No words will
ever suffice to pay proper homage to the greatest humanitarians that ever
graced the earth. Abdul Sattar Edhi’s death marks the end of an era. Edhi was
not just a man.
He was
Pakistan’s conscience. A voice for the voiceless. A hope for the hopeless. A
home for the homeless. He forever lives in our hearts as a myth, a legend, an
icon and an inspiration for humanity.
No Pakistani
since Muhammad Ali Jinnah has commanded such reverence. Pakistanis should not
mourn but celebrate the astonishingly meaningful life and legacy of Edhi.
Born to Muslim
traders in Gujarat, Edhi came to Pakistan in 1947. Government ineptitude to
assist his paralyzed mother decisively drew him towards social philanthropy. In
Karachi, Edhi created a charitable empire, the Edhi Foundation, from scratch,
inaugurating his first clinic in 1951.
The Edhi
Foundation became Pakistan’s largest welfare organization, a safe sanctuary for
Pakistan’s impoverished, where abandoned children, especially girls in cradles,
abused women, the disabled and drug addicts were all welcomed in. He was a
one-man welfare state unto himself filling a vacuum left by the state.
Edhi and his
team built orphanages, shelters, maternity wards, elderly homes and morgues.
The Edhi Foundation houses 5,700 people in 17 shelters nationwide. Edhi rescued
at least 20,000 abandoned children, sheltered 50,000 orphans, trained 40,000
nurses with 1500 ambulances, which made it to the Guinness Book of World
Records for the world’s largest ambulance fleet. These ambulances are first to
arrive at terror attack scenes that regularly ravage Pakistan.
Edhi remarkably
fought discrimination and sectarianism. He did so silently, intuitively. He
kept politics at bay and abstained from religious decrees (fatwas). He just practised
humanity for the sake of humanity. His selfless service made him prey to
countless smear campaigns, bribes and bullying. He even had to momentarily
leave the country under life threats. Extremists labelled him an infidel. Yet
Edhi’s humanity deprived oxygen to their hate – One of Edhi’s noteworthy
quotes: “no religion is higher than humanity”.
When asked why
his ambulances picked up Christians and Hindus, Edhi, in his infinite wisdom,
replied “because my ambulance is more Muslim than you”. After Daniel Pearl’s
murder, Edhi himself collected Pearl’s ten body parts, ensuring they were
returned to his US family. People witnessed him picking up animal’s dead bodies
with his very own hands.
That some of our
national leaders could not make it to Edhi’s funeral is lamentable. When
necessity dictates statesmen must step up rather than make excuses. For Edhi, a
state funeral was held, names of roads changed, national mourning days
declared, flags flew at half-mast. Edhi never ‘needed’ such protocol, but we
Pakistanis desired it. For someone so down-to-earth, such ostentation feels
cruelly ironic. If anyone deserves to be draped in the flag of a nation they
served, it is him, yet he insisted to be buried clad in clothes he himself
washed and in a grave he himself had dug. Such was his humility.
He spent his
life in a small house not large enough to encapsulate his enormous heart. He
denied getting medical treatment abroad, and stayed down-to-earth, a lesson for
some of our own politicians perhaps?
Edhi’s legacy
will be carried forward by helping those we routinely ignore. Not by signing
Nobel Prize petitions.
This nation
lacks an idea that everyone can rally behind. It lacks a unifying vision. Edhi
provides a template for all that. Edhi must be etched into our curricula, our
history books, with July the 8th declared Charity Day.
We see our
‘heroes’ become villains, stained by scandal or tainted by corruption. Edhi is
an exception as he never considered himself a ‘hero’. Edhi is more than a hero.
He is a heritage. By uncompromisingly serving humanity he showed us what we can
be. For all our shortcomings we are a deeply charitable nation. And we must
honor Edhi by never letting his mission fail. Each of us carries within us the
seeds of redemption.
Edhi`s legacy
has to be carried forward by every one of us. We need to awaken the Edhi within
us. We can do this by donating to Edhi.org, helping and loving those less
fortunate than us. Such a mission cannot falter. This mission is now ours. The News International