By: Syeda Saadia

Never in my life I found writing an uphill task but from last few days I didn’t have courage and words to scribble my thoughts and feelings. On this juncture I felt words often become worthless; some sacrifices and passions are so great that even the most beautiful words become insufficient to explain them. Some lights are so glowing that they eclipse the brightness of sun which leaves us speechless from elaborating about that brightness at all. What should I write about that illuminating tower of humanity, should I write him a philanthropist working for the welfare of humanity or a saint soothing the pains of ailing or I write him an angel neglecting his life and pleasures for the sake of others’. Every word is inadequate to portray his personality; he was not only a philanthropist he was the mother of motherless, the father of fatherless, for old people he was a support , for children dying on piles of rubbish he was the angel of life, for women whom society abandoned he was a merciful asylum. Such profound love for the humanity that one forgets living one’s own life can only be the characteristic of a saint; he was certainly a saint with all his bag and baggage comprising of shabby dresses and a pair of worn out shoes.

How can we find words to write his greatness who sat on roads to beg for the people whom the government ignored, whom the families abandoned, what can be the way to offer him a tribute who begged money to bury the unidentified dead bodies, to feed the children thrown away by their own parents, to provide them a shelter whom their own children made homeless. It seems he was not a man of blood and flesh but an anthology of feelings and emotions, he felt what others couldn’t feel, he saw to what others were blind; he was like a sponge absorbing the sufferings and pains of people around him. His magnanimous heart didn’t feel hesitation in washing the filth of decaying bodies, his mercy didn’t find it difficult to take care of the children who were considered a sin in our society.

His services are not only great for helping others they are great because they unveil the sorrows of humanity, they undress the apathy of our system, the self-centric attitude of society and the cupidity of people having all the resources. His walk on a thorny path surfaced the reality that our system was inhumane to protect the vulnerable of society; this system never gave him a shoulder, instead of walking with him in the tiring race of eliminating sufferings the system created hurdles for him. Edhi’s interviews revealed there were many forces attacking his financial resources, prohibiting him from collecting alms but the man of feelings had a strong love for humanity which kept him immovable throughout his life. All his energies were used in curing the wounds of society but no one except common man came to stand beside Edhi; government never took pains in helping Edhi instead they relied on the services of Edhi for the relief of people. Our tribute and praise cannot justly express the work of a person who was inheritor of the hearts of the pious Calipha’s; whose life was a glimpse of their honourable lives and whose selfless personality was icon of pious calipha’s love for the humanity.