Abdul Sattar Edhi – our own Abou Ben Adhem
ABOU BEN ADHEM (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw—within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich and like a lily in bloom—
An angel, writing in a book of gold.
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,
‘What writest thou?’—The vision raised its head,
And, with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered, ‘The names of those who love the Lord.’
‘And is mine one?’ said Abou. ‘Nay, not so,’
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still, and said, ‘I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow men.’
The angel wrote and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And lo! Ben Adhem’s name led all the rest.
Abdul Sattar Edhi was our Abou Ben Adhem.
For more than loving and worshipping God, the country’s greatest humanitarian, loved God’s creations – human beings.
Edhi is a man who devoted more than sixty years of his life to sleepless nights and stale bread breakfasts, helping the poorest of the poor.
He bathed mentally challenged, picked up the rotten, buried the abandoned, and reached out to victims of natural calamities, violence and disaster.
A national hero, his cause was beyond creed and castes, religion and race. He was there for the white and the black, for the fanatic and for the atheist, for the pious and the sinner; every human being was equal in his eyes.
Today, he is no more.
In the 1970s, rumours about Abdul Sattar Edhi’s death spread like wild fire. “Edhi is dead,” cried the mourners as they pulled down their shops and wailing women came out on the streets, beating their chests. Everyone was in shock and disbelief, hearing that his ambulance in Iqbalabad, Punjab, had overturned.
Abdul Sattar Edhi passes away in Karachi
But God had other plans for Edhi.
In the hospital where Edhi had survived in a critical condition, his subconscious kept on cursing him. As Edhi came around, tears rolled from his eyes.
God had punished him because he had slapped a physically-challenged girl in a bid to stop her from leaving the shelter home. Every time she would go on the streets, she would get raped.
For Edhi, this incident was a life changer. He never lifted his hand on anyone again. And there was no looking back for him again.
That new lease of life gave the inspiration to Edhi to expand his humanitarian services to every nook and corner of the country and eventually worldwide.
That was how the country’s great humanitarian, philanthropist, social activist spent his life. His passion for helping mankind inspired thousands to follow his lead.
Skinned darkened by the sun, broad shoulders weakened by the work load, his white bearded face never lost his humble smile.
There would never be a trace of how exhausted he would become after giving bathes to hundreds of death bodies. He would never shiver when being amidst hardened criminals to pick up victims’ bodies.
The little shoulders on which rests the biggest welfare empire in the world.
Edhi was a man made of steel and a heart out of gold. He belonged to all of us.
