Ramazan without Edhi

Pooja Dawani

“My religion is humanitarianism, which is the basis of every religion in the world”.

Edhi began his mission with nothing more than a burning desire to help those who were suffering and went on to become one of the greatest humanitarians of his times, not only in Pakistan but across the globe.

A man of big dreams and tireless resolve, Edhi made impossible things happen. He built the Edhi Foundation from scratch and today the organisation is perhaps the largest social welfare organisation in the country – one that continues to expand the scope of the services it provides to the destitute. Edhi ran his foundation with the help of donations from individuals, refusing any help from the government and donor agencies. In this way he maintained the independence and autonomy of the organisation. Given his well-known reputation, his organisation is considered to be one of the most transparent non-profit ones in the world.

Edhi managed to do for Pakistan’s poor, destitute and the needy what no one else has been able to do. He motivated people to help his cause of alleviating the suffering of the poor and the abandoned. There are countless stories of people who came to Edhi for help and did not leave empty-handed.

“One time there was a student at Punjab University in Lahore who came down with cancer and his friend came to me for help. I stood outside on the street in Lahore and asked people in that city for help. Within four or five hours, I received more than 40 million rupees” – Abdul Sattar Edhi.

Raising and allocating billions of rupees annually for aiding the underprivileged, Edhi would intensify his fund-raising effort every year by launching his ‘bheek (begging) mission’ during the holy month of Ramazan. He and wife, Bilquis, would go and sit on roadsides without any qualms, literally begging passers-by for donations. And the people of Pakistan always responded to this simple and beloved person’s appeal by contributing whatever they could, right on the spot. There could not have been a single person out of tens of thousands who would see Edhi on his ‘bheek mission’ and not donate. During one Ramazan, a child named Hassaan came to meet Abdul Sattar Edhi and donated all his pocket money. In return, Edhi blessed him and gave him a publication on the Edhi Foundation. It was a simple thank you gesture but Hassaan will surely cherish it for as long as he lives.  

Known to elude publicity, Edhi wanted his work and the people he worked for to be the centre of attention. When he did meet people however, he left an indelible mark on them. “As a reporter, I have met presidents, prime ministers and reigning monarchs. Until meeting the Pakistani social worker Abdul Sattar Edhi, I had never met a saint...Shaking hands, I knew I was in the presence of moral and spiritual greatness”, Peter Oborne wrote in the Telegraph in April 2008.

Edhi’s passing away in July 2016 was one of the saddest days for both the country and humanity. Always hailed as a national hero, he was given a state funeral, the first state funeral in the county after 28 years. “He wished to be buried in the same clothes he used to wear. He also wanted to donate his body parts, but only his cornea can be donated as the rest of his organs were not in a healthy condition”, Edhi’s son Faisal Edhi said.

Edhi’s selflessness knew no bounds and his dying words, “Take care of the poor people of my country” highlight why he was called “the world’s greatest living humanitarian” in The Huffington Post in 2013.

As Ramazan comes around again – the first for the Edhi Foundation after its founder’s death – all those who loved and respected this great man must come forward even more than before to donate to the foundation and keep the Edhi legacy alive. This Ramazan, the foundation is partnering with Coca-Cola Pakistan to run a mega, multi-faceted fundraising campaign which will make it easy for everyone to make donations using any one of several optional methods. It is now up to the people of Pakistan to keep Edhi’s mission alive for all times to come, just as Edhi himself would have liked to do.

The writer is a freelance contributor.