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Abdul Sattar Edhi Passes away

Best way to pay tribute to Edhi is by starting some of your own charity work. It can be by starting a small clinic or free food point. You can also volunteer if you are a Doctor or similar. You can also make an organisation and get information from hospitals of patients who need financial help and gather money for them or by passing their information to rich people who can pay for their treatment. You can and should do these kind of things or if you have similar ideas and in this way you can pay real tribute to Abdul Sattar Edhi.

I was thinking the same thing. Edhi Sahab R.A. lived a very full life, he achieved what many aspire to. He was a true "darwish" who spread the true meaning of Islam "to serve humanity, without prejudice."

I have nothing but love, respect and tears in my eyes, for a man I never met, but wanted to. His humility and dedication, to serving humanity is an example, we should all try to follow, in whatever manner we can. It doesn't have to be something big or grand, even something small can make a difference.
 
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiun

May ALLAH grant him a place in jannah
 
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RIP our great Hero
Abdul Sattar Edhi (born 1928), Nishan-e-Imtiaz Award (Order of Excellence) Award, (Memoni, Urdu: عبدالستار ایدھی‎) is an prominent Pakistani philanthropist, social activist, ascetic and humanitarian. He is the founder and head of the Edhi Foundation in Pakistan.

Together with his wife, Bilquis Edhi, he received the 1986 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service. He is also the recipient of the Lenin Peace Prize and the Balzan Prize. In 2006, Institute of Business Administration Pakistan conferred an honoris causa degree of Doctor of Social Service Management for his services. In September 2010, Edhi was also awarded an honorary degree of Doctorate by the University of Bedfordshire.In 1989 Edhi received the Nishan-e-Imtiaz from the Government of Pakistan.On 1 January 2014, Edhi was voted Person of the year 2013 by the readers of The Express Tribune.

Abdul Sattar Edhi has been running the Edhi Foundation in Pakistan for the better part of six decades. The foundation owns and operates a large ambulance service, free nursing homes, orphanages, clinics, women’s shelters, food kitchens, and rehabilitation centers for drug addicts and mentally ill individuals all across the country.

Edhi has remained a simple and humble man. To this day, he owns two pairs of clothes, has never taken a salary from his organisation and lives in a small two bedroom apartment over his clinic in Karachi. He has been recommended for a Nobel Peace prize by the Prime Minister of Pakistan with more than 30,000 signing a petition by Ziauddin Yousafzai, the father of Malala Yousafzai for his nomination.On 25 June 2013 Edhi's kidneys failed and it was announced that he will be on dialysis for the rest of his life, unless he finds a kidney donor.The Guardian called him 'a legendary charity worker known for his asceticism'.He has been called the greatest living humanitarian in the world

If the Nobel Prize was not reserved for Zionist - Western interests, this great and noble man would have got at twenty times. Perhaps the greater prize was the universal love he enjoyed in Pakistan and among the Muslim diaspora.
 
Edhi’s eyes become source of vision for two blind persons


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Doctors at SIUT successfully transplant the corneas donated by Edhi into two blind persons. —APP/File
KARACHI: The two corneas donated by philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi after his death on Friday were successfully transplanted into two blind persons, read a statement issued by Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplant on Saturday.

The hospital said “Edhi sahab was amongst the first of the 2,000 donors registered at SIUT who have pledged their organs after death. The Edhi family donated both his eyes after he died at SIUT and fulfilled his will.”

“The surgery was performed in the late afternoon by a team of surgeons of the department of ophthalmology at SIUT,” the institute notified.

“The death of Edhi sahab has given vision to two most deserving persons and this is how he had wished his legacy to continue after death.”

The world renowned social worker and humanist died after 10 years of treatment at SIUT and since 2013 he was on thrice a week dialysis.

We all hope Edhi sahab’s donation will encourage others to save the lives of patients of end stage organ failure, read the SIUT statement.
 
عظم الله أجركم

Allah ta'aala unki maghfirat farmaye aur jannat ul firdoos main jagah ata Farmaye. Ameen.
 
I met Edhi saab at JFK airport. He was on the same flight as me. He was sitting on the ground on a cloth instead of sitting on the rows of chairs. I had hugged him while he was sitting down and kissed him. Such a good man.
 
Edhi, the politician

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Illustration by Abro
Much has been written about Abdul Sattar Edhi, the tireless philanthropist who against some extremely daunting odds, managed to construct a most effective, loved and trusted charitable empire in Pakistan.

Edhi Sahib’s overwhelming humanitarian impulse which often throbbed for the needy without exhibiting any religious or social bias, is brilliantly captured in Tehmina Durrani’s 1996 book, Mirror to the Blind.

However, surprisingly, there is one aspect of Edhi Sahib’s celebrated life that has only scarcely been documented. That of Edhi, the politician. At least for the first 25 years of his career as a restless philanthropist, Edhi was not repulsed by politics. His disdain for politicians and members of the clergy started to became more apparent from the late 1980s onward.

Durrani’s book suggests that certain obstacles which he faced in conducting his charity work in Karachi’s impoverished Kharadar area in the early 1960s, saw him making an attempt to enter politics through Ayub Khan’s ‘basic democracies’ framework.

The one scarcely documented aspect of Edhi Sahib’s celebrated life
But instead of allying himself with Ayub’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Convention, Edhi instead approached the Combined Opposition Parties (COP) during the 1965 Presidential election. In the election, over 80,000 ‘basic democrats’ were to be elected by the people across West and East Pakistan. The elected candidates in turn were to elect the President.

Ayub had come to power through a military coup in 1958. He became president at the height of his largely liberal regime in 1962. But by 1965, the regime had begun to lose its sheen when the economic gaps between a new business and military elite and other sections of the society began to widen.

COP was a mixture of various left and right parties. For example, it had the time’s largest left-wing outfit in Pakistan, the National Awami Party (NAP), as well as the conservative religious party, the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI). These two, along with some smaller parties, had convinced Fatima Jinnah to be their presidential candidate.

Ms. Jinnah was the sister of Pakistan’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah (d.1948). She had become vocal against the Ayub regime, accusing it of being undemocratic and tilted towards benefiting only a handful of ‘cronies’.

Durrani, in her book, alludes that Edhi Sahib’s decision to become a basic democrat candidate for COP was also influenced by the fact that he became perturbed by the accelerating rate of poverty in Karachi’s many impoverished areas.

Though Karachi voted heavily in favour of Ms. Jinnah, Edhi lost from the area he was contesting from i.e. his beloved Kharadar. Ayub was reelected as President.

Not much is known what position Edhi took during the countrywide movement against the Ayub regime in 1968. But he again registered as a contestant, this time for the historical 1970 general election — the country’s first based on adult franchise.

Z.A. Bhutto’s populist Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in West Pakistan, and the Bengali nationalist outfit, the Awami League in East Pakistan, were emerging as the time’s two strongest parties.

But the staunch individualist in Edhi saw him registering as an independent candidate from Karachi’s working-class area of Lyari. Due to his charity activities, he had become a much loved figure here. Nevertheless, by 1970, Lyari had already begun to emerge as a boisterous bastion of the PPP.

It is not known why Edhi did not associate with the PPP which was promising to radically uplift the economic status of the poor. A few years ago, in an interview to a local news channel, his wife, Bilquis Edhi mentioned that Edhi Sahib refused to spend any money on his campaign and would even refuse to treat potential voters with a cup of tea!

More interesting is the fact that it was the conservative Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), which came forth to support his candidature. So much so, that the hefty and rather excellent compilation, Elections in Pakistan, by researcher, Tahir Mehdi, places Edhi as a JI candidate.

The election was won by PPP’s A. Sattar Gabol, who received 48,444 votes.

Edhi managed to bag 10,425 votes, despite the fact that he hardly spent any money on his campaign and the JI had very few voters in Lyari.

But some sources maintain that Edhi withdrew his candidature and actually made speeches in favour of the PPP; and that the JI candidate was ‘some other Abdus Sattar.’

Whatever the case may be, Edhi’s affair with politics was not dented. Though the government of Z.A. Bhutto began to support his charitable cause, Edhi was disappointed by the slow pace of Bhutto’s reforms.

In 1975, he was back as a candidate, this time during a by-election in the Karachi 7 district which today comes under the large NA250 constituency. The constituency had been won in 1970 by Shah Ahmad Noorani, the leader of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (JUP). He had vacated the seat in 1975 to become a senator.

Once again Edhi registered as an independent. In his book, A Journey to Disillusionment, veteran progressive politician, Sherbaz Khan Mazari, wrote that the combined opposition alliance, the United Democratic Front (UDF), botched the election when two of its religious outfits could not agree upon a consensual candidate.

UDF was formed in 1974. It was made up of the right-wing/religious JUP, JUI and JI; the centrist PML factions; and the left-wing NAP. Mazari wrote that JI wanted its candidate to be backed by the UDF in Karachi 7. JUP, which had won the constituency in 1970, refused, and instead put up its own man. The JI in turn decided to back Edhi.

The commotion gave PPP’s Noorul Afrin an opening and he won by bagging 27,623 votes. The JUP candidate came second with 24,224 votes. Edhi could bag only 7,611.

Ms. Durrani’s book suggests that Edhi developed a lasting soft spot for Z.A. Bhutto when the latter was hanged by the Gen Zia dictatorship in 1979. Edhi’s relations with the reactionary Zia dictatorship were not cordial. But he refrained from taking any political stand during this period.

With the rise of ‘welfare’ organisations associated with militant religious outfits during the Zia regime, Edhi frequently found himself being challenged by the more aggressive tactics of these organisations.

This is also when he began to be accused of being a communist and a ‘bad Muslim.’ Edhi responded by suggesting that he found nothing wrong in the philosophy of Karl Marx. According to his wife, once when they were performing the Haj, Edhi Sahib refused to pelt the pillars symbolising the devil. Instead, he kept the pebbles in his pocket, saying that there were bigger devils in Pakistan and he will pelt them instead!

He would also attract the wrath of the clerics by regularly praying alongside his wife, daughters and female orphans at the Edhi-run orphanages.

In 1985 Edhi once again decided to contest an election. This was during the year’s ‘partyless polls’. Political parties were debarred by the Zia regime from contesting. But many parties, including those who were boycotting these elections (such as the PPP), did support individual candidates.

Edhi volunteered as a candidate from a constituency in Karachi. The PPP decided to support him. Edhi accepted the backing, but eventually dropped out of the race for unknown reasons.

After this, Edhi quit politics altogether, even though he was offered party tickets by the PPP in 1990 and 1993; and, according to some, by the Musharraf-backed PML-Q in 2002. But by then Edhi was convinced that politics had become an anathema for those willing to resign their lives doing selfless deeds of charity.
 
I went to Edhi's grave because women couldn't go to his funeral

IMAN SULTAN


Because I never had a chance to meet Edhi sahib in life, I thought I would meet him in death.

The night he succumbed to his longtime illness, I decided I would go to his funeral.

But my resolve to participate in the funeral procession of the world’s greatest humanitarian was thrown into doubt when I heard women werebarred from attending.

Once my family heard this news, they discouraged me from going to the funeral, saying it just wasn’t possible. Funerals were not only dominated by men, but somehow for them as well. If women mourned, it didn’t matter.

Because of a lack of provisions for women, I couldn’t meet Edhi at his funeral. It seemed like an insult to the legacy of a man, who went out of his way to provide for women and girls when he was alive.

If he did that in life, then why did the people responsible for honouring him in death not remember that?

And thus, because I couldn’t meet Edhi sahib at his funeral procession, I decided to visit his grave instead.

The day after his funeral, my family and I drove to Edhi Village, the little colony on Super Highway that Edhi founded for orphans and psychiatric patients.

We set out in the clear hours of the morning, right after Fajr time. The sky was greyish white with a light drizzle and the air smelled of dirt, flowers and rain.

On the way to the Edhi Village, I saw sights I’d never seen before in Pakistan. Pillared buildings imitating ancient Greece, and a sprawling metal structure, the likes of which I’d only seen at the Universal Studios in Florida, filling the landscape.

When I asked what it was, I was told it was Bahria Town under construction.

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The entrance to Edhi village.


Further on, and in stark contrast, the Edhi Village is a humble abode that took everybody cast out. It resembled the highway hotels and dhabas, but it was much cleaner and more quiet than festive.

As our car slowed to a stop, I saw a block of cement upon which were painted the letters: Edhi Home For Destitute Children

I stepped inside the black gate, nodding salaam to the watchman in the red Edhi volunteer outfit.

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Edhi ambulances.


Ants scurried in our path, made completely of dirt; trees and flower bushes brightened the village with colour. Edhi volunteers outfitted in red walked around the village, mostly empty because of the early hours.

The mood was quiet, reticent, and not very mournful. Perhaps it was a blessing Edhi had died of natural causes at 88 instead of being target killed. Perhaps life simply had to go on in the village.

When I finally reached his grave, I felt the quiet power of a penniless Partition survivor from Kharadar, who dared to create his own possibilities, while never forgetting his own humanity.


I felt the power of a man who dedicated his life to the people of Pakistan; who, till his dying breath, did not see himself as separate from them.

Frantz Fanon says:

"I cannot disassociate myself from the fate reserved for my brother."

Edhi embodied this awareness, and even in death, donated his eyes to two blind people who were waiting for an eye donation.

While praying at Edhi’s grave, I noticed pieces of white paper with names of government and army officials on them. They had marked the grave to show they had also paid their respects.

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Edhi's grave is strewn with garlands and flowers.


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The grave is a burst of colour in the muted landscape of Edhi Village, as the man himself was in the lives of the people he served.


Edhi's grave is adorned with garlands of roses, jasmine and yellow pom-poms — in a manner befitting of the world's richest poor man.

His grave lies vivid in the muted landscape of the village he founded, not for profit, but for humanity.

—All photos by author
 
It is ironic that while our holy Prophet (PBUH) was nicknamed ( Rehmatul Alameen) and there are innumerable instance of his showing mercy & benevolence, his ardent followers especially the Mullahs tend to be devoid of compassion and are extremely ruthless.

For example the Taliban & the Salafi, while claiming to fight to establish ‘Pure Islam’ dig up Saints graves and play football with the heads of the people they butcher.

Embodiment of ‘Human Compassion’ and the one who spent his life in the service of the humanity is now under attack after his death by the Right Wing Islamists and over zealous friends alike. What can I say except feel disappointment at the mind-set of my countrymen? Dear departed Abdus Sattar Edhi, you were too good a human being for ordinary mortals and that most Pakistanis are not worthy of being even the dust of you chappals.

Here is what is happening to the great Abdus Sattar Edhi after his death.

Dawn News
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  • “By distributing in a humiliating manner the money collected as sadaqa and alms the country’s rulers and maulvi hazarat are producing a nation of beggars while I have resolved to change the existing system.” — Abdul Sattar Edhi

    WITHIN less than a fortnight of his passing away the mission of Abdul Sattar Edhi, the universally acclaimed friend of human beings in distress, is under threat from both foes and friends.

    After Edhi’s death, the orthodoxy lost little time in unsheathing their daggers. One religious leader reportedly declined to lead his funeral prayers on the grounds that he had fallen out of the Muslim fold. Another scholar heaped anathema on Edhi for putting cradles at all his centres to receive unwanted infants. Finally, a leading authority has denounced Edhi’s decision to donate his corneas as a violation of Islamic injunctions on the grounds that any effort to restore the eyesight of a person who is blind under Allah’s will amounted to interference in His order.

    The first two objections can easily be disposed of. Although Edhi had problems with professional clerics, there is no evidence of his having abandoned his faith. The ulema need to think twice before arrogating to themselves the Divine privilege to decide as to who is a genuine believer and who is not.

    The objection to the cradle scheme, an important measure of social reform started by Edhi, is difficult to follow. The ulema oppose abortion on the grounds that it amounts to extinguishing a life before it is born, and they call for virtually killing a child after it is born in some peculiar circumstances, and this for no fault of the child! Besides, the cradle scheme has helped poor parents to give away babies they cannot nourish for want of economic means, especially if the children suffer from disease or deformity that demands medical aid which is expensive or hard to secure.

    After Edhi’s death, the orthodoxy lost little time in unsheathing their daggers.
    The third line of attack is likely to start a controversy the ulema would be advised to avoid. Everything that happens in the universe, including, as they say, the movement of a leaf, does so with the sanction of the Almighty. If a person loses his or her eyesight this is in accordance with God’s will and if he or she regains his or her eyesight that too must be under Allah’s sanction. The implications of the challenge for organ transplant are enormously prohibitive. If this version of religious injunctions is accepted, the entire scheme of hospitals and healthcare will have to be demolished — for treating people who become sick by the will of Allah would amount to interfering in His domain.

    Besides, the ulema have repeatedly been reminded of the Federal Shariat Court judgment of 2009, whereby it was held that organ transplant with the free choice of the donor is acceptable in Islam, while the sale/purchase of human organs is not. The court’s verdict was based on the opinions of OIC, the Shariat Academy, Al Azhar University, the Grand Ulema Council of Saudi Arabia, and the Iranian Religious Authority. All people of goodwill will appeal to the ulema against making their faith controversial and to heed the decision by all members of the Edhi family to donate their organs for transplantation.

    On the other side of the spectrum, the friends of Edhi appear determined to idolise the great benefactor of the sick and the needy while ignoring the core of his mission. The State Bank is issuing a coin and the postal department a postage stamp to commemorate Edhi’s work. Roads and institutions are being named after him. Efforts are on to give Edhi national awards and to seek international recognition for him.

    This is not what Edhi wanted. On many occasions he declared that he sought help only for carrying out his work of mercy and no earthly rewards. However, these gestures may be passed over as expressions of people’s gratitude to the departed icon and hopefully this will persuade citizens to go on supporting the Edhi network.

    However, Edhi had set his sights much higher than the traditional dispensation of charity. His target was the system of managing public affairs in a manner that made the rich richer and rendered the poor poorer, and left those without resources to die, unsung, of disease and hunger. He repeatedly declared that he had launched a movement for social change and for the establishment of a genuine welfare state. He referred to the ideal of an Islamic welfare state with much greater sincerity than most of our politicians who tout this expression without realising what it implies. To all the heads and other representatives of government he met, Edhi made only one request: change the system of governance and make it people-friendly.

    The most unforgettable feature of Edhi’s life was the fact that he made the country’s civil society proud by successfully setting the state models in the development of disaster relief and health care services.

    Thus, if the government wishes to respect Edhi’s mission it should increase its investment in the social sector by a wide margin. It should not only support the Edhi Foundation and other similar civil society initiatives it must also further develop the public-private partnership in the social welfare sector, particularly in areas of health, education and women’s and workers’ empowerment. At the same time, respect for the Edhi mission demands a determination to end all forms of discrimination on the basis of belief, gender or social status.

    The goal the state must aim at is the creation of an insurance (social security) cover for peasants and for workers in both the formal and informal sectors and guarantee citizens all that is promised in Article 38 of the Constitution. The best homage to Edhi will be to fight the scourge of inequality that is pushing Pakistan into the abyss of backwardness, intolerance and ignominy.

    Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2016
    http://www.dawn.com/news/1272128/threats-to-edhis-mission
 
Commemorative Edhi stamp being unveiled


ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Post Office Department (PPOD) is going to release a commemorative postage stamp worth Rs20 featuring Abdul Sattar Edhi.

The renowned philanthropist and social worker, and founder of the Edhi Foundation, Edhi died on July 8 in Karachi.

The design of the stamp is based on a sketch of Edhi by Saeed Akhtar. It will become available in all post offices in the country on Monday, after an inaugural ceremony in Karachi on Sunday.

Commemorative postage stamps have been issued in honour of former heads of state, entries into statehood, historical events, historic sites, famous people, native flora and fauna and for causes, such as to raise awareness of rare medical conditions.

According to Inland Mail Director PPOD Mohammad Shakoor, the first adhesive postage stamp in the subcontinent was introduced by Sir Farar in 1852, and was named Scindi Dawk. “It was in three colours,” Mr Shakoor said.

“In Pakistan, the department of post and telegraphy, of the Ministry of Communication, released the first stamps in October 1947. It was originally an Indian stamp on which Pakistan’s name was printed. In July 1948, four stamps worth two ana each were released. The stamps were designed by Abdur Rahman Chughtai, and featured pictures of the constituent assemblies,” he said.

So far, around 1,500 postal stamps have been issued by the Pakistani government since independence, of which 250 feature notable personalities.

“Of the 250 stamps, 58 had pictures of pioneers of freedom and 11 martyrs – including one Kashmiri – who received or were declared equivalent to the Nishan-i-Haider,” Mr Shakoor said.
 
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