Compatibility of humanity and religion

Head of PPP Media Cell

Humanity is higher than religions was the article of faith of the renowned social worker, Abdul Sattar Edhi, who single handedly built the biggest philanthropist organisation, Edhi Foundation, dedicated to serve those who were rejected by the society and their families alike due to their either disabilities, deformities or the misplaced and cruel social taboos. His philosophy of life explicitly implied the ideologies those negated the cause of humanity were fundamentally brutish, discriminatory, exclusive immersed with hate and malice and as such were biased. The compatibility between the religion and humanity was the condition precedent, he believed. Their mismatch would only trivialise that religion not the humanity as a universal ideology.

People of Pakistan were proud of late Edhi because he was the citizen of the country that was created by statesman leader, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who significantly altered the history and the world map as beautifully put by Stanely Wolpert in his famous book “Jinnah of Pakistan.”. The same country had also been moored by the two great Bhuttos guaranteeing it the status of immortality after more than two decades of political turbulence of post-independence period. The elder one gave the nation the unanimous constitution as an instrument of solidifying the federation’s foundations with every passing day. Both of them contributed exclusively in making the country’s defence impregnable to punish the potential aggressor to total annihilation if attacked.

Late Abdul Sattar Edhi, throughout his life served the suffering humanity across religion, creed, gender, ethnicity and borders thus lifting the humanitarian credentials of his homeland to new heights. He elevated the humanitarian face of Pakistan right across the world as he accomplished the admirable achievements in the realm at unprecedented scale. Unfortunately, the country was known in the world for wrong reasons like extremism, terrorism, sectarianism, polio and so on and so forth. His meritorious services for the wellbeing of the marginalised and destitute made the country and its citizenry proud. This distinction of Pakistan blunted the edge of the bad image of the country to a great extent.

It is almost impossible to find late Edhi’s parallel among the rich countries not to speak of relatively poor countries like Pakistan. His commitment and sincerity to serve the poor and the unfortunate showed him the path to navigate on to build the greatest philanthropist set up in the world. He thus significantly filled the void left by the state and the successive governments in the country. His amazing successes in helping the infinite number of needy people were spread over six decades during which he never gave an impression of fatigue despite his health problems due to old age.

He never asked the government for financial help during the thousands miles journey. The organisation was totally depended on the private donations running into billions of rupees. The biggest tribute to his impeccable integrity was in the form of his impressive record. No one ever raised finger on him for the alleged misuse of the donated funds during his life. It was indeed a rarity in this country where leveling of allegations on other was so easy due to a dismal environment of impunity.

The philosophy of his mission had put humanity above all religions. It contained wisdom attributed to a humble man and yet consisting solutions to the predicaments of common man inflicted on him in day-to-day life. His ideology offered the doable solutions to the problems of the people of all backgrounds relating to their individual or collective lives. His commitment to serve humanity cut across all sort of differences those generally divide the societies against themselves for the worst. He put aside such differences and remained focused to his mission. The mission of looking after the have-nots, injured, mentally sick, elderly people and the unclaimed and abandoned children left to their ill-fate. His zest for humanity amazingly was never subject to the law of diminishing return.

On the contrary, his philanthropist empire continued to expand meant to extend coverage to the maximum number of deserving people. The startling increase in number of the people deserving help did not deter him or his dedicated team not to reach out to them to get them out of the vicious circle of miseries. Instead, the magnitude of the problem further strengthened his resolve to make all-out difference in their lives. He was a Messiah of the contemporary times in the real sense.

Late Edhi started his mission sixty years ago from Karachi. It perfectly exemplified then as a small step. But his vision and commitment guided him to make it the largest and most successful set up in the service of the poor during his watch. He traversed this journey with exceptional success while serving the poor and the less privileged as a paragon of selflessness in helping those who had no place to go to. His humble beginning with limited resources did not lower his level of commitment to save the lives of the poor, elderly, abandoned and street children and drug addicts.

Late Edhi was the only hope for all thousands of such human beings who were deemed as abject liability and burden on the society and the families. His orphanages, rehabilitation centers, cradles for the abandoned children and elderly homes were the only premises where they were welcomed with their self-respect intact.

He was an exceptional human being imbedded in him the dream to bring up the children of lesser god as an asset for the society. He proved his mettle as a leader who ran such a huge organisation, Edhi Foundation, which had rendered enviable services and thus saved thousands of lives who would have perished otherwise. He was the untiring dedicated social leader/worker who had always tried to be in the middle of the crisis situation supervising and even carrying out the relief work personally. His ambulances bearing emblem of Edhi ambulance could be seen first anywhere in the country where people needed immediate help due to accidents, fire, floods or natural/man-made disasters.

People of the country were in a state of shock as the news of his demise was flashed on TV news channels. The people took his expiry as their personal loss. He was very popular among all the segments of the society. He kept himself above the controversies on purpose -- not to be distracted from his mission. His mission was too sacred and the trivialities of controversies could have affected the humanitarian work. He remained focused and reached out to the places like mosques, churches, temples etc. indiscriminately to provide emergent relief to the victims of accidents, bomb blasts, dilapidated buildings, clashes resulting in fatalities or injuries. Edhi ambulance and staff were always welcomed by the people. His standing among the people was above board that helped the Edhi workers to undertake their relief and recovery operations with measurable ease.

Late Edhi earned the trust of the people by delivering social services without malice. His simple life style, having two dresses throughout his life, invoked trust in the persona of Mr Edhi ensuring flow of donations to meet the huge expenditures. Whenever there was shortage of funds he would go out to stand wayside of the main road asking for donations and the people would invariably open their hearts and wallets.

It was appreciably a befitting decision to accord state funeral to Late Edhi as a token of recognition of his laudable and monumental services. The attendance of the president of Pakistan, Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani, Army Chief General Raheel Sharif, chief ministers of Punjab and Sindh in the Nimaz-i-Jinaza represented the sentiments of the people of Pakistan. Governor Ishrat-ul-Abad along with a large number of people there spoke volumes of the highest esteem they held the deceased. General Raheel Sharif saluted the casket of Late Edhi draped in the national flag as recognition to his outstanding contributions for promotion of the cause of humanity in the country. It was a stately and befitting gesture of the General that stole the heart of the people as the TV channels beamed the signals as live coverage.

The international community has also extended their deepest condolence on the passing away of respected Edhi hoping that the people of Pakistan will take the ownership of his mission. His mission will continue under the supervision of his son, Faisal Edhi and Bilquis Edhi, wife of Late Edhi who remained actively associated with her illustrious husband’s humanitarian works. UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon in his message has paid glowing tributes to late Edhi for his outstanding services for the cause of suffering humanity. White House has also eulogised his meritorious services that his Foundation rendered to help the victims during difficult times. He was a hope in an environment of ‘fear and despair’, stated the spokesman of the White House.

Late Edhi has now ‘travelled to the country from whose bourn no traveler returns’. However, his thoughts and life will be beacon of light, hope and inspiration for all and sundry. He will continue to inspire the people to look after the fellow human beings in distress without considerations of creed, faith, ethnicity or gender. His life teaches us this lesson -- vision cobbled with commitment for the noble cause is sufficient to transform the dream into reality. We pray that his son Faisal Edhi and Bilquis Edhi will continue the mission with the same zeal. They have heavy responsibility on their shoulders to meet the standards set by the Founder. There is no doubt that they will uphold and further promote the cherished legacy of late Edhi. His soul may rest in eternal peace.

Tail peace: Heartiest congratulations to Turkish people for standing up to the doctorial forces in successfully defending democracy!