The Adamjees became the owners of thebiggest tea gardens in the world. In WestPakistan, in 1952, Adamjee Cotton Millwas established. He also established AdamjeeChemicals and paper Board units.Adamjee Insurance was established in1960. He remained Chairman of theAdamjee Group of Industries. Almostevery regime in Pakistan sought hisco-operation in the field of business andindustrial development. He was offeredministerial post but he always refused.He became the Chairman of PakistanIndustrial Credit Investment Corporation(PICIC) and rendered valuableservices for the industrialization of thecountry. He also established AdamjeeInsurance Company, which is the largestin Pakistan.In recognition of his valuable services,he was awarded “Hilal-e-Pakistan”. He10was Chairman and Director of many publiccompanies including Pakistan RefineryLimited, Zeal Pak Cement and othercompanies. According to a report publishedin those days in New York Times,the industrial assets of Adamjees were tothe tune of 60 million US Dollars, halfof which were invested in East Pakistan.He became the President of All PakistanMemon Educational and Welfare Societywhen its offices were shifted to Karachifrom Calcutta. His services in managingand increasing the assets of the societyare worthy of note. The Federal ‘B’ AreaMemon Colony was built by the Societyunder his leadership. So did the Adamjeefamily build the Adamjee Science Collegewith their generous donations towardsconstruction and maintenance of the college.His family constructed Adamjee HajiDawood Public School in Dacca, also establishedthe Adamjee Foundation, whichis contributing towards general welfareof the masses without any discriminationand without any publicity.ABDUL LATIFEBRAHIM BAWANIAL-Haj Abdul Latif Bawany was one ofthe most popular leaders of the communityHe was known as Kaka Bawany (Uncle Bawany)among Memons and Non-Memonsalike. He is remembered for his dedicatedservices not only for the community butalso for humanity as a whole. His public lifestarted in Burma where he was a leadingmember of Rangoon Memon Jamat andfounder member of the local chamber ofcommerce.Even before the partition of India,he was known for his philanthropy, theorganizations that benefited from his generosityinclude Darul-Anjuman-e-Himayat-e-Islam,Islamic Economic Institute,Aligarh University, Jetpur High Schooland Jetpur Gymkhana. He served JetpurMemon Association for three years. Healso played a great role in the workingof the Memon Conference as well as theMemon Educational & Welfare Societyand contributed much towards the formationof Memon Relief Committee inPakistan.He also played a vital role in the establishmentof the All Pakistan Memon Federationand remained its president for twoyears. His contribution is also countable indeveloping the Memon Colony under theauspices of the Pakistan Memon Educational& Welfare Society at Federal ‘B’ Area,Karachi.ABDUL SATTAR EDHIServices rendered by Abdul Sattar Edhiand his Foundations, which are spread allover Pakistan and are innumerable, areonly too well known. The work, has beendone on an ever-increasing scale for the lastforty years. The services rendered duringthe Afghanistan-USSR war, at the risk tohis person, cannot be ignored. Mr. Edhiwent personally to the war zone to do andsupervise relief work. Similarly, his servicesin Lebanon during Israel occupation of theWest Bank and Gaza strip are also unforgettable.He also went to Palestine to help therefugees. He also arranged to send ten thousandtones of rice, worth Rs. 30 millions,to Eriteria in Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia andother African countries that were torn anddevastated by famine, hunger, and civil war.To Bangladesh also, he sent volunteers withambulances and an amount of US Dollar10,000/- for relief to the needy people there.In 1986, anti-social elements brought aboutSri Lankan girls to Pakistan by luring them tosecure good and lucrative jobs for them andlater on tried to involve them in 112 immoralprofessions. Maulana Edhi came to their rescue,arranged for their return journey to Sri Lankaand in the meantime kept them in the securityof his institutions. He always came to the rescueof such destitute people including fishermenor other foreigners who either crossed theborder illegally or sea front or who over stayedin Pakistan. Such people are provided shelter,food and care before they are sent back to theirrespective countries. The account of his servicesneeds volumes. However, it must be said tohis credit that a single individual, sleeping on aMEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

IMMORTAL PERSONALITIEScharpoy in Mithadar, manages a chain of trustsand foundations and personally supervises reliefwork whenever he receives a message of distress.At great personal risk he reaches the spot wheresomeone is lying in an inaccessible area wheretwo rival groups are exchanging fire. He doesnot hesitate to carry a stinking dead body or adecomposed and unmanageable corpse, lyingin a ditch. It seems that a call from the needy becomesirresistible for him and he rushes to theirrescue. All this he is doing without any assistancefrom the government. People having faithin his integrity, donate to his trusts and foundationsgenerously. He is adored and respected bythe people of Pakistan for his untiring, selflessand fearless services to the cause of humanity.One unique thing about this legendary man isthat he works with his own hands. He preferspersonal supervision in the relief work. He leadsby example, whether it be the last Islamic bathto a dead body, wrapped in shroud and even intemperatures soaring to 120 deg. F with ice slabskept in the pick-up since he does not have facilityof air-conditioned ambulances, or taking thedead body to its native graveyard. In Karachi itis next to impossible that if you go out of yourhome and travel on the main roads for somedistance without coming across a fleet. He hasestablished orphanages, hospitals, homes forthe destitute (Apna Ghar), cancer hospital andblood bank. In addition, he along with his forceof volunteers, and his wife, is always there on thespot whenever an S.O.S. is received. It is a tributeto his selfless services that the people of thecalamity hit area look up to him for help ratherthan the Government.It is rather strange that he has not receivedthe kind of recognition on internationalscale that he deserves except RamonMalagasy Award, Philippines. For theservices rendered to the victims of Armeniaearthquake, the Government of USSR alsoawarded him a medal. He also maintains anumber of air ambulances.AHMED E.H. JAFFERThe above name in fact represents a familytree and includes Ahmed, his father SirEbrahim, his grandfather, Haroon and hisgreat grandfather Jaffer. All of them werevery well-known Kutchi Memons.Jaffer started his business empire in 1861in Pune, near Bombay, which was then oneof the main cantonments of the Britisharmy. Jaffer was not only the leader of theMuslims, but he was a well known philanthropistalso.Jaffer’s son, Haroon, also kept the familytradition alive and was well knownin the Bombay Presidency. Ebrahim wasa noted Muslim leader and a leadingbusinessman. He became member of theBombay Legislative Assembly in 1910and in 1915. Up to 1930 he remained amember of the Council of State, NewDelhi. In 1920, he was appointed to theImperial Council of India, which actedas Advisory Committee to the Viceroy ofIndia. In 1914 he was awarded the titleof ‘Khan Bahadur and in 1926, knighthoodwas conferred on him. Sir Ebrahimtook active part in spreading educationamongst the Muslims and he presidedover the Bombay Muslim Education Conference,which was attended by Sir AkbarHydery, Sir Ghulam Husain Hidayatullah,and Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed. His educationalactivities got the patronage of the BritishGovernor of Bombay.He established a big Hall (Jaffer Hall)in Pune in the name of his grandfather.He was instrumental in getting two hours’break for the Muslims working in theGovernment departments to enable them tooffer juma prayers. He also managed to removeillegal possession by the Governmentof the Shahi Mosque of Ahmednagar. Hetook up the cause of renovating the Mazarof the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafarin Rangoon. Though he was successfulin getting the Mazar included in the list ofhistorical monuments, the renovation workcould not be completed during his life time.He died at an early age of 50.Ahmed E.H. Jaffer was born in 1909. Aftermatriculation, he joined Deccan College,Pune, for further education. He was a veryardent sport lover. He wanted to join IndianCivil Service but his father was against itor any other service so he joined the familybusiness.He was the chairman of the ReceptionCOMMITTEE OF All India MuslimEducational Conference held in 1940. Thisconference was presided over by the ChiefMinister of Bengal Moulvi Faziul Haq andthe inauguration ceremony was performedby the then Governor of Bombay.Ahmed Jaffer was elected to the IndianLegislative Assembly while he was 24years old. The defeated candidate, HussainBhai Laijee, filed a petition that under theConstitution of India, a person below theage of 25 could not be elected as a memberof the Assembly. But very soon, in 1946, heagain defeated the same opponent from thesame constituency to become the youngestlegislator.The Quaid-e-Azam Appointed himDeputy Whip of the Muslim League Partyin the Assembly. Coming over to Pakistan,he naturally remained a member of theConstituent Assembly and Parliament andremained as such till 1954 when Governor-General Ghulam Muhammad dissolved theparliament.Ahmed jaffar is well-known as a memberfor putting the highest number of questionsin the Parliament on various aspects,particularly about the problems faced bythe Mohajirs. For the rehabilitation of therefugees he became the Chairman of theBoard of Refugees Rehabilitation, Sindh,and was instrumental in establishing theFirst Mohajir Colony in the Gizri area ofKarachi.Ahmed became a well-known industrialisthaving assumed the chairmanship ofseveral public and private limited companies,including some of his own. Hewas designated Chief-de-Mission of thePakistan Squad for the Rome OlympicGames. He remained associated witha number of foreign organizations suchas Gulf Chamber, Pak-German CulturalAssociation, Pak-Kuwait FriendshipAssociation, Foreign Affairs Council ofPakistan, Pakistan-Arab Cultural Society,Old and New Parliamentarians Association,National Playing Fields Associationof Pakistan, English Speaking Union ofPakistan and many other such organizations.He went as Pakistan’s delegate to manycountries. He was a well-known collector ofstamps and was a keen sportsman playingsquash, tennis, and golf. He was good athorse riding, and swimming. He was also amember of the Karachi Aero Club, KarachiBoat Club, Karachi Gymkhana, KarachiRace Course, Rawalpindi Gymkhana andLahore Gymkhana. He was also a memberof prestigious clubs of England.He received many awards such as Sitarae-Pakistanand foreign awards from Spain,Brazil, Jordan and the Government ofU.K. At the age of 81, he was invited toIslamabad to attend a meeting which wasconvened by the Government to discuscelebrating the Pakistan Golden Jubilee ina befitting manner. But he died there of amassive heart attack.MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012 11

IMMORTAL PERSONALITIESSETH HAJI ABDULSATTARThe old generation of Memons took politicsas part of their religion and Sattar Seth wasa living example of this. He belonged to theKutchi Memon community. His forefatherswent to Malabar, South India, for businesspurposes. Haji Sattar Seth was born therein 1894. He received his primary and highereducation there and also performed Hajwith his father in 1906. He stayed in SaudiArabia for two years and acquired knowledgeof Islam as well as Arabic language.He again went for Haj with his father in1914 and again stayed there for two yearsfor educational purpose. He started hispolitical career by taking part in the KhilafatMovement. He was regarded as one of theclosest companions of Maulana ShaukatAli. He was elected joint Secretary of theKerala Muslim League. In 1935, he waselected member of the Legislative Assemblywith a comfortable margin. In 1946, he wasre-elected to the Legislative Assembly andbecame Chief Whip of the Muslim LeagueParliamentary Party. He served as a memberof the Central Working Committee ofthe Muslim League from 1938 to 1948. Afterindependence, he remained a member ofthe Indian Constituent Assembly till 1948.He took part in GATT Conference held atGeneva as a representative of India. He washeld in high esteem by the Muslim Leaguecircles which is evident from the fact thatthe Quaid-e-Azam invited him in 1948to come to Pakistan and appointed himambassador of Pakistan in Egypt in whichposition he served for 3 years. Besides, herendered services as Pakistani diplomat inSaudi Arabia. In 1957, he was appointedHigh Commissioner of Pakistan in SriLanka where he served for five years. Hecame back to Pakistan in 1962 and retiredfrom Politics. He had command of English,Gujrati, Urdu, Malayalam, Tamil and Arabiclanguages. His services in Egypt, SaudiArabia and Sri Lanka proved much usefulbecause of his knowledge of Arabic andTamil Languages.During Pakistan Movement, he publishedan Urdu weekly ‘Hind’. At the time ofmigrating to Pakistan his business was flourishingin Malabar. But, on a telephonic callfrom the Quaid-e-Azam, he left all that immediatelyand reached Pakistan and startedperforming the duties assigned to him.Whenever he was approached for award ofa title, he declined politely. He never submittedany claim for his property worth croresof rupees that he had left in India whilecoming to Pakistan. So simple was his lifestyle that even in his declining age, he wentto markets for buying things of daily use.It is unfortunate that leaders like A. SattarSeth, who came here sacrificing all theirbelongings for the cause of Pakistan, have beenforgotten. Not only this, but they were consignedto marginal positions even during their life time.MR. A.K. SUMARMr. A.K. Sumar was a leading businessmanand philanthropist of the community. Hewas much known for the longest ever tenureof service in his capacity as the Presidentof the All Pakistan Memon Federation. Hestruggled a lot to eliminate the ill customsof the community. He started his politicalcareer in 1941 when he became the organizingSecretary of Bombay Provincial MuslimStudents Federation.After partition, he came to Karachi andgave attention towards business of cloth. Heserved the Textile Merchants Association asits Secretary for three years and five yearsas its President. In 1961, he was electedPresident of Karachi Chamber of Commerce& Industry. In 1965, he was electedin the Parliament and became Chairman ofNational Press Trust.In 1969, he became President of the AllPakistan Memon Federation and resignedfrom that post in 1976.ABDUL RAZZAK TASTYHe was a prominent businessman and agenerous philanthropist, extending assistanceto various social welfare activities. Hisdonations for various humanitarians causerun into tens of millions of rupees and healways looks forward to donating morefunds to new and deserving cause.HUSSAIN QASIM DADABorn in Bantva in 1867, he went to schoolat the age of nine and studied up to theschool level certificate, which was up toseventh class in Gujrati.His father had a small stationery shop.Young Hussain became a teacher at aschool in Bantva and earned Rs. 3 permonth. After one year, he taught in anothervillage as an acting head master at a monthlysalary of Rs. 12. In 1894, he accepted ajob, which took him to towns in South Indiaand finally joined in the service of SulemanKasim Mitha at Tell cherry selling salt forthe employer. Having worked for Mitha, hedecided to start an independent venture inthe same line and in the same place with aloan from his previous employer. Luck favoredhim and in the very first year he madea profit of Rs. 3,000. Later on he expandedhis business in the towns of Kerala state.His success was due to low expenses, hardwork, a low margin of profit and a largeturn over.Nothing succeeds like success. He wasable to extend his business in many placesof India, Burma, Ceylon, French Indo-China, Singapore and Siam. By that timehe was a successful and well-known bigbusinessman dealing in most items like foodgrains, cotton yarn, jute and related items.He was now Hussain Seth. He shifted hishead office to Bantva.Now he started to devote his time in thefield of community service also. He had aneye for constructing houses, taking care ofwind and light direction and constructedmany buildings in his family complex. Hebecame the Chairman of the ReceptionCommittee of the first Memon Conferenceheld in Rajkot. Many British dignitaries,ruling princes and the Quaid-e-Azam alsostayed with him as his house guest.Coming to Pakistan at an age of eighty,he purchased new properties and createda family trust. His interest in designingbuildings and supervising their constructionhelped him to construct suitable homes forhis family members. Having a soft spot fororphans, he started one orphanage in Karachialso for which he created a special trustwith an amount of Rs. one million.A most remarkable incident worth emu-12MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

IMMORTAL PERSONALITIESlating but very difficult to follow was thatthough his properties in India were takenover by the Indian Government, underevacuee laws it served a notice upon himfor income tax dues of Rs. 5 million. Thisremarkable man, true to his Memon spirit,arranged to pay this amount to the IndianGovernment.Mr. Dada was really one of the greatMemons.HASSAN ALI EFFENDIEnglish language was considered a satanicdialect and the Muslims were not readyto learn that language with the resultthat earlier Persian and later on Sindhi,became the official languages of the Provinceof Sindh. Taking advantage of this,the Hindus started learning English Language,and having been previously adaptat Sindhi, Persian, and Arabic languages,they monopolized government jobs atleast at the top and middle levels. Thelate Mr. Hassan Ali Effendi, born on 14thAugust 1830, in an Akhund Memon familyof Hyderabad, was a scholar of Qur’anand Persian language. He also learnedEnglish to become a clerk in the DeputyCollector’s Office at Naushehro Feroz.Here he came in touch with a ChristianColleague from whom he learned advancedEnglish. He came in contact withthe then Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Middleton,at Sindh Chief Court, on whomhe left a good and favorable impression.The justice later appointed Mr. EffendiSerishtedar. Here he got an opportunity tostudy and learn legal process and was ableto get a Sanad (Certificate) to officiate asa lawyer. Soon, his brilliant exposition oflegal acumen enabled him to be appointedPublic Prosecutor, the first local person tobe appointed to this post. Before him onlyEnglishmen were appointed to this post.Having established himself in his profession,he diverted his attention towards socialwelfare services to Muslims. For thispurpose he established Anjuman-e-Islam,Karachi, and became its President. Theobject of the Anjuman was to protect therights of Muslims and to spread educationamongst them. Later on, Mr. Effendimet Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and discussedwith him the desperate situation of SindhiMuslims and disclosed his plans to set upa high school in Karachi. Sir Syed encouragedhim by advising him to upgrade theschool to college and university level. LikeSir Syed, Effendi also had to face hostilityfrom orthodox Muslim scholars and theirfollowers. To counter the resistance oforthodox Muslims, he started publishinga magazine “Muwan-e-Majlis-e-Muhammadi”.Another hurdle was shortage offunds. For collection of funds, delegationswere sent to Muslim Nawabs andrulers of different States. The Nizam ofHyderabad donated Rs. 4000, the Nawabof Junagadh Rs.10,000 and also offeredfacilities of teaching Muslims from Sindhat Bahauddin College, Junagadh, free ofcost. After great efforts, a few rooms wereconstructed on the site with a very smallnumber of students attending the Englishclasses. After a few years, some land wasacquired from the Municipality on whicha spacious building was constructed in1890 for Sindh Madrassatul Islam, whichstill exists. Thus, after suffering immensehumiliation, anguish, hardship, abusesand resistance, Mr. Effendi achieved hisobjectives in establishing this educationalinstitution in Sindh. His role and struggleis historic. The Turkish Caliph conferredthe title Effendi on him.The two sons of Mr. Effendi, Wali Muhammadand Ali Muhammad, who were inthe government service, gave him full supportand Wali Mohammad gave up governmentservice to become the first Principal ofthe Sindh Madrassatul Islam, even thoughits future was uncertain.Several renowned figures of the Muslimcommunity acquired their education in thishistorical institution including Mr. MuhammadAli Jinnah, Father of the Nation, Mr.Abdullah Haroon, Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto,Allama I.I. Kazi. The Madrassa had Britishas well as Muslim Principals like Dr. OmarBin Daudpota, Wali Muhammad HassanAli and others.HUSEIN EBRAHIMJAMALElder brother of Latif Ebrahim Jamal,he always felt a pinch due to his incompleteeducation and for that reason hetook keen interest in educational activitiesthroughout his life. In 1928, he wentto Africa at the age of 14 and joined hisuncle’s business. He started businessdealings in cashew nuts. He returned toBombay where he made rapid progressin business and in a very short span oftime he acquired the status of one of theleading exporters and importers. He alsoentered business of jute bags. He becamevery close to Sir Adamjee Dawood. Hestarted large scale business of cashewnuts and was later termed as the king ofcashew nuts in India. At that time he wasonly 30 years old. He earned fame andcredit in public life. His social activitieswere spread in Bombay, Baroda, Okhaand Calcutta. He was a member of theprovincial Muslim League WorkingCommittee in Bombay, a member of theManaging Committee of Memon Chamberof Commerce, Bombay. The Governorof Bombay made him justice of Peace inrecognition of his extraordinary services.He took keen interest in All PakistanMemon Educational and Welfare Society,Dwarka Boarding House and BarodaBoarding House. He extended financialaid to many institutions including religiousinstitutions.During the influx of refugees fromOkha Port to Karachi, his services anddonations were notable. He migrated toPakistan and started his relief activitieswith the establishment of Memon ReliefCommittee for providing assistance to therefugees reaching Khokhrapar and otherpoints from India. He started schools inNawabad and Khadda with large donations.He played active part in the establishmentof All Pakistan Memon Federation.During his life time he desired todonate an amount of Rs. 5 million to starta polytechnic for which a lot of spadework was done but the same amountperhaps was diverted, after his death,for financing HEJ Research Institute ofChemistry at the University of Karachi.He was a kind-hearted gentleman of uprightcharacter. His family members in hismemory established a foundation, namedHussain Foundation. In all rehabilitationand welfare services he donated generously.To mark his generous donations aportion of Memon Colony in Federal ‘B’Area is named as Hussainabad. He servedas President of All Pakistan Memon Educationaland Welfare Society. He died inLondon in 1972.MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012 13

IMMORTAL PERSONALITIESHABIB HAJI PIRMUHAMMADHe was one of three big guns from Bantva- Haji Adam, Hoosen Seth and Haji HabibPir Muhammad were the three wealthiestMemon business men form Bantva withbusiness activities spread all over India. HajiHabib was born in 1895. Since his fatherdied early, he was not able to completeeven his primary education and had to joinhis father’s business, which spread far andwide. Besides being one of the top mostbusinessmen, he was very service-mindedand his generosity was also second tonone. In donating generous amounts, hematched with the top contributors in thefield of education and health care. When heheard about the plight of refugees leavingIndia, he instructed British India SteamshipCompany with which he had big business,to debit his personal account for the ticketsof those refugees leaving for Karachi, andwho could not afford to pay their fare. Healso arranged sufficient ration at all theexit points from India to Karachi. He wasconsidered a king of food grains in whichbusiness he had expertise, which was matchless.It is believed that the Government ofIndia through its First High Commissionerin Pakistan sent him a message that theGovernment of India would be very happyif he would go back to India and continuehis business in food grains. However, HajiHabib refused to go back to India and decidedto stay in Pakistan.MUHAMMAD ALIRANGOONWALALate Mr. Muhammad Ali Rangoonwalawas a legendary person. Some men areborn great, some achieve greatness andsome have greatness thrust upon them. Mr.Rangoonwala was born to parents whohad great aspirations about their son andthey desired him to follow the footstepsof great people. It was in this context thatas soon as their son was born, the fatherwho was somebody who mattered andwas in personal touch with some of theleading politicians in India then, sent acable from Rangoon (Burma) to MaulanaMuhammad Ali Jauhar requesting him tosend his blessings and permit his son to benamed Muhmmad Ali to which MaulanaSahib immediately replied in affirmative.However, great as his upbringing was, Mr.Rangoonwala achieved greatness due to hisown efforts, which efforts he tried to make,throughout his life and achieved pinnaclesof glory, international fame due to his hardwork, sincerity of purpose and by setting forhimself certain ideals and goals.14Mr. Rangoonwala’s father, Mr. V.M.Gany Rangoonwala and mother, Mrs.Zuleikhabai always looked forward andtried to imbibe in their young son ideas ofcharity, philanthropy, large heartedness andleadership. After migration to India fromBurma, the family was deprived of theirwealth and business and young Mr. Rangoonwalawas never upset about his povertyand with pride told his friends that hismode of transport in Bombay was a bicycle.His father was amongst the first couple ofMemons in Rangoon to own a motor-carand headed many welfare organizations inRangoon and Calcutta. Muslim dispensaryin Rangoon thrived to become a well-organizedclinic in later years and RangoonwalaFoundation, London, continued to assistthis dispensary with generous financialassistance. Mr. Rangoonwala always toldhis friends that his parents had taught him alesson to the effect that whatever you donateby your own hands would be your moneyand what you do not donate personallywould be somebody else’s money. Followingthis noble advice, Mr. Rangoonwaladeveloped generosity beyond words. Hegave away large amounts of money to thetrust in the name of Z.V.M. Gany RangoonwalaTrust in Karachi, in 1957, throughwhich first community centre of its typeZ.V.M. Gany Rangoonwala CommunityCentre and V.M. Gany Public School thelike of which may be few and far between inKarachi were set up. Deserving and needystudents are given preference without compromisingwith quality of education. Mr.Rangoonwala did not like the word charity.He always preferred to keep up the moraleof poor students by personally subsidizingtheir full fees from his private purse withoutletting students know that 95% fees studentspaid came from his own purse. This attitudehelped to create sense of dignity amongstthe poor students and also helped both theseinstitutions to be ranked amongst the best oftheir type in Karachi.As narrated here-below, Mr. Rangoonwalabrushed shoulders with princes, rulersof countries and many rich persons aroundthe globe. Sometimes using a limousineas transport, he would walk many a timearound the pavements of Karachi, Bombayand other towns in Indo-Pak sub-continentenquiring sympathetically from the fruitvendors, hawkers etc. as to how much theirinvestment and profit was. He also invitedquite a few of them if they desired somemore money to increase profit he wouldadvance them small loans to expand theirbusiness. This was one of his favorite hobbies.His philosophy in life was rather thangiving fish and loaf to a needy person, givefishing implement so that he can earn hisliving by fishing.He started his international businessin London. He donated munificently tovarious causes including those in Pakistan,India, Rangoon and U.K. Trust in London.The trust in London brought him close toleading philanthropists of Europe and to theRoyal family of U.K. For a particular causeheaded by the Queen, Mr. Rangoonwalawas one of the few invites at the BuckinghamPalace and the Queen desired Mr.Rangoonwala to be one of the trustees. Foranother cause started by Prince Philip whoincidentally, was a friend of Mr. Rangoonwala,the Duke with similar request wouldinvite him to Buckingham Palace. This closeproximity with the royal family and alsodue to his generous donations he becameknown internationally. Through WorldMemon Foundation about hundred andeighty million Rupees were donated by thetrustees of the Foundation. Through hisown funds, with the assistance of his friendsfrom Teli Group and others he helpedacquire land to establish Dhoraji Colony,where some flats and small houses weregiven away either free or on subsidized rateswhereas some plots were sold at no profit.He helped set V.M. Unani Medical Collegeand Zuleikhabai Hospital in Pune, India.During the last few months of his lifehe repeatedly requested for the feasibilityreports of needed institutions for which hecould donate generously. Aligarh University,India, had sent him a word to donateto the community centre there and he wascommitted to send his aide to Aligarh onhis behalf to find out the position. However,he never recovered to fulfill his almost lastdesire.He was one of the first businessmen tomigrate to Karachi and did yeoman servicein the fields of relief to refugees, to helpset up business, trade and industry. Here-activated Karachi Chamber of Commerceand Industries of which he becamethe President, helped establish Federationof Chambers & Commerce and Industries,Pakistan, and also became its President. Hehimself established several industries includingone of the largest oil terminals.He was one of few Asians to become thePresident of International Chambers ofCommerce and Industries in Paris in whichposition he had to undertake visits to manycountries of the world and had the honor ofbeing received by the Heads of States. Hereceived awards and titles from Pakistan aswell as Germany and heads of other countriesfor the services he rendered.Mr. Rangoonwala headed National Bankof Pakistan as Chairman. He was DirectorPICIC and many other organizations, financialinstitutions and similarly he was associ-MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

IMMORTAL PERSONALITIESated with some of the world renowned institutionsin Europe and America. One of thefeathers in his cap was that he participatedin the last bath given to Quaid-e-Azam’sbody at the Governor’s House.KASSIM HUSSAINDADAMr. Kassim H.K. Dada, the famous son ofthe equally famous father, has a versatilepersonality. His father sent him to Calcuttain 1931 from where he received his educationin English, Gujrati, Urdu, religion,Arabic, and Hindi. As a child, KassimDada learned to play and enjoy the thenpopular games and despite being afflictedwith polio, he played football, hockey andcricket. He was a great fan of the famousMohammadan sporting Club of Calcutta,and recalls with joy some of the performancesof the football team and remembersall the players and their respective positionsthey played on.When Lord Inchcap, who controlledshipping companies in India and the FarEast, visited Calcutta, Kassim was selectedto read the address of welcome at a functionheld in honor of Lord Inchcap. Hisambition was, however, to become a doctoror an engineer but his father decided thathe should become a businessman. At theage of 20, he began working in one of thebranches in Coimbatore in Kerala in SouthIndia.In Bantva, he came in contact withimportant persons like the Quaid-e-Azam,who came to collect funds and many otherswho were house guests of his father. Thedressing, table that the Quaid used is nowone of Kassim’s precious possessions. TheGrand Mufti of Palestine, Mr. Yousuf Haroon,Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed, Haji Sattar Sethand Sir George Campbell were guests inhis house. Begum Sahiba Manavadar State,who was a ruler of the State, used to cometo their house and to seek his father’s adviceon different problems faced by her. Mr.Kassim had personal relationship with Mr.Zahid Hussain, the first Governor of theState Bank of Pakistan and with KhawajaNazimuddin, the Governor-General as wellas prime Minister of Pakistan. He had veryclose family terms with Mohtarma FatimaJinnah and had several opportunities tomeet the Quaid.Under the influence of Mr. IsmailMuhammad, a very unusual person, and afree thinker, who led a very simple life, Mr.Kassim started washing his own clothes,which he has been doing for more thanfifty years now. The last time he went to abarber was about 35 years ago. He cuts hisown hair. He likes cooking his own food.When he was the head of the MuhammadiSteamship Company, he had a smallVolkswagens to set an example for others.While his marriage was an arranged one,he allowed his three children, out of five tomarry non-Memons. His only son, Sikandarhas obtained B.Sc. (Honors) from LondonSchool of Economics and has now moreor less taken over the multifarious businessresponsibilities of Mr. Kassim.Mr. Kassim has also written a bookby the name of A Ranible Through Life.He is also quite good as a shikari and isinterested in pigeon breeding and trainingthem. Photography is another hobby,which included developing and printing.He was a lover of eastern and westernmusic playing various musical instruments.He was a globe trotter and once ortwice a year he will go around the world,mostly to meet his old friends. He paid115 visits to Europe and 42 visits to USAand has been to about hundred countrieswhich include Cuba, South Vietnam,China, USSR, Paraguay, Venezuela, NewZealand, Malta and the Bahamas.Mr. Kassim an active Rotarian, has beenhome guest in many countries with hisRotarian friends and vice versa. His houseopen with warm hospitality to many internationalRotarians.He became associated with a shippingcompany on the advice of the Quaid-e-Azam. He was Chairman and ManagingDirector of Muhammadi Steamship Company;founder President of the PakistanShip Owners Association, Chairman ofPakistan Shipping Lines Limited, Directorof State Bank of Pakistan for 24 years. Hebecame the President of Karachi StockExchange and remained in that positionfor nine years. He has also served asPresident of the Merchants’ Associationfor five years and has served as the VicePresident of the Federation of PakistanMemon Federation. As a Rotarian he haspublished forty articles and has addressedmany meetings and conferences internationallyand was awarded the highestaward of the Rotary International. Hewas also President of the Karachi AeroClub and won an award as its best flyingmember. He was invited to join handswith many foreign companies and servedas Chairman of Johnson and Nicholsonfor some 35 years and Chairman of theoriginal Johnson and Nicholson, whichis now called Berger Paints. He has beenthe chairman of Brooke Bond for 22 yearsand was chosen to take over its management.Mr. Kassim a pioneer in the fieldof Asbestos Cement Sheets industry. Heestablished three plants in Hyderabad,Karachi and Chittagong. This company isnow known as Dadex Eternet Limited.Mr. Bhutto wanted Mr. Kassim to serveas head of a large state corporation, whichwould have resulted in helping his own business,but he refused to accept any position,though earlier he had served on a numberof committees of the federal government.He is one man who has been a nomineeof the federal government for 24 years whenhe was a director of the Central Board ofthe State Bank of Pakistan. He was thefirst Pakistani businessman who pilotedhis own plane and has to his credit 1800hours of flying experience including 1400in command. He has piloted planes all overPakistan and also foreign countries likeSwitzerland, United Kingdom, France andUSA.He was one of the ten invites fromPakistan to the Coronation of the QueenElizabeth and was awarded Coronationmedal. He received Sitara-e-Khidmat fromthe President of Pakistan and Knighthoodfrom the King of Belgium. In 1954 theinternational year Book of Statesmen ‘Whois Who’ his name was included amongst thelist of fewer than half a dozen persons fromPakistan.SULEMAN BHOORAMr. Suleman Ebrahim Bhura commencedhis public life by taking active part in the establishmentof Anjuman-e-Himayar-e-Islamin Bantva in the year 1916. He was electedthe first General Secretary and continued toserve for about 42 years. i.e. till the partitionof the sub-continent. He relentlessly foughtfor the Islamic Laws of heirship in Bantva,which was a remarkable achievement. Healso took a leading part in arranging the sessionsof All India Memon Conferences.After 1940 he joined the politics andworked for Muslim League as well as forthe struggle for Pakistan. After migrating toPakistan, he joined Memon Relief Committeeand established the Memon EducationalBoard in 1949. He became HonorarySecretary and remained on that post till hebreathed his last. In Karachi he establishedthe Bantva Anjuman and was elected itspresident. He served the organization inthat capacity for eight years. He also starteda magazine named “Meezan” which ceasedpublication within a short span of fivemonths. He also rendered valuable servicesfor the Bantva Memon Jamat as wellas Bantva Memon Co-operative HousingSociety.MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012 15

IMMORTAL PERSONALITIESPROF. SULEMANGANATRABorn in 1920 in Karachi, Professor Sulemanstudied in D.J. Science College. He receivedhis degree in Civil Engineering from NEDCollege and then went to England forfurther Studies. Later, he went to Hollandand Scotland for short courses in theengineering field. After returning, he joinedNED College as a lecturer. Besides beinga professional in the field of education, healso rendered social service and remainedassociated with various institutions. He hasofficiated as Principal of the NED EngineeringCollege for a short term.DR. MUHAMMADUMAR CHHAPRA16Dr. Umar Chhapra is a shining star amongthose Pakistani Memons who have acquiredhigher education. He is one of the scholarswho have got his higher education as ascholar of All Pakistan Memon Educationaland Welfare Society. He has utilized hisscholarship by rendering services to Muslimcountries in the field of economics. He ispresently serving as financial advisor in theFinance and Monetary Agency of the SaudiGovernment and is enjoying a prestigiousstatus there. He was a brilliant student andalways topped the list of successful candidates.He acquired merit scholarship fromKarachi University in 1956 and receivedM. Corn. degree. Thereafter, he proceededto USA for his Ph.D. and was admitted tothe University of Minnesota where he wasawarded Cowls fellowship. In 1957, he wasappointed teaching assistant in the sameUniversity and after receiving Ph.D., he wasappointed Assistant Professor in WisconsinUniversity. Coming back to Pakistan,he joined the Institute of Developmentof Economic as Sr. Economist and subsequentlybecame Assistant Editor of PakistanDevelopment Review. He worked withthe Central institute of Islamic Researchas Associate Professor and later as facultymember of Wisconsin University and KuwaitUniversity.Dr. Chhapra is also financial advisor tothe Central Bank of Investment, Saudi Arabia.He became one of the trustees of theWorld Memon Foundation. He returned allthe loans that he had received from differentsources for pursuing his education. To AllPakistan Memon Educational and WelfareSociety, he is particularly indebted and hesays that the status, which he is enjoying, isdue to the timely help of this Society.He has written a number of articles andbooks on Islamic economics and has earnedfame as an expert economist of internationallevel. His wife, Khairunnisa, is also ahighly educated lady. She obtained diplomacourse in Public Health from Beirut andjoined Karachi Child Health Centre. Shewas one of the first Memon lady speakerswho delivered speeches in USA and SaudiArabia. She has served as Vice President ofPakistan Women League.DR. UMARMUHAMMAD JOOMAThere is a small village Jalia Devani inKathiawar enroute between Jamnagar toRajkot. Umar was born in 1917 in the familyof Vali Mohammed Jooma. Jooma washis grandfather and he subsequently becamefamous with this name. This child later onbecame Dr. Jooma, a doctor of internationalfame.While he was 4 years old he went toSouth Africa with his father. He receivedhis primary and secondary education inDurban. Then he went to another city, CapeTown where he studied in the university forthree years and returned to Bombay.In 1943, he passed his MBBS and workedfor five years in K.E.M. Hospital, Bombay.At that time in the sub-continent there wasonly one Neuro-surgeon, Dr. Cooper. WhenDr. Jooma got the chance to work underDr. Cooper, he developed interest in brainsurgery. At the same time there came anadvertisement in Local newspapers aboutNuffield scholarship. He applied and got thescholarship. He then proceeded to Englandwhere he received fellowship of the RoyalCollege of Surgeons in Neuro-Surgery in1950. After the death of Dr. Cooper, Dr.Jooma became one of the leading neurosurgeonsof the subcontinent. In 1951, hereturned to Karachi and joined Jinnah Hospital.In 1952, when the Ceylonese PrimeMinister, Mr. Senanaike, received braininjuries while horse-riding, Dr. Jooma, whoby that time had attained fame world over,was summoned to Ceylon. Unfortunately,before Dr. Jooma could reach there thepatient died. Anyway, this event receivedfull coverage in world newspapers and hebecame internationally well-known.He attended several medical conferencesas representative of Pakistan. In 1964, hewas appointed Professor of Neuro-surgeryin Dow Medical College and at the sametime was made honorary surgeon commanderin Pakistan Navy. Dr. Jooma hadoffered his service in the army.Dr. Jooma was fond of tennis, photographyand reading. He had a spacious Librarycontaining very informative books on braindiseases and surgery. He had full commandof English, Urdu and Gujrati languages.During his life time, Dr. Rashid Jooma, hiseldest son, became a qualified Neuro-surgeonand remained attached with his father.After the death of his father, Dr. RashidJooma is now one of the leading Neurosurgeonsof the country. Dr. Jooma wasplanning to retire from active practice in thefield of Surgery as he had developed cancer.He died on 27 February 1985.YOSUF ABDUL GHANIMANDVIAHe was another fire-brand writer. Due to hisindependent policy and uncompromisingnature, he had to finance his own weekliesand periodicals. He wrote highly sensitizedGujrati and never spared the Hindus for whathe considered was anti-Muslim Policies.USMAN EISA BHAIWAKEELHe was one of the few qualified Memonlawyers in Kathiawar. He was very keen topromote education and one of the notablesupporters of the First Memon ConferenceMEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

IMMORTAL PERSONALITIESheld in Rajkot. Subsequently, he made Rajkothis headquarter, acquired a huge plot of landwhere he established a boarding house andbecame its Honorary Superintendent whilepracticing law in Rajkot and other courts ofKathiawar. He took keen personal interest inthe welfare and education of each boarderand rendered yeoman service in that capacity.The property left behind in Rajkot, whichbelonged to the Boarding House, is wortha billion rupees today with hardly anybodytaking care of it. In Karachi, he was one ofthe leading members of the Memon reliefcommittee established to provide relief to therefugees reaching Pakistan. He was also agood orator and was active member of CooperativeHousing Society. One of the roads onHill Park is named after himAL-HAJ ZAKARIAKAMDARHe is a dedicated social worker. His particularfield of social work was the servicerendered to intending Hujjaj throughAnjuman-e-Khuddam-un-Nabi. He wasnever interested in politics. However, he wasappointed advisor with the rank of Ministerof State for Hajj by the Government of Pakistan.Later, Mr. Muhammad Khan Junejoalso appointed him Minister of State forHajj and Religious Affairs. His main interesthas been social welfare service to mankind.When the Quain-e-Azam went toJetpur during the fund collection tour toKathiawar, the Muslims of Jetpur hosted areception in his honor. Young Zakaria wasprivileged to present the welcome speech.Mr. Kamdar also served as President ofAll Pakistan Memon Federation. He hastraveled extensively for projection of Islamand visited USA, United Kingdom, Africaand many other countries in Eastern andFar Eastern region.ZAIN NOORANIZainul Abedin Abdul Qadir Nooraniwas popularly known as Zain Noorani.He was born in a wealthy Kutchi family.His father was one of the richest personsof the community. Zain received hiseducation in Bombay. While he was astudent he was elected joint Secretaryof Bombay Provincial Muslim StudentsFederation. He took active interest inpolitics at a very early age. He remaineda Muslim League from the start to theend. He was appointed sub-editor ofthe ‘Star’ weekly magazine, which wasstarted to project the need and objectiveof Pakistan. The publication of themagazine was banned, so he startedpublishing leaflets and pamphlets named“Oppressed” and “Mazloom” in Englishand Urdu languages. In 1947, he starteda weekly magazine ‘Dynamite’ but theGovernment banned its publication andarrest warrants were issued against Mr.Noorani, which compelled him to fleeto Pakistan. After coming to Pakistan,he joined ‘Dawn’ group. Later he joined‘Pakistan Standard’, the mouth piece ofMuslim League. In 1948, he was madejustice of the Peace. He was elected amember of the KMC and became chairmanof its finance committee. Twice hewas elected member of West PakistanAssembly and rendered services as theChair-man of the Public Accounts Committee.When Ayub Khan established ConventionMuslim League, Mr. Zain Nooraniremained loyal to the old Muslim Leaguewith Khawaja Nazimuddin as its head.Zain was appointed Joint Secretary ofthe Council Muslim League. In 1984,the Government of Sindh appointed himProvincial Minister for Excise, Taxation,Fisheries and Social Welfare. He waselected Member of the National Assemblyin the elections held on non-party basis in1985. Later, he was appointed Minister ofState for Foreign Affairs in the Governmentheaded by the late Mr. Junejo.During the Afghan-Soviet war hetook part in the deliberations at Genevaunder the auspices of the UNO in whichthe USSR, one of the super power alsoparticipated. To convince them for withdrawalfrom Afghanistan was not aneasy task. Zain played a significant rolein convincing the USSR to withdrawfrom Afghanistan. Mr. Zain Noorani onbehalf of Pakistani Government signedthe agreement reached at Geneva. Hewas the first ever Memon who representedPakistan in the United Nations twice.He died in Karachi in 1992.UMAR MATCHESWALAThis philanthropist and active social workerof pre-independent movement belonged toDhoraji. He insisted on the Quaid-e-Azam toundertake a tour of Kathiawar for collectionof press fund, assuring him a collection ofminimum of Rs. 100,000 whereas the actualcollection exceeded Rs.150,000. Whenever thequestion of donation for any purpose was putforward, his was the first donation and quite asubstantial one. All through his life he enjoyeda high reputation.SIR ABDULLAHHAROONSir Abdullah Haroon was a successful businessman,an acclaimed philanthropist anda distinguished politician of Sindh. He wasborn in 1872. His forefathers were traders byprofession, and because of business transactionshad a link with many parts of India.As a politician, Abdullah Haroon provedhimself as an acknowledged leader of Muslims,both at national and provincial levels. He playedan important role in the freedom movementand separation of Sindh from the BombayPresidency. He was a member of the BombayLegislative Council and Central Legislative Assembly.He represented the people of Sindh foryears till the end of his life. Abdullah Haroon’slife was full of dedicated services to the welfareof the Muslims. His dedication led him to find,Jamia Islamia Yateem Khana, Haji Hanifa BaiMemon School, Charitable Trust etc. His famewas of a commercial genius and his views ontrade and finance were highly appreciated by allin authority.HAJI ABDUL SATTARTELI PAKOLAWALAHe was a great personality belonging toDhoraji Memon Community and wellMEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012 17

IMMORTAL PERSONALITIESknown for his philanthropy. He constructeda good number of residential flats andhouses for the poor of the community andgave them away free of cost and for thatreason he was awarded the title of THEFATHER OF REHABILITATION.He was well known industrialist but moreknown among the community masses forhis generous nature and charities. He servedDhoraji Association for several years whileremained Managing Director of DhorajiHousing and Relief Trust till he breathedhis last. His services as the President of theMemon Educational Board will remain as livingmemories in the minds of the community.GENERAL ABUBAKAROSMAIN MITHAGeneral Abubakar Osman Mitha, whopassed away recently at the age of 76, wasthe first member of the Memon Communityto have joined the armed forces. He wasa grandson of Sardar Sir Suleman QasemMitha. Born in Bombay in 1923, GeneralMitha served in Burma during World WarII while he was only 19 years old. In 1947,he came over to Pakistan and raised theSpecial Service Group and also commandedPMA. He also served in former East Pakistan.He was retired in 1971.Though, a temperamental person knownfor his harsh disciplinary measures, GeneralMitha cared a lot for his soldiers. He also hadthe courage and the ability to apologize for hisstern actions. The hall mark of his characterwas his honesty and integrity. He had immensedislike for hypocrisy and any displayof pomp and show. A large number of SSCs,for whom he was a father figure, attended hisfuneral from all over the country.ALI MUHAMMADUMAR GHAZIPURA(NAZ) MANGROLIHe was the first ever Memon Mayor, a man ofrefined culture a social worker, history writer,author, poet, journalist, a good orator and thebest compere. He died on 19th March 1995at Bombay. He started his public life as poet,became a qualified doctor in Homeopathy. In1951 he took out a Gujrati magazine “Memon”.He was fluent in Urdu, Gujrati, English,Hindi, Marathi and Memon languages.He became the Mayor of Bombay in 1981before that he was elected in Bombay MunicipalCorporation in 1977 at the age of 30. Hevisited Karachi in his capacity as Mayor ofBombay on special invitation from Mr. AbdulSattar Afghani, the then Mayor of Karachi.He was associated with the Memon Educational& Welfare Society (India) for four decadesand worked as its Honorary Secretary for18two decades. He also served as high-rankingofficer of Chhotani Memon Jamat as well asHalai Memon Association. He was affiliatedwith a number of organizations such as theSociety, Memon Financial & Investment,Co-ordination Committee, World MemonFoundation, All India Memon Jamati Federation,Hajj committee etc.He was awarded a handsome amountrunning in lacs of rupees as mark of hisservices by the Memon Samman Committee,which he donated to the welfare society.JIWANI KAKAHe was better known for the long life heenjoyed in compassion to his services to thecommunity. He died at Hyderabad at theage of 103 years. Moreover, he was secondstalwart of the community who was giventhe title KAKA after KAKA Bawany. Hisname was Ismail Saleh Mohammad Jivani.He passed his early days at Mauritius andcame back to India at the age of 15 where hestarted business in partnership with his maternaluncle with the capital of 1000 rupees givenby his father at Rampur in the year 1900. In1906 he started his own business.He again shifted with family to Tanuji in1930 where he began running a shop whichwas later destroyed by the shelling duringSecond World War. He returned back to hisnative town Jetpur in 1947 and from theremigrated to Pakistan where he permanentlysettled in Hyderabad. He took active interestin the formation of Memon Khidmati Jamat,its schools and hospital. He also served JetpurMemon Association, Hyderabad from 1962 to1982. He left this post at the age of 97.The jetpur Memon Association alsocelebrated his living centenary in 1985. Hewas healthy even at the age and could movefreely and recite Holy Quran without anyhitch or difficulty. But after all, life onceagain moved itself mortal.MST. KHADIJA HAJIANITHE LADY WHO INITIATEDEDUCATION FOR THE COMMUNITYThe lady who made effort for women in thecommunity died on 18.5.90 at the age of 90.She was dedicated to the education of womenthough she herself was not so educated. Sheestablished a number of schools and a collegefor girls. Born in 1900 in the family of HajiAhmed Bilwani (Akuli), she got married at atiny age of only 12. She became the motherof two sons and four daughters out of thatwedlock and became widow at the age of 22.She made a mission to educate the girls ofthe society. In those days when male educationwas taken as no less than sin she daredto motivate girls of the community to acquiremodern education.In view of her zeal toward this mission,in 1922, administration of Madarassah-e-Nizamul Islam was handed over to her. HajiSuleman Dewan was much impressed withthe success of Madarassah and gifted to herhis plot of land measuring 3000 yards. Shecollected a donation of Rs. 28,000 and startedconstruction of a school building over thatplot of land but before completion of the construction,the sub-continent was divided.She came to Pakistan with all the documentsrelating to that plot of land and demanded anyevacuee property for running a school therein.Madr-e-Millat Fatima Jinnah came to her helpand she got a building in Nanakwada where shestarted Raunaq-e-Islam Girls School. Thereafterthe caravan of knowledge and learning marchedon day and night. She established more schoolsin Kharadar and Federal B Area. At NawabMahabat Khanji Road, she established a girlscollege under the auspices of her newly formedorganization Pakistan Women EducationalSociety. The result was that a good majority ofcommunity girls ware able to acquire education.The credit goes to Mohtarma Khadija Jiwani.Khadija Hajiani was awarded a goldmedal weighing 10 totals along with a purseof two lac rupees and many other gifts at afunction of the Bantva Memon Community.WALI MUHAMMADHAJI YAQOOBHe passed his whole life serving the OkhaiMemon community of Karachi. He startedhis public life by establishing Young MenOkhai Memon Association in the year1921. He was elected its Founder President.In 1930 he established Okhai MemonHousing Society with the aim to get all thecommunity members scattered in differentareas of the city settled in one singleplace. It was first ever housing society of itsstandard among the community. In 1933,he established Memon Co-operative CreditSociety and was elected its president andserved as such for three years. In 1940, hewas elected Honorary Secretary of OkhaiMemon Madressah Association and keptbeing elected on the same post continuouslyfor ten years. In 1948, Karachi Memon CooperativeHousing Society was establishedand he was elected its Honorary Secretary.He served on that post for fifteen years.In 1934, he was elected Councilor of theKarachi Municipal Corporation and keptbeing elected constantly on the same posttill 1954. In 1940, he was selected as Trusteeof the Karachi Port trust. He held thatresponsibility for about ten years. In 1960,he was elected in West Pakistan Assembly.In addition to all that he also served in theRailway Advisory Board, Sindh MadressahBoard and rendered valuable services as theGovernor of the Lady Dufferin Hospital.MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

IMMORTAL PERSONALITIESTHOSE WHO LIVEIN THE HEARTSLATE HAJI A. GHAFFARTELI (PAKOLAWALA)from Dhoraji to Nasik for trading, and lateron moved to Rangoon, Ceylon, Eden andZanjabar and finally settled in Cape Town.He kept on travelling and travelled morethan twenty countries. He wrote his firsttravelogue in 1895, which got wider popularity.In 1902, he again went on a trip ofIslamic countries and on return from there,wrote another travelogue under the title of“Journal of My Tours Around the World”got popularity. He served his community inthe field of education, health & other socialsectors, which includes the constructionof maternity home, mosques, madrasahsand Dar-ul-Uloom. He died in Cape TownSouth Africa.HAJI ALI MUHAMMADPAKOLAWALAwas generously helping the NGOs, religiousorganizations, madressahs, Darul Uloom etcas Vice President of Memon Educational &Welfare Society. On business front, this familyentered in soft drink and textile industry inwhich they flourished. They were known asPakolawala due to their well-known soft drinkproduct “PAKOLA”.LATE MR. A. MAJIDSULEMAN BAWANYHis field of social services was not confinedto Memon community but spread over tothe whole nation as well as the country.He was born in Teli (Pakolawala) family atDhoraji in 1935; he is from a family whichis known for their generosity. He qualifiedin Textile Engineering from UK. On socialfront he was awarded the title of Great Rotarianas he actively participated in RotaryConventions held at Melbourne, Taiwan,France, Canada, etc.After the death of his father Abdul SattarPakolawala, a great philanthropist of thecountry, he took up his mission and verynicely expanded the philanthropist activitiesproviding accommodations to poor, establishingMadressahs etc. He was helping theNGO’S spread over the country right fromKhyber to Karachi.He established Haji Taher MuhammadTeli Trust with huge amount and handled anumber of welfare activities.SIR SETH HAJISULEMAN SHAHMOHAMMAD LODHIASir Suleman Shah Mohammad was bornin 1859 in Dhoraji. He was a renownedbusinessman, writer and tourist. He shifted20Haji Ali Muhammad belonged to the greatphilanthropist Teli family of Dhoraji. Bornin 1918 Haji Ali Muhammad was known forhis philanthropy. In 1945, his family establisheda trust under the name and title of“Haji Kassam Teli Charitable Trust”. Haji AliMuhammad became its Chairman and starteda series of charities. The Trust concentratedfully towards the rehabilitation work. Theycarved out large colonies well equipped withall the amenities such as Dhoraji Colony, NewDhoraji colony, Dhoraji Town in Karachi aswell as in Hyderabad. Moreover a numberof families were provided financial helpto acquire their own accommodations. HeLate Majid Bawany started his social careerby attending All India Memon Conferencein 1931. In 1940, Quaid-e-Azam touredKathiawar for collection of Press Fund. Atthat time he served as Chairman, ReceptionCommittee. He founded Jetpur YouthLeague and became its founder secretary.He was appointed Salar-e-A’la for wholeof Kathiawar. He was also president ofKathiawar Muslim Student Union. Aftercoming to Karachi he took leading role informing Jetpur Memon Asociation andbecame its founder secretary. In East Pakistanduring 1950 he also served as president,Chittagong Muslim Society, Member of theofficial Hajj Committee, Chittagong Chamberof Commerce, Chittagong Anjuman-e-Khuddamane Nabi, Chittagong MemonKhidmat Committee and Chittagong MemonJamat etc. In 1971 he returned to Karachi andremained Director, Karachi Stock Exchangefor four years. He was also elected as thePresident of Karachi Chamber of Commerce& Industry sometime before his death.MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

IMMORTAL PERSONALITIESLATE A. GHANIDADABHAI JUNANIestablished a number of organizations for theservice of community and contributed a hugeamount every year for the smooth functioningof those organizations. He established twocharitable hospitals in Jam Nagar and Rangoon.Keeping in view the services rendered by him,he was awarded the title of Sir by the BritishEmpire. He died in 1924.LATE MUHAMMADSADIQUE MEMONHe started his career as a social worker bytaking part in Home Rule League in theYear 1917 and thereafter joined KhilafatMovement as well as the Congress. Finallyhe joined Muslim League and contributedmuch towards awakeing of the Muslims ofKathiawar during the period 1937-47.He played leading role in the establishmentof All India Memon Conference and AllIndia Memon Education & Welfare Society.His memorabie activity was the struggle of thePraja Mandal Launched at Rajkot in 1939.After coming to Pakistan he played leadingrole in the establishment of Pakistan MemonEducational & welfare Society. In 1985 heestablished Memon Medical Society andConstructed Memon Hospital.LATE SIR SETH ABDULKARIM JAMALLate Seth A. Karim Jamal, was a leadingbusinessman of Burma known for his philanthropic& courageous activities. He was knownas king of oil. He established industries of sugar,rice mills, ginning factories, oil refineries etc. heBorn in a small village Khahi Kunda Distt.Naushahro Feroz, he was forced to migrateto Hyderabad, as he wanted to educate hisdaughters, against the strong opposition bythe relatives and the community. He wasfully conscious of the importance of femaleeducation in years to come. The vision ofgreat man turned into a mission, as he wantedto see the backward and ignorant women ofSindh marching on the path of prosperityand resulted into formation of Anjuman-e-Himayat-ul-Islam Sindh which establishedchain of schools and colleges in Sindh namedas Sachal Colleges and Himayatul IslamSchools.. His daughter was amongst the firstthree Muslim girls who matriculated andacquired post graduate degrees. He foundeda village in Taluka Tando Allayar in his ownname, which is hub of many educationalinstitutions. His mission is being carried outby the “Sadique Foudnation”, established byhis followers in his memory.LATE MR. KASSAMUSMAN KANDAWALALate Kassam from the early age was muchinterested in politics. He took active interestin making the Bombay session of All IndiaMuslim Leagues a success in 1936. He startedtaking active interest in Muslim leagueMovement. He also played a leading rolein the establishment of ‘C’ Ward DistrictMuslim League of Bombay. He served asthe member of the Managing Committee ofthe council of All India Muslim Leagues aswell as Bombay Provincial Muslim League.On business front he served as the GeneralSecretary of Onion & Potatoes MerchantsAssociation of Bombay from 1924 to 1949after coming to Karachi he became Directorof Pakistan Cotton Association and on socialfront he enjoyed many posts in Memon ReliefCommittee, Okhai Memon Jamat, OkhaiMemon Madressah Association, Okhai MemonAnjuman etc. In 1959 he was awardedthe honor of justice of Peace. In 1972 he waselected as president of Karachi Chamber ofCommerce & IndustryLATE KHAN BAHADURM. SIDDIQ MEMONA name that stands out in the list of luminariesof Sindh for his singular contributionfor female education, Khan BahadurM. Siddiq was fully conscious of importanceof female education in the years tocome. The backward and ignorant womenMEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012 21

IMMORTAL PERSONALITIESof Sindh were graping in the darkness. Hefirst decided to setup a girl’s school in Hyderabadin the face of strong oppositionfrom the members of his own community.Despite, strong opposition at home by orthodoxsociety he opened the Madressahtul-Banat in 1935. Later on he establisheda Memon Education Society in Hyderabadand constructed a building for theabove mentioned school. He served thenation particularly student communitywith zeal & devotion as teacher and Principalof several Govt, educational institutions.He was appointed as Principal ofTeacher Training College Hyderabad fromwhere he ultimately retired. The BritishGovernment decorated him with title ofKhan Bahadur. He wrote several bookson History & Literature. He was the firstscholar who compliled the history ofSindhi Language & Literature.LATE MUHAMMADUSMAN DIPLAIThe famous Sindh writer, journalist andreformist Mr. Muhammad Usman Diplaibelonged to a middle class Memon familyof Diplo district Tharparkar. He started hiscareer as a small businessman, and then establisheda printing press by the name QuranPress. He used to write, translate and print hisown books and later on used to market themby himself in this way his business flourishedand soon he started a daily newspaper “Ibrat”He also published a weekly magazine “Insan”which carried progressive literature for theawakening of his readers. Although he wroteIslamic books, translated Islamic novels andprinted books, which were meant for preachingof Islam, he never preached orthodoxyor fundamentalist ideas He wanted that theMuslims should fallow the real spirit of Islam,which, in his view, was progressive in essence.Due to his views about equality of Haris andZamidars, workers and industrialists and muridsand pirs, he was put behind the bars manytimes. The exploiting classes conspired againsthim and he was imprisoned along with HyderBakhsh Jatoi, whose Hari Haqdar Movementwas against the interests of the feudal class.Muhammad Usman Diplai has to hi creditseveral original books, more than twenty translatednovels, hundreds of columns editorials,articles, and short stories. His novel “Sanghar”is considered one of the best novels of SindhiLiterature and is an award winning novel.Born in 1908, educated at his nativevillage and then Hyderabad, he rose to thestatus of the top most intellectual and writerof Sindhi language during the Sixties. Hedied on 7th Feb. 1981 at Hyderabad butis still remembered in Sindh as one of thegreatest reformers of the society.Muhammad Usman Diplai has become asymbol of hardwork dedication and selflessservice to his community as well as the country.He was the first in his village who educatedhis daughters and now following hisfootsteps Diplo has the highest percentageof female literacy. The Memons of Diplotoday are known for their meritorious representationin the bureaucracy, medical fieldand education. All because of the efforts ofMuhammad Usman Diplai.LATE ABDUL KADERLAKHANILate A. Kader Lakhani was born in Bharnagerin 1910, he completed his studies fromBombay University and obtained the degreeof M.A & L.L.B. He started Legal Practicein 1938, and Started his social career fromthe same year. He was the first President ofBharnager State Muslim League.After coming to Pakistan, he continuedto serve the community on various plateforms including Memon Relief Committee,All Pakistan Memon Federation, GohilwadHalai Memon Jamat etc.LATE MR. HABIBLAKHANIMr. Habib Lakhani is a memorable name inGujrati literature of Pakistan. He was moreknown for his surveys, studies, research andwritings on a very important subject of Memonhistory. He is the author of many books onvarious subjects in Gujrati language.Born on 25th May, 1942 at Amreli, hepassed his matriculation examination andjoined military and civil service at Nasik.In 1951 he joined Daily Vatan as translatorand within three months was promoted assub-editor in Dawn Gujrati. He was affiliatedwith Memon Alam since 1960 andstarted writing on the history of MemonCommunity during that times He continuedwith his literary work even after retirement.LATE AHMED A.R. GHANIThe great grandfather of Mr. Ahmed, (Late)A. Rehman Ghani was minister in ManawadarState. His father was the inhabitantof Kutiyana while Mr. Ahmed was born atTranswal where his father was doing his business.He acquired his primary education inKutyana and higher education in Africa. Hisfather died while he was studying at QueensCollege, Cambridge, so he had to get back toJohannesburg after doing Bar-at-law.In 1943 he came to Sindh where hepermanently settled and took keen interestin social activities. He shifted most of hisbusiness to Pakistan. He was the founderof Memon International Club and wasaffiliated with a number of educational andsocial organizations in various capacities.He was a philanthropist who donatedRs 10,000.00 for compilation of national22MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

IMMORTAL PERSONALITIESanthem of Pakistan to Liaquat Ali Khan.He also donated considerable amount toKutyana Memon Association under the auspicesof Wadasadawala Trust for promotingtechnical education among the community.He rendered valuable services as presidentof Adamjee Boarding House, MemonYouth Organization, Karachi Memon StudentUnion and Kutyana Memon Volunteercorps.LATE MR. ABDULKARIM RAJKOTWALAHe was a well known businessman and adedicated social worker. Born in Rajkot,he spent his early days in Chittagong. Afterdoing his B.Com he came to Karachi andstarted his own business of plastic andpaper. He was the President of Chamber ofCommerce & Industry, Karachi. ShipperCouncil and a number of other trade organizations.He served as Secretary of CharadeGeneral Hospital (formerly CementHospital) for seven years and as President ofPakistan Memon Jamat for Five years. Hedied at London while undergoing a surgicaloperation for the treatment of his kidney.LATE MR. ABDULREHIM MARFANIjoint Secretary of All India Memon Conferencefrom 1932 to 1937. After establishmentof kutch Kathiawar Muslim League hewas its first General Secretary. He reachedKarachi one year ahead of the partition andremained almost retired, yet gave valuableservices for the establishment of PakistanMemon Educational & Welfare Society aswell as Memon Hospital.LATE PROFESSOR DR.ABDUL AZIZ MEMONLATE WALI MUHAMMADHAJI YAQOOBHe passed his whole life in serving theOkhai Memon Community of Karachi. Hestarted his public life by establishing YoungMen Okhai Memon Association in the year1921. He was first elected Founder Presidentof the Association.LATE HAJI HAROONADAMJEE SEJALate Marfani was a well known Muslimstalwart who extended concrete contributiontowards the Pakistan Movement fromthe platform of All India Muslim Leagueand was one of the first rank politicalworker of Rajkot. He first came to light asan impressive speaker at Gujrat KathiawarEducational Conference convened in theyear 1928. He remained affiliated withMemons as well as all the Muslims inKathiawar upto 1946 and was serving themin different responsible posts. He remainedHe was popularly known as MoulanaAbdul Aziz Al. Maymani. He acquiredthe diploma of Munshi Fazil (Persian) andmoulve Fazil (Arabic). He was the firstever Memon to have achieved such flyingsuccess. He served with Edward College ofPeshawar and Oriential College of Lahorefor five years as lecturer of Arabic and Persian.In 1925, he was appointed as professorin renowned Aligrah Muslim Universitywhere he was the first Muslim professor. Heworked there for 25 years and during thatperiod he wrote about 24 voluminous booksin Arabic which were published in Egyptand Syria.In 1928 he was selected Fellow in Arabic,University of Damascus and was knownas Allama Maymani in the Arab world.He was awarded Doctorate by the worldrenownedAl-Azahar University. Aftercoming to Pakistan he established CentralInstitute of Islamic Research in 1954. Healso served in the department of Arabic,University of Karachi for couple of yearsfrom where he retired in 1959. In 1965,on the eve of Independence Day, the thenPresident of Pakistan awarded him specialmedal as well as a cash prize.Late Haji Haroon Adamjee Seja was a leadingand dear-to-all personality of HyderabadMemon community. His ever struggling socialwork and services encompassed different disciplinesof life including education, medicare,and rehabilitation and over all communitydevelopment programmes and projects.He served through various platformslike Vice President of Hyderabad Zoneof Memon Federation and its member ofMEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012 23

IMMORTAL PERSONALITIESthe Supreme Council, President of JetpurMemon Association and HyderabadMemon Anjuman, Vice President of theMemon Charitable Hospital in Hyderabadand councilor of Hyderabad MunicipalCorporation.LATE MR. UMER FAZILFAROOQLATE AL-HAJ ABDULHABIB AHMEDattended the first Memon Conference ofEducational & Welfare Society in Rajkot,and was nominated as member of the Society.He was Founder member of PakistanEducational and welfare Society.LATE MR. EBRAHIMAHMED BAWANYLate Mr. Umer Fazil Farooq S/o A. Rahim,born in 1914 served the Memon Communityfor about fifty five years and the list ofhis services is very long. He was a memberof the Managing Committee of PakistanMemon Educational & Welfare Societysince 1936 having an unbroken record of52 years of continuous service, had severalother important honorary positions such asone of the Trustees of the World MemonFoundation and Kutiyana Eduation Trustetc. He published two collections of hisshort stories in Gujrati namely ‘Antarni-Aag’and ‘Darpan’ in 1939 and 1976,respectively and “Pantris-Varas-Pachhi”, avery interesting book in Gujrati based on hisvisit to India after 35 years, was publishedin 1985.LATE MR. ABDULFATTAH MEMONMr. Abdul Fattah Memon was prominentsocial worker of Nawabshsh District. Hewas a leading advocate of Sindh HighCourt. He devoted his life for organizingthe Memon Community, reformingthe Society politics in the then districtof Nawabshah. He had remained SecretaryGeneral of Sindh Peoples Party. Hewas a candidate of Provincial Assemblyof Sindh. He has remained MNA fromNawabshah and Deputy Speaker NationalAssembly of Pakistan.He was renowned industrialist, businessmanand social figure. He was born in Bombayon 15-08-1929, and got his schooling inDhoraji, and later on from Jabalpur CityCollege. After migration, he completedMasters in Economics and LL.B from Universityof Karachi. He has devoted his lifefor the service of the country, and servedfrom the platforms of Dhoraji Memon AsociationKarachi, Memon Student Organization,United Memon Jamat of Pakistan.He was Managing Director of UnionIndustries Limited, and remained as VicePresident of SITE Association, MemberManaging Committee of Karachi Chamberof Commerce and Industry. He had traveledmore than 30 countries, and representedPakistan on International forums, as amember of trade delegation.LATE HAJI ABDULKARIM VAYANIBorn on 12th March 1905 in Kathiawar,Haji Abdul Karim Vayani is one of theprominent personalities of Memon Community.He was always busy in serving thecommunity, in the fields of social welfare,health, education, and literature. Mr. VayaniAfter getting business experience fromhis uncle, Ebrahim Bawany entered intobusiness field and served as the Presidentof Karachi Chamber of Commerce& Industry from 1954 to 1957. He wasthe founder of Aisa Bawany Waqf,which was founded by him in 1960. Hewas elected as President of All PakistanMemon Federation in 1961. He servedthe world Muslim community throughMotamar-e-Alam-e-Islam, WorldIslamic Federation, Muslim Councilof Europe and other organizations ofinternational status.LATE MR. MUHAMMADUSMAN HAJI HASHAM24MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

IMMORTAL PERSONALITIESLate Muhammad Usman took his schooland college education from Sindh MadrasatulIslam and S.M. College respectively.He was the Chairman of PakistanSugar Mills Association (Sindh Zone)and Pakistan Cigarette ManufacturersAssociation. He served as Chairman ofMazdoor Committee of Karachi Chamberof Commerce & Industry. He alsomade a foreign tour as a member of anofficial trade mission in the year 1971.He was the man of letters right fromhis early age and used to get his articlespublished in Dawn, Morning News andMemon Alam. He published a book named“Problems of Okhai Memon Biradari andSome Points to Ponder.” He was also Directorof Indus Arts Gallery. He was Trusteeof Hasham Foundation, Conveyor of MedicalCommittee of the Okhai Memon Anjumanand founder President of Okhai YouthServices. He also served as Vice Presidentof All Pakistan Memon Federation. He diedat a young age of 38 years only.LATE MR. ABDULKARIM PANWALAMr. Abdul Karim Panwala was a silentsocial worker of the community. Hewas philanthropist and was activelyinterested in solving the problems ofthe masses. His record of social serviceis spread over in East as well as WestPakistan but he always remained aloofof the publicity. In 1973 he played anactive role in just distribution of plots ofland in Gulzar-e-Hijri. In his individualcapacity he used to solve the problemsof others relating to their accommodation,marriages, medicines etc. He wasaffiliated with Dhoraji Khidmat Committee,the Society for the Preventionand Cure of Blindness, APWA, ShirinEye Hospital, Educational Board,Welfare Society, Dhoraji Foundation,Dhoraji Association, and HousingTrust. He used to prefer health services.During 1983-91 he visited various villagesof Sindh and Baluchistan where hearranged Free Medical Camps under hispersonal supervision.LATE PROFESSORDR. ZUBEDA QASSIMProfessor Dr. Zubeda Qassim was born atManawadar in 1934 and did her MBBSfrom Karachi in 1954. She joined Physiologydepartment of Dow Medical College andin 1968 she was promoted to the post of AssistantProfessor and gradually progressedto the post of Professor & Chairman ofthe Physiology department, Sindh MedicalCollege. She was selected for the Master’sdegree by the World Health Organizationbut she could not avail that chance due toher family engagements. But afterward shewas sent by the WHO to Shiraz Centrewhere she acquired a degree from PahelviUniversity. In addition to being a doctor shewas also an ideal social worker. She wasmuch active in Manawadar SardarghadhMemon Jamat, United Memon Jamat,Memon Women Association, MemonProfessional forum, Pak American CulturalCentre Karachi. She was considered a pillarfor UMJP Women Wing.LATE HAJI HASHAMKATHLate Haji Hasham Kath was a renownedindustrialist and a social leader of theMemon community. He was Chairmanand Director of several companies includingMehran Sugar Mills, Usman TextileMills and Pakistan Molasses Company.Mr. Kath was also associated with socialwelfare organizations in different honorarycapacities. He also established UsmanMemorial Hospital and Usman Instituteof Technology in memory of his late sonUsman, which is being run on no-profitno-loss basis.LATE MR. HAJINOOR MUHAMMADUROOSWALAHaji Noor Muhammad Urooswala was asocial leader of the community liked by oneand all for his services rendered continuouslyfor long period from 1983 to 1991 asHonorary Secretary General of the MemonFederation. In this capacity he served thecommunity zealously and successfully.MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012 25

IMMORTAL PERSONALITIESMr. Urooswala belonged to Gohilwad HalaiMemon Jamat, where he served for a longspan of about 25 years in different capacitiesincluding Honorary Secretary and Presidentand it was during his tenure as Honorary GeneralSecretary that this Jamat’s two constructionprojects Ghousia Hall and Ghousia Plazawere initiated and completed.LATE HAJI ABDULRAZZAQ JANOOa literary genius and prolific writer. Heobtained degrees of Master of Arts inSindhi Literature and Islamic Culture.He was a doctor in Philosophy (Ph.D)and also a graduate in Law (LLB). Dr.Abdul Majid wrote and compiled 35books and 800 articles in Sindhi, 10books and 300 articles in Urdu and 2books and 10 articles in English language.He was awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiazin 1983.Dr. Abdul Majid served as professorand principal of various collegesin Sindh. Lastly, he served as Principalof Government Commerce College,Larkana.LATE ABDUL RAZZAKTABANICommerce and Industry, Karachi. He wasfirst Secretary of All Pakistan Memon Federation.On 18th Sept. 1986, while comingback after attending the session of MemonAlami Milan he faced severe heart attacks,which proved fatal.LATE MUHAMMADISMAIL MEMONHaji A. Razzaq Janoo was a leading businessmanand a social figure. He was electedPresident of Karachi Chamber of Commerceand Industry. He also served as SeniorVice-President of All Pakistan MemonFederation. He was associated with manysocial and trade organizations, throughwhich he kept on serving selflessly.LATE DR. ABDULMAJID MEMONDr. Abdul Majid Memon S/o Haji GhulamHussain, born on 17-09-1931 wasHe was born in 1917 at Gondel, was acommitted and devoted social worker, andserved the community for more than 37years continuously, through various organizations,including Pakistan Memon Educational& Welfare Society as its President.He was the founder member of Chamber ofLate Muhammad Ismail Memon wasborn in Saeedabad near Hala in 1930. Heacquired degree of B.Sc. Form Sindh Universityand jointed a missionary school asa science teacher. In 1962 he joined Boardof Intermediate & Secondary Education asAssistant Controller of Examination. Hegradually rose to the status of Chairman,Secondary Board of Education Karachi.He served there for more than thirteenyears. He also served as Director of SchoolEducation Karachi Region for couple ofyears. He was associated with number ofSocial & Educational Societies includingDawood Foundation. Two years ago hewas shot dead by some unknown terroristsin Karachi.A humble appeal to all the Organisations,Institutions and Jamats of Memon CommunityPlease send us the report of all the public activities of your organisation on your official letter head to the followingaddress, so we could publish them in “Memon Alam”To:The Editor,Memon AlamW.M.O House, 32/8, Street No. 6, Off Kashmir Road,Muslimabad, Karachi Pakistan.26MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

COMMUNITY NEWSMemon Industrial and Technical Institute (MITI)Graduation Ceremonyof the 7th Batch of theBoys’ SectionThe 7th Batch started in October 2011and was completed in January 2012.The Graduation Ceremony of thesuccessful students was held on 8th February2012 in the premises of MITI.The event was attended by 740 students.All the Staff members including ladies werealso in attendance. Some of the parentsalso came with the students. The Ceremonywas presided over by Mr. H.M. Shahzad,Chairman and Mr. Shahab Hasan, ChiefOperating Officer.The function started with Tilawat-e-Quran by Mr. Hamad Saeed, Teacher I.T.This was followed by Naat by Mr. ShoaibIkram of Purchase Department.The gathering was addressed by theC.O.O. who announced the opening ofMEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012 27

COMMUNITY NEWSMr. H.M. Shahzad, Mr. Shahab Hasan, Mr. Yaseen, Mr. Anis Khan Mrs. Majida Khursheed & Others Staff MembersEvening Classes from 6 to 9 pm in 9 morecourses in addition to the 5 evening coursesof the last batch. The Chairman congratulatedthe passing students and prayed fortheir success in their practical life andadvised them to always uphold the name ofthe Memon Industrial & Technical Institute(MITI) wherever they go.Later, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd positionholders in the respective trades were givencertificates by the Chairman.This was followed by awards to the staffmembers for outstanding performance.The function ended with vote of thanks tothe Chair. Light refreshment was served tothe students and other guests.28MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

COMMUNITY NEWSMemon Institute ofHijama Therapy (MIHT)Start of Operationsof Memon Instituteof Hijama TherapyAlhamdulillah,The Memon Institute of Hijama Therapystarted operations on 2nd February, 2012.MIHT has been built in the premises ofMemon Industrial and Technical Institute(MITI) under management of Chairman MITI,Mr. H.M. Shahzad and COO, Mr. ShahabHasan. Dr. Asif Ahmed is the Medical Director.The inauguration of the building had beencarried out on the 8th of April, 2011 on theoccasion of the visit of Mr. Abdul SattarDada, President WMO and other internationaldignitaries by Haji Jan MohammadYaqoob Gandhi.MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012 29

COMMUNITY NEWSIn the MIHT, treatment is done on thebasis of Hijama based on the Sunnah of theHoly Prophet, Sallal laho Alaih e wasalam.The building measures 43’ x 30’. It includes3 rooms for doctors, a meeting room,change room and 5 patient beds. All theequipment required for a modern clinic isavailable at MIHT.MIHT has been built to give treatment toall sections of society at a very nominal costbecause it is intended to be run on a notfor-profitbasis. In the first phase, the facilitywill be used for treatment only and in thesecond phase very shortly the training andresearch function will also be started.The clinic started working from 2ndFebruary, 2012 with prayers for its successand by treating the first patients FounderPresident of WMO, Haji Abdul RazzaqYaqoob Gandhi (ARY) and Mr. H.M.Shahzad, Chairman MITI and AssistantSecretary General WMO besides 4 otherpatients. Among other dignitaries who havealso availed the treatment includes Mr.Shoaib Ismail Mangroria, V.P. WMO. Mr.Peer Mohammad Kalia, Secretary GeneralWMO has also visited and appreciatedthe facilities. About 10 patients are beingtreated daily at MIHT and the number isincreasing with each passing day.30MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

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COMMUNITY NEWSHiraWMO Youth Wing DelegationMunik IIIThe year 2012 started with a bang, asthe delegation of Youth Wing WMOPakistan Chapter heighten the nameof World Memon Organization in ThirdModel United Nations Conference hostedby The Institute of Business Administration(IBA) -- MUNIK III as we knowingly call it!This four day conference from 21st to 24thJanuary 2012 comprising of 8 committeesessions and 4 social events, is an academicsimulation of the United Nations that aimsto educate participants about current events,topics in international relations, diplomacyand the United Nations agenda.The participants role-play as diplomatsrepresenting a nation in a simulated sessionof an organ (committee) of the United Nations.There were 14 committees in MUNIKIII such as The General Assembly, Economicand Social Council, Security Council,United Nations Environment Programme,United Nations Development Programme,United Nations Educational, Scientificand Cultural Organization, Human RightsCouncil, International Monetary Fund,Disarmament and international securityCommittee, World Health Organization,Bumbia Nara32MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

COMMUNITY NEWSWorld Trade Organization, United NationProgram for Youth, Historical General Assembly,Social Humanitarian and CulturalCommittee, etc.Participants research a country, take onroles as diplomats, investigate internationalissues, debate, deliberate, consult, and thendevelop solutions to world problems.The participants are required to defendtheir country’s stance in various issues intheir respective committees. On being ableto show excellent diplomacy skills the participantswere to be awarded with awards inthree categories; “Best Delegate”, “HonorableMention” and “Best Position Paper”.The delegation from WMO was allocatedcountry of Zimbabwe andcomprised of 10 delegates: ArsalanNara(DISEC), Hira Bumbia Nara(DISEC),Sumrin Imran(SPECPOL), AmnaA.Rehman(WTO), Shehryar Sohail(HGA),Tooba Jawed(WHO), Saad Saleem(UNPY),Faisal Bumbia(SOCHUM), DaniaHanif(UNCSD), and SiddiqueAkber(SSFW). Arsalan Nara was the headdelegate and Mr Altaf Vayani chairmanYouth Wing was the faculty advisor. It wasan honor that amongst so many institutionswith almost 120 delegations at MUNIK III,WMO was the only NGO.The WMO bring home the bacon of threeawards by Arsalan Nara and Hira BumbiaNara as the best delegate in DISEC committeeand Sumrin Imran as the honorarymention in SPECPOL committee. All themembers of the WMO team put in theirbest efforts and scored well in all committees.They also played their cards well interms of lobbying in all the social events.With a lot of hard work, so many happeningsand beautiful memories the conferenceended on 24th Jan 2012 with a culturalnight at Majestic Hall.MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012 33

COMMUNITY NEWSMemon Community in the U.A.E.Eid al Fitr & 13th AnnualPrize Distributionon Friday 23 September 2011Memon Community in the UAEheld on Friday 23rd September2011 an event to celebrate Eidal fitr get together and 13th Annual Prizedistribution function for those children ofthe Community members who excelled intheir final examination in the academic year2010/2011 at the premises of His HighnessSheikh Rashid al Maktoum PakistanSchool. Community members their familiesand children in large number that exceeded1,100 were present. Children of the communitywere felicitated. Their parents andfamilies had good opportunity of interactionwith each other exchanging Eid greetingsand sharing news and viewsHis Excellency Jamil Ahmed Khan theAmbassador of Pakistan to the UAE, His ExcellencyTariq Iqbal Soomro Consul Generaland Dr. Abdur Rashid Bangash Principal ofPakistan School were the guests of honour.Several senior and leading members of thecommunity were present at the event.Mr. Muhammad Iqbal Dawood, a memberof Organising Committee compeeredthe proceedings.Verses from the Holy Quran were recitedby Mohammed Saleh Umar Maklai andtheir translation in Urdu was presented byAiman Iqbal Shivani. That was followed byNat-e-RasoolUAE National Anthem was sung by achild Fatima. All attendees stood up asmark of respect.Both the Ambassador and the ConsulGeneral in their brief address commendedthe role played by Memon CommunityMEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012 35

COMMUNITY NEWSin business, industry and welfare work inseveral countries in general and Pakistan inparticular. They congratulated the successfulchildren for achieving excellent resultsand felicitated their parents who were proudof performance of their children. Bothguests of honour urged the communityto come forward and extend their generoushelp and assistance to the victims ofrecent rains and floods in Sindh province ofPakistan. These calamities they said havetaken huge toll of human and livestock livesand have destroyed and damaged the standingagricultural crops and fields as well asproperties and tools of poor farmers. Bothdignitaries were impressed by the brotherhoodand unity exhibited by communitymembers. They re- assured the communitytheir full support and co-operation.127 Girls and 111 boys were selectedto receive prize for their excellent results.Certain results were not accepted as thosedid not comply with the criteria explainedin 4 circulars communicated/emailed byOrganising Committee to the members.The children were very happy receiving thedeserved prize for their hard and dedicatedefforts. Details of class wise students appearat the end of this report.A bag of prize/gift items awarded to 31successful students from Class/Grade Olevel upwards to Graduation containedtogether with other prizes CD of Qur’anrecitation, translation and tafseer (explanation).That has reportedly caused discomfortand disturbance to certain recipients andtheir parents. Organizing Committee regretsthis incident and requests those students36(recipients) and their parents who do notwish to keep that CD may kindly return itto any member of the Organizing Committee.In future Organizing Committee willtake care that no religious material shall bedistributed along with the gift items. TheOrganizing Committee always believes ingetting the community united with excellentbrotherly relationship.Mr. Muhammad Iqbal Dawood extendedwelcome to the community memberspresent at the function. He informed thatWorld Memon Organisation has alreadydistributed over 200 tents and has initiatedother relief work for the victims of Sindhprovince in Pakistan due to recent torrentialrains and devastating floods. He also advisedmembers that the next annual generalmeeting of WMO will be held in Dubai inthe last week of November this year.In his brief address Mr. Aboobaker Cassimwelcomed the members of the Communitywho attended the event in largenumber. He extended Eid Mubarak to allattendees and congratulated students ontheir success in examination this year. Herequested members to pray for his goodhealth.Earlier Mr. Abdul Ghaffar Fancy GeneralSecretary welcomed the guests, membersof the community and children who werepresent at the event. He expressed histhanks to all for their continued support andcooperation. He felicitated members on Eidal Fitr and congratulated children on theirsuccess in the final examinations.Victims of the recent devastating floodsin several locations of Sindh Pakistan andDengue fever in Punjab were remembered.It was regretted that several human livesand properties have been lost. It was feltthat due to sins and evil acts in severalMuslims countries, Allah has inflicted thesecalamities and it is therefore necessary thatMuslims should make istegfar and seek Hisrefuge. Memon Community has alwaysbeen in forefront to send relief goods for thevictims caused by natural calamities or socialviolations in any country be it Pakistan,India, Srilanka Japan, Burma or any otherplace. In any country where memons residethey build masajid, hospitals and clinics,schools and orphanages for the welfare ofthe people of that country.While felicitating the children and theirparents on successful achievements it wasexplained that main objective of holding theannual event is to appreciate the efforts ofMEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

COMMUNITY NEWSthose children who with their hard work,serious efforts and dedication achieved theexcellence in their examinations. Suchevents motivate other children to concentrateon their studies and work harder toachieve better marks in examination. Anotherobjective of such and similar event isto provide community members a platformto know each other exchange greetings andshare news and views on happy events anddifficulties if any.His Excellency the Pakistan Ambassadorand the Consul General were requested toconsider visa applications that are submittedby community members from India forvisiting Pakistan to attend marriage or funeralof their close relations there. It will beensured that applications shall have all requiredand appropriate documents attachedtogether with an official recommendationletter from Memon Community in the UAErequesting the Embassy and the Consulateto issue visa. Before such recommendationis forwarded Organising Committee willensure that the reason for visit given in theapplication is absolutely true and justified.For the past 3 years Eid al Fitr and timeof getting results from schools, colleges anduniversities have been falling very close,hence the event has been combined to celebrateEid and felicitate successful childrenon same day.Memento was presented to each guest ofhonour in appreciation of their support tothe Community. Since the Consul Generalhad to leave early on an official assignmenthis memento was received to Ms ZahidaParveen, Press Consular at the Consulate.Indeed it was very pleasing event of EducationPrize Distribution that has been heldand organised for the past 13 years consistentlywithout a break.Thanks were extended to all contributorsand donors for their continued support,help, co-operation and encouragement.Thanks were expressed to members of theOrganizing Committee for the hard workand efforts they put in to make event successful.Event was concluded with Dua’a.Sumptuous dinner was served. Membersof the community present expressed theirpleasure and appreciation for organizingthe event that provided them platform forfriendly interaction, extending each othergreetings and exchanging views and news.The venue gave an impressive and festivelook.Those children who did not attendthe event and their prize and certificateremained uncollected are requested toplease contact Mr. Umar Abdullah Maklai(050-644 8902) and/or Muhammed SadiqHaroon (050-452 6547) for receiving those.Prizes not collected by Monday 17th October,2011 will be considered undelivered andreturned.If any member has any comment or suggestionthat may improve the event arrangementsand/or its utility he/she is welcometo forward it.• Haji Abdul Razzak Yaqoob, President,• Aboobaker Cassim, Senior Vice-President• Abdul Ghaffar Fancy, General Secretary,• Umar Abdullah Maklai, Treasurer,• Muhammad Iqbal Dawood, MemberOrganising Committee• Muhammed Iqbal Shivani, MemberOrganising Committee• Muhammed Sadiq Haroon, MemberOrganising Committee and• Muhammed Ali Mangroli, MemberOrganizing CommitteeMEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012 37

A REVELATIONJummah Masjid(Mauritius)(Mosquée-des-Arabes)The Jummah Masjid is a mosque inPort Louis, Mauritius dating fromthe 1850s, substantial additionsbuilt through the 1890s. It is located on theRoyal road, and is described by the Ministryof Tourism’s guide as the most beautifulreligious building in the country. The JummahMasjid is known to broadcast live theJummah Prayers every Friday and taraweehprayers during the month of Ramadan. EidPrayers are also broadcast live.In 1852, Haji Younus Allarakha, QassimHemeem,Yousuf Sattar deena, IliyasHaji, Haji Abdullah ishaq, Haji AbdurehmanAllana, Ismail Ibrahim ,Omer Yaqooband all prominent members of the Memonmercantile community of Port Louis –Gottogether and purchased, in their own nameand on behalf of the Muslim Communityof Mauritius, two properties situated inQueen Street, Port Louis, for the aggregateA. Hameed Tayab Suriyasum of Rs 6,800.00. The deeds of purchase,dated October 20,1852, stipulated,among other things, that the Muslim tradershad made the purchases (jointly andseverally, in their own names as well as onbehalf of the entire Muslim congregation ofMauritius from which they hereby declarehaving received special powers. The purchasersdeclare that the sum of money paidfor the present purchases does not belong tothem personally but to the whole Muslimcongregation of Mauritius.)One of the properties stood a housewhich was converted into a temporaryprayer house pending the construction ofa Mosque. However, the foundation of thefuture Jummah Mosque was thus laid. IsmailJeewa, who was a trader and also quiteknowledgeable in Islam, led the prayers atthe temporary prayer house. The followingyear, that is, 1853, a Mosque of a limitedsize was built and solemnly consecrated.Haji Imam Bacosse Sobedar, who wasImam of the Camp des Lascars Mosque,was called upon to trace the Mihrab (prayerniche) of the new Mosque, which came tobe known for many years as the Mosquéedes-Arabes– after its founders, who weremistakenly called Arabs by the general public.The new Mosque, which could accommodatesome two hundred worshippers,was the original Jummah Mosque. However,it was to under go extensive expansionand improvements over the years andbecome the focus of Islamic cultural andreligious life in Mauritius and very rightlybecome the Ja’mi or Jummah Mosque38MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

(Grand Mosque) of Mauritius and thesymbol of “the faith, zeal and selflessnessof those early pioneers of Islam, adequatelyversed in religion and high minded enoughto think that no community could live withoutreligion and no man without prayer.”The steady increase in the Muslim populationin Port-Louis soon made it evident thatthe Mosquée-des-Arabes was too small tosatisfy the growing congregation.However, the need for a bigger Mosquecould not be satisfied easily and sooner.More space meant more land had to beacquired. And for the next twenty years(1857–1877), that would be the main concernof the Managing Body of the Mosque.During that period, the properties aroundthe Mosquée-des-Arabes that formed thequadrangle of about three-quarter acre weresuccessively acquired by groups of generousMuslim traders in seven different lots forthe total sum of Rs134, 260.00 and donatedto the Mosque. In fact, in all but one of thedeeds of purchase it was mentioned thatthe purchases were made on behalf of thewhole Muslim community of Mauritius. Soit came to pass that the entire block aroundthe Mosquée-des-Arabes – bounded byRoyal, New Little Mountain (now JosepRivière), Queen and Little Mountain (nowJummah Mosque) Streets, came under theownership of the Muslim community. Soonplans for the expansion of the Mosque weredrawn and work on the project began.The extension work on the Mosquée-des-Arabes began in 1878. The plan called forthe blending of the original structure intothe larger one to accommodate the growingMuslim congregation. The work called forparticular skills and dexterity, notably in themoulding and plastering of the sculpturalwork with ornamentation—skills that couldnot be handled by local workers. Specializedworkers were brought from India for the jobas were the necessary building materials,namely: stones, lime and wood. Transportationposed no problem as several membersof the Managing Body of the Mosque,MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012 39

A REVELATIONheaded by Haji younus Allarakha, were alsoowners of ships that plied regularly betweenIndia and Mauritius.The crew of the Indian artisans, who didthe extension works, was overseen by IshaqMistry, also from India. For the whole durationof the works, the workers stayed on thecompounds of the Mosque “sleeping andeating under the pillared arches of the outercourt.” The project took twenty years to becompleted. The long delay was due either tooutbreaks of disease among the workers orto shortage of materials. However, in 1895,the expansion of the Mosque was completed.Al-Hajj Zakaria Jan Mohammad, aprominent member of the Muslim communityin Port Louis and of the ManagingBoard of the Mosque, supervised the entireexpansion project which saw the smallMosquee des Arabes expand from a smallfringe on Queen Street to occupy the entireblock except for a small section on RoyalStreet, which was leased to businesses forrevenue purposes.The beautiful, small Mosquée-des-Arabesbecame the Jummah Mosque of Mauritius.It is a magnificent work of architectureconspicuous for its bulging domes, welltrimmed arches and white minarets. Theskill and dexterity shown by the workers inblending intricately the old structure withthe new, speak eloquently of “their outstandingability and patience and personaldevotion” to what became, to all involved inthe project, a labour of love. The expansionworks entailed huge expenses which, despitethe tremendous goodwill and generosity40shown by the Muslims at the time to raisethe necessary funds through donations,The Jummah Mosque incorporates elementsof Moorish and Munhal architecture,with its massive columns and imposingarches. In the middle of the open courtstands an old Badamia (Indian Almond orTerminalia Cattapa) Tree, which is olderthan the Mosque itself. In fact, the treealready stood on one of the two originalplots of land on Queen Street acquiredin 1852. The designers of the Mosque, indrawing up the plans of the building, decidedto incorporate the Badamia Tree intothe overall structure of the Mosque. TheTree adds a special charm to the austereplace, its huge branches providing shade toworshipers in the sweltering heat of PortLouis. And, in the evening, on clear starrynights, the prayer hall of the Mosque isthe same vaulted hall of the old Mosquéedes-Arabes.From the towering bulbousdomes, glistening white, hung the brilliantglass chandeliers that provided lighting forover fifty years – that is, till the advent ofelectricity. The beautiful chandeliers can stillbe seen hanging in the prayer hall thoughthe interior is now lit with fluorescent bulbs.The prayer hall is remarkable for its interiorwhich comprises a subtle blend of Arabicand Indian motifs. The Jummah Mosque isa monument to the dedication and religiousfervors of its founders, designers and builders.It has gained in stature over the yearsand has come to hold a special spot in thehearts of the hundreds of Muslims whocome to its vaulted sanctuary every day toworship Allah (God), to meditate and seekinner peace and comfort. As the GrandMosque of Mauritius, the Jummah Mosque,understandably, holds pride of place in thereligious and cultural life of the Muslims.MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

PROFILEJustice IsmailMuhammadSouth Africa’s First non-white Chief JusticeA.Hameed Tayab Suriya42Justice Ismail Muhammad was afirst non-white South African lawyerwho served as the Chief Justice ofSouth Africa and the Supreme Court ofNamibia, and co-authored the constitutionof Namibia.Ismail Muhammad was born in LaudiumPretoria in 1931; his parents were Indianmemon merchants. Who migrated fromRanavav and were traders in the then Transvaal.He graduated from Pretoria IndianBoys’ High School in 1950. He received hisBA from University of the Witwatersrand in1953 and the following year received his BAhonors with distinction in political science.He finished his Bachelor of Laws in 1957.Ismail Muhammad was refused admissionto the Pretoria bar association, as itwas reserved for white lawyers, but was ableto join the bar in Johannesburg. However,because of the Group Areas Act, he wasbanned from getting an office of his own,and was forced to practice out of his colleagues’offices while they were away. In the1960s he served as a lawyer in Botswana.Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe In1974 he became the first non-white in SouthAfrican history to take silk. In 1979 he wasappointed to the appeal court of Swazilandand in 1982 was made an Appeal Judgein Lesotho, where he would later becomepresident of the Appeals court. He wasmade an English Barrister in 1984. In 1991he became the chair of the Convention for aDemocratic South Africa and the country’sfirst non-white judge of the Supreme Courtof South Africa. He was later appointed tothe Appeal Court. He was made a judge ofthe Constitutional Court in 1995. South AfricanPresident Nelson Mandela appointedIsmail Mahomed as chief justice of thatcountry’s highest court in 1996.The first Chief Justice to be appointed inpost-apartheid South Africa was Ismail Muhammad,a leading South African jurist ofIndian descent, who was selected to succeedCorbett in 1997 and eventually took officein 1998. Mahomed held the position untilhis death in 2000.Under South Africa’s Interim Constitutionof 1993 and later the Final Constitution,the importance of the position ofChief Justice as the position of final judicialauthority was temporarily relegated beneaththat of the President of the newly createdConstitutional Court. Ismail Muhammadhad been tipped widely for the job of ConstitutionalCourt.Mr. Justice Muhmmad has publishedmany articles in Law Journals and lecturedon Human Rights Jurisprudence at severalInstitutions and Universities abroad. Hewas made an Honorary Professor of Lawat Wits University in 1990 and receivedHonorary Doctorates in Law from the Universitiesof Delhi and Natal. He presentedwith an honorary degree of Doctor of Lawsby the University of Pennsylvania on May18, 1992.Ismail Muhammad died of pancreaticcancer in Johannesburg at Linksfield Clinicon 17 June 2000, shortly after leaving thebench. He was 68 years old and hailed fromthe Ranawav Memon Community,Every year The Ismail Muhammed Prizefor Law Reform is a joint venture betweenthe South African Law Reform Commissionand Juta & Co. The competition wasestablished in honour of the late Chief Justiceand former Chairperson of the SouthAfrican Law Reform Commission. Theaim of this competition, which is an annualevent at the SALRC, is to encourage criticallegal writing by students, while generatingnew innovative ideas for the reform of thelaw. The initiative also seeks to encouragelegal scholarship and public dialogue on thelink between law reform, human rights andthe rule of law.MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

THOUGHT PROVOKINGChoosing a spouse –A Moral StorySeeing that his mother was in a goodmood, Ahmad sat near her and said,‘Mother, I have an idea which shouldbring you much joy.” His mother answeredeagerly, “My son, all that you give memakes me happy. What is on your mind?”“You know,” he told her, “I have finishedmy studies and can afford to begin a family.I have decided to marry.”His mother’s face brightened with asmile. “This is very good news! I have longawaited such a day,” she told him. “Howoften I have wished you would marry oneof your cousins. Praise be to Allah thatyou have made this decision before it is toolate!.” Ahmad exclaimed, “Before it’s toolate? What do you mean?” “Your cousinMaryam is now old enough to marry. Everyday there is someone visiting her home,seeking her hand.”Ahmad sat silently for a moment andsaid, “Then why should we bother hersuitors?”“What do you mean, Ahmad?,” asked hismother, dismayed.“My cousin Maryam is not fit for me.”“Why not? No, my son, you’re mistaken.I shall go and see about your engagementtomorrow,” his mother told him.Ahmad frowned and said, “No, mother.Please do not do such a thing. I will notagree to this.” “When she becomes yourfiancée, you will feel love for her. Put asideyour fears. Maryam is beautiful, and she hasa respectable job.”Ahmad disagreed, “No. This matter onlyconcerns me.”Ahmad’s mother thought for a momentand said, “If you dislike Maryam, thenthere’s my brother’s daughter. She is asbeautiful as Maryam, and she has inheriteda large sum of money from my brother.“Mother, please think about this matterfrom my point of view. I need someone toshare my life, not a business partner.”His mother became angry and sharplyasked, “What’s wrong with my niece? Whyisn’t she good enough to be your wife?”Ahmad replied, “She is not a practicingMuslim. I want a Muslim wife.”Ahmad’s mother laughed sarcasticallyand said, “You speak as if you were anangel who could only marry another angel.Why don’t you stop saying such nonsense,my son? You are an educated young man;you should give up your impossible ideals.”“I am neither an angel, nor do I seek asaint for a wife. I am a Muslim believerlooking for a girl who also believes inIslam.” replied Ahmad.Ahmad’s mother told him, “I don’t knowany girls who share your ideals.”He said, “I know someone who measuresMEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012 43

THOUGHT PROVOKINGup to my expectations.”Startled by this admission, Ahmad’smother asked, “You know someone? Whois she? Since when do you begin friendshipwith girls?”Ahmad answered quickly, “I didn’t meanthat I know a girl personally, but I know ofher.” “ I see,” she said. “You have alreadychosen your wife. Who is this lucky girl?”“Mother, please be more understanding. Ihope you will take my side and persuadefather to agree with my choice.”This appeal to Ahmad’s mother softenedher, and she said, “I swear that I think onlyof your welfare. I’ll help you. Tell me, whatare this girl ‘s qualifications?”Ahmad told her, “Nothing matters exceptthe religious aspect. She is Muslim, andwears complete hijab.” “Oh, then she isuneducated!” “No, she has a high schooleducation and her religious knowledge isextensive.”Then his mother asked, “What family isshe from? Do I know them?”“She is from a good family known fortheir piety”, Ahmad told her. “Of whatuse is a well-known family if a girl has noIslamic morals?” He silently beseechedAllah to give him the patience to overcomehis mother’s resistance. “A happy marriagedoesn’t depend on fame or wealth. Happinessstems from spiritual nearness andmutual understanding.” Then, in a differenttone of voice his mother asked,“What does her father do for a living?”“He is a grocer,” Ahmad replied.“A grocer?!”, she exclaimed. “Yes. He is agrocer and a very righteous man. He is thehead of a happy and virtuous family.”Ahmad’s mother interrupted him, “Youare the son of a wealthy man; with yourcollege degree you wish to marry a grocer’sdaughter? What a shame! Yet you ask me toassist you! If I had chosen the daughter of ajeweler, how would you feel?”His mother replied, “There is a big differencebetween a jeweler and a grocer.”“The only difference is with regard to thesubstance. The former sells rings and thelatter sells sugar. Both work in order to earnmoney,” Ahmad answered.His mother lamented, “Imagine yourfather’s reaction to this news! “Ahmad said firmly, “This is my desire,either you help me or I’ll do it myself.”He spoke so seriously that his motherlaughed mockingly, saying, “Does the matterrequire a great effort? The least moveyou make, they will give their daughter toyou gladly.”Ahmad shook his head in doubt and said,“Wait and see!”“What an odd situation this is! Am I to44present my son to a grocer’s daughter? Whatspecial beauty does this girl possess to makeyou blind to every other consideration?“I have not yet seen her,” Ahmad said.“Then how do you know she’s not ugly?”asked his mother.“I know she is not. As far as good conductis concerned, physical beauty is of littleimportance.”“Oh Ahmad, my amazement neverceases.”The next morning, Ahmad told his fatherof his intentions. His father became angry,but Ahmad remained determined to marrythe woman of his choice. Finally his fatheragreed and Ahmad asked his mother to visitthe girl’s home to make the proposal andovercome any obstacles.The following afternoon Ahmad’s mother,accompanied by his oldest sister, went tothe girl’s house. On the way there, Ahmad’ssister asked her mother what the girl’s namewas. Her mother replied, “ I forgot to askhim! “When they knocked on the family’sdoor, they were surprised to see a beautifulyoung girl open it. The girl was surprisedto see the two unfamiliar women, but sheshowed them into the living room and wentto tell her mother that they had visitors. Hermother welcomed the guests and waitedfor them to explain the reason for theirvisit. After exchanging greetings, Ahmad’smother asked who the young girl was whohad opened the door. “It was my daughter,Zaynab,” she replied. “Do you have anyother daughter?” asked Ahmad’s mother.“No, she’s my only daughter”, replied hermother. Ahmad’s mother and sister weredelighted to learn that the beautiful girl wasZaynab. Just then, Zaynab entered withcoffee for their visitors. She sat next to Ahmad’ssister and they soon found much todiscuss. Then she collected the empty coffeecups and left the room.Ahmad’s mother began, “We have comewith a blessed aim. We would be happy tohave your daughter Zaynab as a wife formy son.” She praised her son for his intelligence,his good looks and his wealth, but sheneglected to mention his firm Islamic beliefs,which was very important to Zaynab’s mother.Therefore, Ahmad’s mother was stunnedwhen Zaynab’s mother shook her head slowlyand said, “I’m very sorry. It is difficult for meto agree to this proposal; in fact, it’s impossible.”With much surprise, Ahmad’s motherasked, “What is impossible?”“My daughter is still young. I’m sure yourson can find a girl who suits him.” Ahmad’smother protested, “But Zaynab suits himwell! Would you be kind enough to justifyyour refusal?”“I only have one daughter, and I shouldbe sure of her future married life.”“But Ahmad is well-off financially,” saidhis mother. “He is an engineer!”Zaynab’s mother replied, “Zaynab wouldnot marry someone because he is wealthy orhas a college degree.”Ahmad’s mother was at a loss for words.“Then what will ensure your daughter’shappiness and consent?”“When a mother looks for a wife for herson, she should mention her son’s conduct.”said the mother of Zaynab. “My daughter isa committed Muslim. She wants a Muslimhusband, and remember, my daughter wearshijab, and your son may want a modern wife,who dresses like his mother and sister.”Ahmad’s mother laughed with relief andtold her, “You’re correct. I haven’t mentionedhis conduct. I thought that otheraspects of his character were of more importance.My son is a faithful Muslim. Heis, in fact, looking for a wife who observeshijab. Be sure that my appearance (un-Islamic clothing) is not to Ahmad’s taste.”Zaynab’s mother also smiled and said,“You should have told me earlier! Pleasegive us your address so we can visit you andlearn more about your son.”“We hope you can come early nextweek,” said Ahmad’s mother.Ahmad was waiting anxiously for hismother’s return. As soon as she and herdaughter returned home he asked, “Well,mother? How was your visit?”“It was very strange,” she replied.“What was strange?”, he asked. “Hasanything bad happened?”“Oh no, Ahmad. But I never expectedsuch a thing,” she answered. “Then theyhave refused?” Ahmad’s father said, “Howcould a grocer’s daughter refuse a wealthyyoung man?”Ahmad’s mother turned to her husbandand said, “They did, in fact, refuse…”“What! They refused?” asked the father.“I spoke about Ahmad’s good qualities,but I didn’t mention his Islamic morals.My appearance also caused her to declinemy proposal because her daughter is a veryfaithful Muslim. When I realized theirobjections, I told them that you are a trueMuslim as well. I have come to respect themvery much. They don’t care about status orwealth.”“Have you seen the girl?” asked Ahmad’sfather.“Yes, she is lovely and polite. Ahmad is alucky man to have made such a choice.”The following week, Zaynab’s family paida visit to Ahmad’s home and plans weremade for the upcoming wedding. They weresoon married and there was much rejoicing.Posted by E ISLAMMEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

HEALTH MATTERSTomato for clear skinTomatoes are a staple in every kitchenbut hardly will you hear anyone extollingits cosmetic benefits. Whetheryou want to cure large pores or reduce acneand rashes or sooth nasty sunburn or simplyto revive the glow on dull skin, tomatoesare beneficial in many homemade beautytreatments.Not only do tomatoes taste great but theyalso keep the skin healthy. It is necessary toconsume tomatoes as they have lycopene,which is an antioxidant and hence works asa sunscreen from within. These antioxidantsmake tomato an anti-aging product as theyhelp in fighting cellular damage and reddeningof skin. It is recommended to haveat least 16 milligrams of lycopene per dayas they reduce the number of free radicalsin the body and also help to retain themoisture in people who are used to sitting inair-conditioned environs. You don’t need tospend your hard-earned money on expensivecosmetic treatments if you follow thesesimple steps to get healthy-looking skin:Big pores? Shrink ThemBig pores provide easy access to dirt andgrime thus increasing the chances of infectingthe pore. Take a tablespoon of freshtomato juice. Add two to four drops offresh lime juice to this. Use a cotton ball toapply this mixture on your face. Massageit in circular motions. Leave it on for about15 minutes and then wash off with coolwater. Regular application will shrink poresgreatly.Acne healingThe acidity in tomatoes helps in reducingand clearing up your acne. Vitamin A andvitamin C are commonly found in a lot ofacne medicines and tomatoes are rich invitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin K. If youhave mild acne, cut a tomato in half and applythe inside on your face. For severe acnemash a fresh tomato and use the pulp as apack on the face. Leave it on for an hour.Rinse it off and moisturize. Do this on aregular basis or as many times as you can.Your acne is bound to dry off soon.AstringentIf you have oily skin and struggle to keepyour face from shining like a fried papad,tomato is the solution to your agony.Crush a fresh tomato and strain it. Makea little cucumber juice and add it to thetomato juice. Apply this juice with a cottonball daily to control excessive oilinessand acne.Good to eat, great to cleanA tomato and avocado mask works wonderson combination skin. This is becausetomato works as an astringent as well asa blackhead and oil-reducing agent whileavocados have an antiseptic and moisturizingeffect. A pack of mashed tomatoes andavocados help in soothing and cleansingcombination skin (oily and dry), as they arerich in vitamin A, C and E. Apply this packand wash off after 20 o 30 minutes withlukewarm water.Burns no moreSummer is fast approaching and with harshsummer comes burnt, inflamed skin. Alot of people’s skin gets sunburnt, raw anditchy due to exposure to the sun. Crush halfa tomato and mix it with two tablespoonsof plain yogurt. Apply this concoction onface, neck, hands and feet. Wash it off after20 minutes. Tomato cools the skin andneutralises the surface while yogurt gives ita much needed protein boost while leavingit soft and supple.Glowing skinMix honey with tomato juice until you get athick paste. Apply this mixture and wash offafter 15 minutes for smooth and glowing skin.46MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

HUMORMoney vs. Human life(Blood Group vs. Money Group)Qasim Abbas, TorontoWhen a human being is born, his weightis app. 3 Kg. (7 Lbs.).When he dies, the weight of his kafancloth, perfume etc. on his lifeless body isalso app. 3 Kg. (7 Lbs.).*************************After birth, first cloth he wears hasno pocket.And also there is no pocket on the lastcloth i.e. kafan cloth on his lifeless body,when he is buriedThen why in this “interim” i.e. inbetweenlife i.e. worldly life, humanbeing is struggling, worrying andharassing others for pocket???*************************At the time of taking blood in the hospital,blood “group” is checked first.Then why at the time of receivingand paying money (particularly payingin Masjids towards charity, “group” ofmoney is not checked???These money belong to which “group”?Are these “just” and “legitimate” i.e..halaal money?Or “unjust” and “illegitimate” i.e.haraam money?Or money from “No. 2 business”?Or money collected “under the table”?Or money snatched jeopardizingsomeone’s rights?Or money with someone’s sigh?*************************If wrong “group” of money comes inthe family, quarrel, turmoil, disbelief,disunity, hate etc. are created in thefamily.These “unjust” and “illegitimate” i.e.haraam money is finished/utilised inhospitals, clubs, gymkhanas, bar and other“unjust” and “illegitimate” i.e. haraamactivities.And the human being with these“group” of money is also finished/diedwith these “group” of money.Of course, bank balance is increasingwith these types of “unjust” and “illegitimate”i.e. haraam money, but familybalance is decreasing and vanishing.*************************If such circumstances arise, then prayto Almighty Allah that, “O Allah, povertyis much better than these money.At least in poverty, Your remembranceis there, Your gratefulness is there andpatience is preserved.”And Allah has promised favour forthose who remember Him, thank Himand preserve patience.*************************Look what Allah has revealed in HolyQuran about “unjust” and “illegitimate”i.e.haraam money:“And do not eat up your wealth amongyourselves by false means”. (2:188)“O believers, do not eat up yourwealth among yourselves falsely, exceptthat it be trading with your mutual consent”.(4:29)*************************How to improve your mindBeing mentally fit is another importantaspect of being healthyoverall. So, to really make thisyear your fittest, pay some attention toyour mental health as well. Tough to meetdeadlines, reaching work on time afterpacking tiffins for your spouse and kidsare some things that can make you loseyour temper at the drop of a hat. Here areeight ways to control your mind and havea healthy 2012 mentally and physically.Workout regularly and eat healthy:Regular workouts will improve yourcardiovascular health and in turn will helpyou alleviate your mental tension andstress. The right foods will calm you downand have a positive effect on your attitude,thought process, mood and creativity.Here are tips to stick to your exercise routineand eat healthy through the year.Include meditating and pranayam inyour schedule: Breathing exercises willempower you with energy. It will letyou tap and use energy confidently andcreatively. It will help you de-clutter yourmind and thus improve your thoughtprocess. Meditation will relax your mindand synchronize it with your body. It willalso relieve you of anxiety.Set aside time for praying: Praying orconversations with the almighty, will giveyou inner peace and increase your self- confidence.People who are at peace with themselvesare known to take better decisionsduring trying times and are less frustrated asthey are satisfied with themselves.Go for regular wellness treatments: Trygoing for massages or any other wellnesstreatment like a body scrub or even handand foot reflexology. These treatments helpto relax tense muscles and help activate thenervous system, joints, muscles, spine andskin, in turn reducing anxiety and stress.Take up a hobby: Engage yourself ina hobby or activity you like. It could bereading, singing, dancing or photography.This will keep you busy and prevent yourmind from thinking negative thoughts.Maintain a diary: Making entries of youreveryday activities, thoughts and eventshelps you retrospect. It could also help youunderstand the cause of your stress/anxiety,thus helping you to handle it better.Get proper sleep and rest: Proper sleepand rest plays a very important role inrejuvenating you. It’s not just essential forgood health, but induces calmness andhelps lower muscle tension.Avoid caffeine: Avoid stimulants likecaffeine, colas and chocolates. Especiallyin the evening as it could preventyou from getting sound sleep. Stay awayfrom regular alcohol consumption andsmoking. Avoid heavy meals at night sothat food gets digested easily and in turndoesn’t make you feel sluggish. Includelots of water in your diet. It not justflushes out toxins, but keeps you feelingrefreshed and energetic.48MEMON ALAM FEBRUARY 2012

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February, 2012 MEMON ALAM REGISTRATION NO. SS-038